the best biography of benjamin franklin

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20 Best Books on Benjamin Franklin (2022 Review)

September 17, 2020 by James Wilson

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Benjamin Franklin did many notable things. He discovered electricity. He opened the first library. He was a founding father. He invented the bifocals. He has so many acheivements. He did lots of great work. But, his personality and history is often overlooked by the big events of his life. Along with being a founding father, he was a writer and journalist. He was a scientist. And he was a husband and father.

What are the Best Benjamin Franklin Books to read?

These books detail Benjamin Franklin’s life and history. He did a great job of helping discover America and declare its freedom. He was an honorable man with acheivements and flaws. It’s important to see all sides to a story, even the stories of the greatest people in history. The books below will help readers understand Benjamin Franklin, what he did for history, and what he did for the present and future.

Best Books on Benjamin Franklin: Our Top 20 Picks

Here are some of the best Benjamin Franklin books that you can consider to expand your knowledge on the subject:

1. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin is another version of Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography. This autobiography recounts Benjamin Franklin’s life from 1771 to 1790. Franklin was independent, had good intentions, and did lots of important work. In this book, Benjamin Franklin explains his reasoning for every decision he made. He explains the obstacles he had to overcome, and the most notable events in his life. This book was not published until after Benjamin Franklin’s death.

This book is considered an autobiography, but he described it as a memoir. Benjamin Franklin had so many talents. He discusses these talents in his book, and goes more into detail on what went into his accomplishments. This is a great read, particularly for educators that are teaching students about Benjamin Franklin. This would be a great assigned read that is not too difficult to follow.

• Authors : Benjamin Franklin (Author)
• Publisher : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (March 1, 2019)
• Pages : 116 pages

2. Franklin’s Autobiography

Benjamin Franklin has a lengthy history full of many achievements. Instead of reading an interpretation of his history, why not hear what he has to say. Franklin’s Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin covers Benjamin Franklin’s history and how he recounts it. It is told in the present. He knows of his accomplishments, but he doesn’t know how far they’ll go.

The book has a long, rigorous introduction. The meat and the bones of the book, which would be Benjamin Franklin’s notes and information, is what ties this book together. He was very intelligent, which can be seen in this book.

This book is a very great autobiography. The differing language between generations can be hard to read, but the book is great overall, and perfect for those who want to know more about Benjamin Franklin from an unbiased source.

• Pages : 268 pages

3. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

Benjamin Franklin is most well-known for being one of the founding fathers. He contributed a lot of notable work to the world that is often overlooked by his name. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson recounts all of Benjamin Franklin’s history. While this book does a great job of sharing Benjamin Franklin’s trials and tribulations, it doesn’t actually detail his vulnerability.

This book shows more of Benjamin Franklin’s confidence, which makes him unrelatable. He was not born into privilege, so he needed to work his way up. This book was great, but it would be alot better if it discussed the hardships Benjamin Franklin had to endure instead of his founding fathers. This is a pretty good biography, but there is more to Benjamin Franklin than it touches on.

• Authors : Walter Isaacson (Author)
• Publisher : Simon & Schuster; 1st Edition (July 1, 2003)
• Pages : 624 pages

4. The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin

The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin covers every little detail of Benjamin Franklin’s life. The politics in this book are actually readable and enjoyable. This book is well-organized. It captures all of the good and the bad in Benjamin Franklin’s life. Benjamin Franklin was many things: he was a penniless runaway, a triumphant printer, and was an all around pivotal character in colonial history. He did a lot of great work, and he worked hard to do so.

This book is full of interesting, and has plenty of detail. That being said, it can be a long, dull read at times. It goes on for awhile. This book, at times, has too much detail. It could be condensed so as to not lose the attention of the readers.

• Authors : H. W. Brands (Author)
• Publisher : Anchor; Reprint Edition (May 14, 2010)
• Pages : 786 pages

5. The Way to Wealth

The Way to Wealth by Benjamin Franklin is an incredible introduction to personal finance by a notable man in history. This book is wise, and thoughtful. Even though it was written over 200 years ago, many of Franklin’s tips and advice can be used today. He wants people to achieve success by staying true to themselves. His book helps people get rich in a way that keeps their integrity intact.

This book helps readers with their money, savings, and insight into the world of finance. This book is a quick read. It is simple to get through, and it is not boring either. Benjamin Franklin continues to help people long past his death. He has notable insight to many things, money only being one of them. This book helps readers better manage their money just like Benjamin Franklin did.

• Publisher : Applewood Books (September 1, 1986)
• Pages : 30 pages

6. The Way to Wealth: Ben Franklin on Money and Success

Benjamin Franklin has an opinion on everything, and money does not fall short of that. The Way to Wealth: Ben Franklin on Money and Success by Benjamin Franklin includes some of Benjamin Franklin’s essays related to money. This book has advice for obtaining success and money. This is a pocket-sized book that has plenty of information that can be read quickly. It has great advice that applies to many situations. Readers can carry this book with them everywhere they go.

The book ends with rules on 13 ways to be a good person. Benjamin Franklin uses this book to focus on character development. He teaches readers how to succeed without using their integrity and heart. This book has amazing advice from one of the oldest and most successful voices of the past. This is a simple read for readers of every level.

• Authors : Benjamin Franklin (Author), Charles Conrad (Author), Best Success Books (Author)
• Publisher : www.SuccessBooks.net (May 16, 2014)
• Pages : 21 pages

7. Who Was Ben Franklin?

Benjamin Franklin was so many things. He was a scientist, a founding father, an inventor, a statesman, and so much more. He was an inspiration to many people, and still is today. Who Was Ben Franklin? By Dennis Brindell Fradin is a great kid’s book detailing the history of Benjamin Franklin. The pictures in this book are cute, fun, and colorful. The drawings excite kids and make them eager to learn more about Benjamin Franklin.

This book is a short easy read. Older kids can read it on their own easily. This book is funny, interesting, and thrilling. This is a great gateway to the history of Benjamin Franklin. This is a perfect for kids who need to do a research paper on a historical figure, especially a figure as notable as Benjamin Franklin.

• Authors : Dennis Brindell Fradin (Author), Who HQ (Author), John O’Brien (Illustrator)
• Publisher : Penguin Workshop; Illustrated Edition (February 18, 2002)
• Pages : 112 pages

8. Benjamin Franklin’s Bastard: A Novel

Benjamin Franklin had a son: William Franklin. Even though he had a son, they did not have the most-loving relationship. Benjamin Franklin’s Bastard: A Novel by Sally Cabot recalls the history of William Franklin, and how it affected Benjamin Franklin’s life. Benjamin Franklin’s family life was very complicated, and his son’s existence only added to that.

This book discusses William Franklin and how he came to have two loving moms. William Franklin was the son of Benjamin Franklin and his mistress, Anne. However, Benjamin Franklin’s wife, Deborah, raised him as her own.

This book is full of drama, war, and love. This book is historical fiction, so don’t believe everything that is said. But it is based on truth. This book is a page turner that keeps readers engaged and interested in Benjamin Franklin and William Franklin.

• Authors : Sally Cabot (Author)
• Publisher : William Morrow; Reprint Edition (May 7, 2013)
• Pages : 373 pages

9. Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School

Benjamin Franklin was many things. He first and foremost, a founding father. He had great success in his life, but he was also very funny. Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School by Benjamin Franklin is a collection of more of Benjamin Franklin’s more humorous essays. This book has many topics: sacred cows, attacks on marriage, hoaxes, and the english parliament.

This book is more entertaining than it is historical. It gives readers an insight into the wit of Benjamin Franklin, and how well-rounded he was. These essays are humorous, but they also criticize politics and more-pressing issues in a light-hearted way. Benjamin Franklin’s humor is dry. He uses many puns. Benjamin Franklin was a scientist, a statesman, and much more, but he was also the King of Satire. This book proves just that.

• Authors : Benjamin Franklin (Author), Carl Japikse (Editor)
• Publisher : Frog Books; Revised ed. Edition (May 1, 2003)
• Pages : 128 pages

10. Benjamin Franklin’s Book of Virtues

Benjamin Franklin truly has a virtuous history. Being virtuous, means one has virtues. Benjamin Franklin’s Book of Virtues by Benjamin Franklin includes 13 of his most important virtues. This is a great book for parents to read to their children. It is simple and straight-forward. The language is easy to read, and is less about Benjamin Franklin’s history, and more about his values.

This book is motivational and inspiring. This book gives insight into what drove Benjamin Franklin to succeed. This book gives readers the opportunity to get to know the real Benjamin Franklin. He was humorous, kind, and hard-working. This book really delves deep into who he was, without focusing on all he did. Benjamin Franklin was an amazing man. This book really shows the virtues that made him who he was.

• Publisher : Applewood Books (September 27, 2016)
• Pages : 32 pages

11. The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin

The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin by Gordon S. Wood chronicilizes Benjamin Franklin’s life and how it revolutionized America. This book tells a more complex narrative of Benjamin Franklin. His life was more ambiguous than people may assume.

This book is a little simple, but it’s also convoluted. Benjamin Franklin had allegiance to the United States as well as England. His history as an American is noteworthy and amazing, but it is not flawless.

This book gives a look into the life of Benjamin Franklin, and how he was not the perfect human being. It explains how his mistakes made him the person he was. He had great achievements in life, and he leaves a notable history of achievements after death. This is an unbiased book that truly explores who Benjamin Franklin was, and what he did for America.

• Authors : Gordon S. Wood (Author)
• Publisher : Penguin Books; Reprint Edition (May 31, 2005)
• Pages : 354 pages

12. Now and Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was an inventor. He discovered many things, but the most well-known being electricity. Now and Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin by Gene Barretta is lists many of Benjamin Franklin’s other inventions. Franklin set up many inventions and even had a hand in setting up libraries, fire departments, and hospitals. This book recounts some of the inventions Benjamin Franklin made, how he did it, and the impact it had on the world.

This book has beautiful illustrations that are fun, and light-hearted. This is definitely a perfect book for teaching children about Benjamin Franklin and the work he did.  The book is also great for adults. It’s an easy read, and focuses on some of the great work Benjamin Franklin did that is not often mentioned in other history books.

• Authors : Gene Barretta (Author, Illustrator)
• Publisher : Square Fish; First Edition (December 23, 2008)
• Pages : 40 pages

13. Benjamin Franklin Wit and Wisdom

Benjamin Franklin Wit and Wisdom by Benjamin Franklin is a pocketbook that can be taken anywhere. It is small, compact, and condensed. It has a lot of information on a few pages. The book has accompanying illustrations that match the history, and make it more interesting. This book has incredible quotes and sayings from Benjamin Franklin.

This book makes for a great conversation starter. This book has fun facts on Benjamin Franklin, but nothing too meaty. It doesn’t go too into depth because it’s not big enough to do so. This is a great introductory book for people who are looking to know more about Benjamin Franklin, but haven’t learned about him before. This is a great book for students to use as a refresher on Benjamin Franklin and his incredible life.

• Publisher : Peter Pauper Press; Min Edition (April 1, 1998)
• Pages : 64 pages

14. The Autobiography and Other Writings

The Autobiography and Other Writings by Benjamin Franklin is Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography and so much more. This compilation includes passages from Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, some of the essays he wrote, and a deeper look into Benjamin Franklin’s history. The book is fascinating, but it can be a bit tedious.

Benjamin Franklin was a civilian who worked hard to make life better for the citizens of the world, and more specifically America. The autobiography passages are interesting, but what really makes this book stand out are the essays.

This book introduces Benjamin Franklin from different perspectives. It shows his personality, his humor, and his overwhelming success. This book is a great read for students, teachers, and anyone else who wants and needs to know about Benjamin Franklin.

• Authors : Benjamin Franklin (Author), L. Jesse Lemisch (Editor), Walter Isaacson (Introduction)
• Publisher : Signet; Reprint Edition (August 5, 2014)
• Pages : 352 pages

15. The Completed Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin

Many have complained that Benjamin Franklin did not complete his autobiography. With The Completed Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin by Mark Skousen, we don’t have to. This book celebrates the 300th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin’s birth. This book recounts the work Franklin did after 1957, so everything he did until his death in 1790. He did lots of notable work as a scientist, printer, writer, lobbyist, inventor, and more. He was self-made. He started as penniless nobody, and worked his way up to becoming a founding father of the United States of America. He made history–history that this book covers.

At times, this book can feel lengthy and redundant. Overall, though, it has incredible information that is often left out of other books. Skousen did his research. This book covers every aspect of Benjamin Franklin’s life.

• Authors : Mark Skousen (Author), Benjamin Franklin (Author)
• Publisher : Regnery History (November 21, 2005)
• Pages : 256 pages

16. Young Benjamin Franklin: The Birth of Ingenuity

Benjamin Franklin’s early life is when he had to work his hardest. He had no money, no name for himself, and a long way to go. Young Benjamin Franklin: The Birth of Ingenuity by Nick Bunker focuses on Benjamin Franklin’s youth. Everything in this book happened before Benjamin Franklin was 41.

This book focuses on his lesser known accomplishments. This book recalls the history of Benjamin Franklin and the small accomplishments that led him to make the big ones. This good has a good in depth history of Benjamin Franklin, but at times it can be judgemental.

The author inserts his opinion often, and sometimes in places where it doesn’t need to be. But this book does really capture the young years of Benjamin Franklin, and how they shaped him for bigger, more profound change.

• Authors : Nick Bunker (Author)
• Publisher : Knopf; 1st Edition (September 18, 2018)
• Pages : 464 pages

17. Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin by Edmund S. Morgan is a short, yet interesting biography of Benjamin Franklin. The book is concise and easy to read. Morgan does an incredible job of viewing Benjamin Franklin’s life from all perspectives. This is an important introduction to the life of Benjamin Franklin. It is not too long, so it does not become redundant halfway through like many other historical books do.

This book has more intel on how Benjamin differed from the other founding fathers: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and George Washington. This book recaps all of Benjamin Franklin’s life, from beginning to end. He worked really hard for his success. This book shows his determination and resilience as a man and as a founding father. This is a good book for people with all levels of knowledge on Benjamin Franklin.

• Authors : Edmund S. Morgan (Author)
• Publisher : Yale University Press; Illustrated Edition (September 24, 2003)

18. Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father

There is so much information and history on Benjamin Franklin’s life and accomplishments, but there is little known about his religion. Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father by Thomas S. Kidd takes a look into Benjamin Franklin’s history.

This book discusses the accomplishments Benjamin Franklin had as a scientist, printer, and a diplomat. But most of all, this book delves into his religious beliefs that Benjamin Franklin had. He abandoned his Christianity that his family so deeply believed in. He published many works on many religious topics. Like the rest of Benjamin Franklin’s work, he did his research. He learned about many religions, and what drove others to believe in them.

This book debunks the myth that Benjamin Franklin was not a religious person. Benjamin Franklin had a lot more depth in perspective than many thought he did, and this book explains that.

• Authors : Thomas S. Kidd (Author)
• Publisher : Yale University Press; Illustrated Edition (May 23, 2017)
• Pages : 288 pages

19. A Benjamin Franklin Reader

A Benjamin Franklin Reader by Walter Issaacson is full of selected pieces from Benjamin Franklin’s history. Benjamin Franklin was an amazing writer. He published works in newspapers, books, and more. He has no shortage of excellent pieces on a variety of topics. He was witty, funny, and smart.

This book includes those pieces, as well as an introduction and preface to each of them. The book provides context and background to each story. This book helps readers grasp an idea of who Benjamin Franklin was behind all of his prominent titles. He was kind and thoughtful. He was intelligent. He was witty. He was a kind man, whose personality was often overshadowed by his achievements. This book is long, but it isn’t dull. It is interesting, and keeps readers captivated and enlightened by Benjamin Franklin’s history.

• Publisher : Simon & Schuster; Annotated – Illustrated Edition (June 2, 2005)
• Pages : 576 pages

20. Benjamin and William Franklin: Father and Son, Patriot and Loyalist

Benjamin Franklin wasn’t only a founding father, he was an actual father. Benjamin and William Franklin: Father and Son, Patriot and Loyalist by Sheila L. Skemp is a wonderful book about the relationship between father and son. So many history books focus on Benjamin Franklin’s fiscal accomplishments and not his familial conflict. The two were divided due to political conflicts. They were divided. Their love turned to hate. Skemp does a good job of explaining how the two reached a terrible divide.

The book, at some points, can be dull and boring. However, this book brings a fresh perspective on an aspect of Benjamin Franklin’s life that lacked the success and honor some many other parts did. The book has speeches and letters, and lots of amazing history.

• Authors : Sheila L. Skemp (Author)
• Publisher : Bedford/St. Martin’s; 1st Edition (March 15, 1994)
• Pages : 205 pages

Choosing the Best Benjamin Franklin Books

These books have lots of thoughtful information on Benjamin Franklin. They capture his life and history, as well as his personality and wit. He did a lot of great things, but he also had his faults. Choosing the right book to study Benjamin Franklin and his life can be difficult, but it is necessary based on what readers need to know. These are 20 of the best books of Benjamin Franklin, but there are plenty more that be can found.

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Nonfiction Books » History Books » American History » Books on American Presidents

The best books on benjamin franklin, recommended by d.g. hart.

Benjamin Franklin: Cultural Protestant by D.G. Hart

The Founding Fathers of the United States were a remarkable bunch of people, but Benjamin Franklin might have been the most remarkable of them all. Coming from humble stock, he became a businessman, scientist, diplomat and politician—a giant of the Enlightenment. Historian D.G. Hart sheds some light on his character and background and puts him in his broader social and political context.

Interview by Benedict King

The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin by Gordon S. Wood

Benjamin Franklin: The Shaping of Genius: the Boston Years by Arthur Bernon Tourtellot

The Puritans: A Transatlantic History by David D. Hall

The Enlightenment in America by Henry May

William Penn’s Legacy: Politics and Social Structure in Provincial Pennsylvania 1726-1755 by Alan Tully

1 The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin by Gordon S. Wood

2 benjamin franklin: the shaping of genius: the boston years by arthur bernon tourtellot, 3 the puritans: a transatlantic history by david d. hall, 4 the enlightenment in america by henry may, 5 william penn’s legacy: politics and social structure in provincial pennsylvania 1726-1755 by alan tully.

W hat story does your book,  Benjamin Franklin: Cultural Protestant,  tell? What hole in Franklin studies was it trying to fill?

Part of what I’ve thought was missing in treatments of Franklin was how he fits into Protestantism and the culture that Protestantism produced in the centuries after the Reformation. The book is bridging studies of Franklin and studies of Anglo-American culture, post- Reformation .

Was he a deist? Or was he a complete non-believer?

He was a deist and rented a pew for his wife Deborah at Christ Church in Philadelphia . And he attended some services there. He’s buried there in that church’s burial ground—America has fewer church burial grounds than in Europe. But he was a deist early on. Studies of deism can be a little peculiar because there was no membership required. It seems to be a category imposed on people.

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Franklin, early in his life had a radical phase. He was caught up in philosophical speculation, which people could count as deism. But he was a God-fearer. I really do believe that he was genuine about that, thinking that he was going to meet his rewards after death. So, he believed there was going to be some kind of reckoning. And he invokes Providence a lot, which so many of the founders did, so he’s not unusual in that regard. But I couldn’t say he was an unbeliever, in the way somebody else I’ve worked on, such as H.L. Mencken, the journalist and modernist literary critic, clearly was. Mencken was an agnostic and identified as such. He just could not come to believe in God. Period.

Who else is in this spiritual biography series?

John Stuart Mill and Woodrow Wilson are the two I know about for sure. There will be more in the pipeline. I think Andrew Jackson is going to be in it.

Among the founding fathers, there were some who were openly committed Christians, others who were less so. Were any of them avowed atheists? The reason I ask is because there seems to be a big debate in United States politics at the moment around the Founding Fathers, and about what kind of country they thought they were founding.

Probably Jefferson comes the closest, I think, although this gets into questions of what was acceptable in public as well. My sense is that most of them were church-attending and would generally say the sorts of things you’d expect people to say about the churches. So, I don’t think there were any who were outright antagonistic to religion. The one person who might qualify as an atheist is Tom Paine. But I think even there, Americans read him differently than the English did. The English saw him much more as a radical because he has was anti-monarchy, but that didn’t really bother Americans as much. In what Paine wrote he was still interacting with scripture, and seeming to pay deference to it, although maybe coming up with novel interpretations.

Let’s move on to your Benjamin Franklin books. The first of the books is The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin by Gordon Wood. Why have you chosen this one?

Well, Gordon Wood is just a great historian. I’ve enjoyed his work for such a long time. I leaned heavily on this book in writing my own, and he does a really good job with the creation of Franklin. ‘Americanization’ is a way of saying that Franklin went from being very much pro-British Empire, which he remained all the way down, even into the 1770s, hoping that independence wouldn’t have to happen. But as things turned out, while he was a diplomat in London, he saw a polarization between the colonies and the English during that time.

“It’s just so unlikely that that Franklin’s life would have turned out the way it did”

The common perception of Franklin by contemporary Americans, if they know history, is that he’s just associated with the founding of the country, and you don’t really see how he developed and the incredible emergence of this person who was close to the bottom of colonial society and who made this life for himself as a businessman, printer and editor, and who then retired at the young age of 42, while still owning the business and receiving income from it. Then he begins to dabble in politics, and eventually worked his way into Pennsylvania politics. He goes overseas to negotiate with the Penn family to try to get a better deal for the colony in North America. And that’s how he also begins to make connections for other kinds of diplomatic endeavors, which occupy much of the last two or three decades of his life.

Excellent. And I think we can pick that theme up again in your next recommendation, which is Arthur Bernon-Tourtellot’s book , Benjamin Franklin: The Shaping of Genius . This is about his young life, isn’t it?

Yes, it is.

What case does this book make?

He was not a trained historian. He came to this book just as a writer of popular history. And he tells the story only up through Franklin leaving Boston, which is the prelude to what you would think of as the most important parts of Franklin’s life, which is his making it as a business man, his making it in Philadelphia, his success and then political career, and his scientific career.

It short circuits Franklin’s life, but he turns those early years into an amazing story. Tourtellot has a great eye for detail. He went deep into a lot of different source material for it. And so, just the description of Boston street life, the Franklin family home, Franklin’s father’s relationship with his Uncle Ben, who comes to visit and has a falling out with the family, his detail on Franklin’s mother’s family, the kinds of life going on in Boston, it’s all truly vivid. It’s just a great read. It really is.

Was Franklin recognized as an incredibly remarkable intellect from a very early age? Did his parents hothouse him, educationally? Or was he considered unremarkable at 17, when he left Boston, but flourished on his arrival in Philadelphia?

Boston, as least among those residents that were Puritans—and how you classify that as is a difficult question—was a remarkably literate, and at least by some standards, learned society. His father was bookish and had lots of books in the house. At least, that’s what Franklin recalled. His father didn’t have a formal education. There were the means for a formal education. Franklin’s parents, because Benjamin was the tenth child, wanted to make him a tithe to the church and send him into the ministry, as a gift to God, as it were. So he went to Latin school with the hopes of going to Harvard. But they also saw that he probably just didn’t have the religious devotion to do it. And so they pulled him out. It was also a way to save money, as well, although I’m not saying that was the only reason they did it.

“Franklin’s parents wanted to make him a tithe to the church and send him into the ministry… But they also saw that he probably just didn’t have the religious devotion to do it”

Let’s move on to the next of your Benjamin Franklin books, David Hall’s The Puritans: A Transatlantic History . Tell us a bit about this one.

Hall’s story is about Puritanism, from roughly the beginning of efforts to reform the Church of England in the 1570s down to the Glorious Revolution. He does both sides of the Atlantic, which is, really well done. Too often studies of Puritanism isolate the European side from the North American side. He’s spent his career writing about early modern Protestantism, and he’s a great historian. I put this in there because he’s part of a recent recovery of Puritanism, at least by historians in the United States, that links the developments in North America to political developments in 17th-century England, Scotland and beyond.

Oftentimes the history of Puritanism in the US looks at, say, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and the New England colonies in isolation from the British Isles. Perry Miller, who was another great historian, at Harvard, almost single handedly rescued Puritanism from the kinds of snipes that H.L. Mencken took at Puritans—Mencken famously defined Puritanism as the haunting fear that someone somewhere may be happy. That was a common perception of Puritanism, until maybe 1940 or so. And then, Miller burst onto the stage at Harvard, recovers Puritanism with a boatload of graduate students under him. They go out and they wind up weaving the Puritan narrative into the understanding of America, which is in the midst of the Cold War. And the way that they tell that narrative helps America keep going with the Cold War.

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It’s actually a very interesting story. An historian recently, called Abram van Engen has a book out called A City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism , that refers to this creation of the Puritan narrative, and weaving it into the national narrative post-World War Two.

But what Hall does is look at it from a completely different perspective, not from a Cold War perspective, but from the 17th century, looking at what was happening in North America and how that was related to the politics and religion of 17th-century England and Scotland. And for that reason, it’s a great read, but it’s also a great background on Puritanism. And if you want to understand Puritanism and Franklin’s relationship to Puritanism, that’s an important book to consult.

Is it possible to identify things in Franklin’s personal culture or intellectual life that are specifically rooted in this Puritan background? Are there obvious things to point to?

A couple of examples. It’s a bit of a stretch to argue that Franklin is indebted to English Puritanism in some way, since he himself disavowed it. And it really left him cold, even though he held on to pieces about God, about the importance of doing good because there’d be a reckoning in the world to come. He held on to those sorts of things. But Puritanism was a very bookish culture and, and Franklin going into publishing and into print as much as he did was part of that Puritan inheritance. Even his interest in science could be part of it. There’s an old sociology of science scholar, Robert Merton, who has elaborated the so-called Puritan thesis about the origins of modern science being rooted in the culture of Puritanism in England. And I try to work that into understanding Franklin.

“Puritanism was a very bookish culture and, and Franklin going into publishing and into print as much as he did was part of that puritan inheritance. Even his interest in Science could be part of it”

Even his ideas about civic organizations and social order in Philadelphia, organizing libraries, hospitals, police, fire departments—you could argue that Franklin learned a lot of this from the civic culture of Puritans in Boston. Maybe he just intuited it by growing up in it, but those are the sorts of connections that I see, even though when it comes down to beliefs, they’re not there.

Let’s move on to your next Benjamin Franklin book, Henry May’s The Enlightenment in America .

Henry May, was a great intellectual historian of post-World War Two America. I have several good friends in academia who were students of Henry May as undergraduates, and I have other scholarly friends who knew him well as a colleague. My own claim to fame with Henry May, is that when I was a student at Harvard Divinity School, I was the sommelier at the Harvard Faculty Club, which wasn’t the greatest of dining establishment—there were still rumors when I was there that they were serving horse, which they may have done during World War Two. But, anyway, May came to campus with a professor with whom I was studying, and they sat at a table. And so I was able to serve him wine.

Henry May was a great historian at University of California, Berkeley. This book was published in 1976. The story he tells has been carried on by many people. He told the story that the Enlightenment is not one thing. It is several things and it happens in different places, and at different times—in England, Scotland, France, Germany, North America. And it has different kinds of traditions, such as the moderate enlightenment of Newton , for instance, or the skeptical enlightenment, of Voltaire , the didactic enlightenment of the Scottish Enlightenment figures of Smith and the like.

May puts Franklin in the skeptical camp. I think he may emphasize that a little more than necessary. Because I think that in the revolutionary camp of the Enlightenment, there’s a utilitarian side and you really see that strain in Franklin. He was constantly thinking about how things worked, whether in the natural world, or the famous fireplace that he invented, or bifocals, or hospitals, or even colleges. He was not just a thinker, he was a tinkerer, his whole life and he tinkered with ideas as well. May is really useful for situating Franklin in that Enlightenment. Even though it’s almost 50 years old, it’s a very useful guide to thinking about the Enlightenment and how it unfolded in the United States.

And what does he say about the Founding Fathers? Did they see the founding of the United States as an Enlightenment project? 

Finally, for the last of your Benjamin Franklin books we have Alan Tully’s William Penn’s Legacy: Politics and Social Structure in Provincial Pennsylvania 1726-1755 .

Yes. For me, Tully is a fascinating read, because his book puts the Pennsylvania Colony and its political struggles in perspective, and allows readers to situate Franklin in that setting. I leaned on it heavily for a couple of chapters when it came to trying to explain Pennsylvania politics, say from the 1740s, down to the founding of the United States, especially where Franklin was involved.

But it’s of interest before that. You have these different kinds of colonies in America with either royal charters, or proprietary colonies where a family like the Penns would have a charter from the king, but they could run their colony in some ways independently of the government’s apparatus. And that created all sorts of struggles in Pennsylvania, when the governor of Pennsylvania Colony is insisting on certain views, and the legislature wants other things from the proprietors. And a conflict between the executive branch and the legislative branch of the government follows. That, in some ways sets into motion tensions similar to those between say, the monarchy and parliament, or even the British government and the legislature.

“Franklin may have been a dissembler, or insincere in some ways. And that characterizes his diplomacy also in London and Paris at times”

Those political dynamics are very useful to understand. But Tully also explores the different kinds of Protestants in particular—although there were also Jews and Roman Catholics in the colony. Penn set it up so there was great religious freedom, unlike other colonies that were either Anglican or Puritan. And, what wound up happening is that oftentimes the political polarization in Pennsylvania mapped onto different strains of Protestantism, with the Quaker Party being one group but with Presbyterians, reformed Lutherans, and more traditional Protestant groups, going with the Proprietary Party. Franklin was in the mix of that trying to situate himself with those groups.

In the French and Indian War (or Seven Years War), which takes place between 1756 and 1763, which is a major turning point in relations between France and Britain, Britain gained control of a big swathe of North America after victory. The Quakers were ambivalent about that war, because they are pacifists and they were in this difficult situation of asking how they should defend a colony while holding on to Quaker beliefs at the same time?

Franklin is really good at negotiating the Quaker interests with other groups and he may have been a dissembler, or insincere in some ways. And that characterizes his diplomacy also in London and Paris at times. But he was pretty good at reading people and getting things done. So that’s the reason why I think that book is so useful.

What’s his present day reputation in the United States?

He’s out of the news, in large measure. There’s not a lot written about Franklin these days. But during the anti-slavery protests surrounding various monuments last summer, at the University of Pennsylvania, where the main administrative building is called Franklin Hall, they didn’t demand that his statue be taken down.

There’s also a statue on campus of George Whitefield, the evangelist, Anglican priest, famous for the first Great Awakening, who went back on his views of slavery to introduce slavery into Georgia. He used slaves to help with his orphanage in Georgia. The University of Pennsylvania decided during the controversy to take the Whitefield statue down. But they also decided to keep Franklin up, even though Franklin had slaves at one point in his life, and even traveled to London with those slaves. But he was later a president of the American Anti-Slavery Society, toward the end of his life.

I think if you want to think about the American character, the American can-do spirit. Franklin embodies that America. When students in my courses encounter Franklin, they encounter somebody who explains a lot about the way America works. And there’s a way in which Franklin’s writing about Philadelphian and American politics or about family life captures something about the way American society works. And so in that way, he’s evergreen.

May 19, 2021

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is a native of suburban Philadelphia and teaches history at Hillsdale College.  He trained in U.S. history at Johns Hopkins University and is the author and editor of twenty books about religion, politics, and higher education in America.  He lives with his wife, Ann, and three cats in Hillsdale, Michigan.

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The 10 Best Books on Benjamin Franklin

Essential books on benjamin franklin.

There are countless books on Benjamin Franklin, and it comes with good reason, he was a successful printer, founding father of the United States of America, scientist celebrated for his discoveries and theories in the realm of electricity, and leading intellectual of his time.

“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise,” he remarked.

In order to get to the bottom of what inspired one of history’s most consequential figures to the heights of societal contribution, we’ve compiled a list of the 10 best books on Benjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson

Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made of flesh rather than marble. In a sweeping narrative that follows Franklin’s life from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Paris and back, Walter Isaacson chronicles the adventures of the runaway apprentice who became, over the course of his eighty-four-year life, America’s best writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, and business strategist, as well as one of its most practical and ingenious political leaders.

He explores the wit behind  Poor Richard’s Almanac and the wisdom behind the Declaration of Independence, the new nation’s alliance with France, the treaty that ended the Revolution, and the compromises that created a near-perfect Constitution. In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklin’s amazing life, showing how he helped to forge the American national identity and why he has a particular resonance in the twenty-first century.

The First American by H. W. Brands

From penniless runaway to highly successful printer, from ardently loyal subject of Britain to architect of an alliance with France that ensured America’s independence, Franklin went from obscurity to become one of the world’s most admired figures, whose circle included the likes of Voltaire, Hume, Burke, and Kant.

Drawing on previously unpublished letters and a host of other sources, acclaimed historian H. W. Brands has written a thoroughly engaging biography of the eighteenth-century genius. A much needed reminder of Franklin’s greatness and humanity,  The First American is a work of meticulous scholarship that provides a magnificent tour of a legendary historical figure, a vital era in American life, and the countless arenas in which the protean Franklin left his legacy.

Benjamin Franklin in London by George Goodwin

For more than one-fifth of his life, Benjamin Franklin lived in London. He dined with prime ministers, members of parliament, even kings, as well as with Britain’s most esteemed intellectuals – including David Hume, Joseph Priestley, and Erasmus Darwin – and with more notorious individuals, such as Francis Dashwood and James Boswell. Having spent eighteen formative months in England as a young man, Franklin returned in 1757 as a colonial representative during the Seven Years’ War, and left abruptly just prior to the outbreak of America’s War of Independence, barely escaping his impending arrest.

In this necessary addition to the ever-growing index of books on Benjamin Franklin, George Goodwin gives a colorful account of the founding father’s British years. The author offers a rich and revealing portrait of one of the most remarkable figures in U.S. history, effectively disputing the commonly held perception of Franklin as an outsider in British politics. It is an enthralling study of an American patriot who was a fiercely loyal British citizen for most of his life – until forces he had sought and failed to control finally made him a reluctant revolutionary at the age of sixty-nine.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

At 17 years old, Benjamin Franklin saw no path forward but to start his life over. After sneaking on board a ship destined for New York, in just three days, he found himself nearly 300 miles from home, without the least recommendation to, or knowledge of any person in the place, and with very little money in his pocket.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin  is the traditional name for the unfinished record of his own life written by Benjamin Franklin from 1771 to 1790; however, Franklin himself appears to have called the work his  Memoirs . Although it had a tortuous publication history after Franklin’s death, this work has become one of the most famous and influential examples of an autobiography ever written.

The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin by Gordon S. Wood

A leading historian of the American Revolution offers an incisive portrait of the complex, often contradictory figure of Benjamin Franklin, a man who was at once the quintessential American and a cosmolitan lover of Europe, a one-time loyalist turned revolutionary, and an ambassador whose French diplomacy, crucial to the American cause, became a source of suspicion at home.

Benjamin Franklin’s Science by I. Bernard Cohen

Until now Benjamin Franklin has usually been incorrectly regarded as a practical inventor and tinkerer rather than a scientific thinker. He was elected to membership in the elite Royal Society because his experiments and original theory of electricity had made a science of that new subject. His popular fame came from his two lightning experiments – the sentry-box experiment and the later and more famous experiment of the kite – which confirmed his theoretical speculations about the identity of electricity and provided a basis for the practical invention of the lightning rod. Franklin advanced the eighteenth-century understanding of all phenomena of electricity and provided a model for experimental science in general.

I. Bernard Cohen, an eminent historian of science and the principal elucidator of Franklin’s scientific work, examines his activities in fields ranging from heat to astronomy. He provides masterful accounts of the theoretical background of Franklin’s science (especially his study of Newton), the experiments he performed, and their influence throughout Europe as well as the United States.

Cohen emphasizes that Franklin’s political and diplomatic career cannot be understood apart from his scientific activities, which established his reputation and brought him into contact with leaders of British and European society.

A Little Revenge by Willard Sterne Randall

A Little Revenge is the story of the relationship between Benjamin Franklin and his illegitimate son, William. A brilliant young man who first served Benjamin as military advisor and legal counsel, William eventually rose to be Royal Governor of New Jersey, only to become his father’s implacable enemy.

When the American Revolution broke out and William refused to follow his father and remained loyal to the British Crown, an enmity developed that was frightening in its ferocity. Then, William was captured by the rebels and his father made sure he was confined to a notorious prison, he even intervened in Washington’s attempt to free William through an exchange of prisoners.

Once William did secure his freedom, he became deeply involved in the illegal execution of rebel prisoners. William was exiled to Britain, and he and Benjamin lived out their lives without ever forgiving the other. In fact, after the Revolution, they spoke only once to each other.

Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father by Thomas S. Kidd

Benjamin Franklin published more works on religious topics than any other eighteenth-century American layperson. Born to Boston Puritans, by his teenage years he had abandoned the exclusive Christian faith of his family and embraced deism. But Franklin, as a man of faith, was far more complex than the “thorough deist” who emerges in his autobiography.

As Thomas Kidd reveals, deist writers influenced Franklin’s beliefs, to be sure, but devout Christians in his life – including George Whitefield, the era’s greatest evangelical preacher; his parents; and his beloved sister Jane – kept him tethered to the Calvinist creed of his Puritan upbringing. Based on rigorous research into Franklin’s voluminous correspondence, essays, and almanacs, this fresh assessment of a well-known figure unpacks the contradictions and conundrums faith presented in Franklin’s life.

Benjamin Franklin: Silence Dogood, The Busy-Body, and Early Writings ; Edited by J. A. Leo Lemay

Statesman, scientist, philosopher, printer, and civic leader, Benjamin Franklin was also the most powerful writer of his time. From his first appearance in print, in the guise of the eccentric, opinionated, voluble “Silence Dogood” (1722), to his last published article, a searing satire against slavery (1790), he covered every aspect of “the question of America” with radiant clarity, wit, and penetration.

This Library of America collection begins with items written by Franklin during his early years in Boston and London (1722–1726), including the complete “Silence Dogood” essay series. The volume also includes the famous “Busy-Body” essays (1728–1729); many of the news articles and essays he penned after he purchased the failing Pennsylvania Gazette (which eventually became the most widely read newspaper in the colonies); and various political satires, pamphlets, and personal correspondence written while he lived in Philadelphia from 1726 to 1757. The book concludes with material he published while a diplomat in London from 1757 to 1775 (including letters to the press, satires, and pamphlets).

Controversial in his own time, and the subject of vigorous debate ever since – to Matthew Arnold he exemplified “victorious good sense,” while to D. H. Lawrence he was “the first dummy American” – Franklin emerges in this collection as a figure of extraordinary complexity for readers to discover, consider, and appreciate anew.

Benjamin Franklin’s Last Bet by Michael Meyer

Benjamin Franklin was not a gambling man. But at the end of his illustrious life, the Founder allowed himself a final wager on the survival of the United States: a gift of two thousand pounds to Boston and Philadelphia, to be lent out to tradesmen over the next two centuries to jump-start their careers. Each loan would be repaid with interest over ten years. If all went according to Franklin’s inventive scheme, the accrued final payout in 1991 would be a windfall.

In this revelatory treat among books on Benjamin Franklin and his business dealings, Michael Meyer traces the evolution of these twin funds as they age alongside America itself, bankrolling woodworkers and silversmiths, trade schools and space races. Over time, Franklin’s wager was misused, neglected, and contested – but never wholly extinguished. With charm and inquisitive flair, Meyer shows how Franklin’s stake in the “leather-apron” class remains in play to this day, and offers an inspiring blueprint for prosperity in our modern era of growing wealth disparity and social divisions.

Poor Richard’s Almanack

Poor Richard’s Almanack  (sometimes  Almanac ) was a yearly almanac published by Benjamin Franklin, who adopted the pseudonym of “Poor Richard” or “Richard Saunders” for this purpose. The publication appeared continually from 1732 to 1758. It sold exceptionally well for a pamphlet published in the Thirteen Colonies. This is a faithful reproduction of the original Peter Pauper Press edition of Poor Richard’s Almanack, circa 1950, the current version contains the same colorful woodcuts and 18th-century design of the original.

If you enjoyed this guide to essential books on Benjamin Franklin, check out our list of The 10 Best Books on President George Washington !

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Benjamin Franklin

By: History.com Editors

Updated: June 25, 2024 | Original: November 9, 2009

One of the leading figures of early American history, Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was a statesman, author, publisher, scientist, inventor and diplomat. Born into a Boston family of modest means, Franklin had little formal education. He went on to start a successful printing business in Philadelphia and grew wealthy. Franklin was deeply active in public affairs in his adopted city, where he helped launch a lending library, hospital and college and garnered acclaim for his experiments with electricity, among other projects. During the American Revolution , he served in the Second Continental Congress and helped draft the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He also negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War (1775-83). In 1787, in his final significant act of public service, he was a delegate to the convention that produced the U.S. Constitution .

Benjamin Franklin’s Early Years

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in colonial Boston. His father, Josiah Franklin (1657-1745), a native of England, was a candle and soap maker who married twice and had 17 children. Franklin’s mother was Abiah Folger (1667-1752) of Nantucket, Massachusetts , Josiah’s second wife. Franklin was the eighth of Abiah and Josiah’s 10 offspring.

Did you know? Benjamin Franklin is the only Founding Father  to have signed all four of the key documents establishing the U.S.: the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Treaty of Alliance with France (1778), the Treaty of Paris establishing peace with Great Britain (1783) and the U.S. Constitution (1787).

Franklin’s formal education was limited and ended when he was 10; however, he was an avid reader and taught himself to become a skilled writer. In 1718, at age 12, he was apprenticed to his older brother James, a Boston printer. By age 16, Franklin was contributing essays (under the pseudonym Silence Dogood) to a newspaper published by his brother. At age 17, Franklin ran away from his apprenticeship to Philadelphia, where he found work as a printer. In late 1724, he traveled to London, England, and again found employment in the printing business.

11 Surprising Facts About Benjamin Franklin

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Benjamin Franklin’s Kite Experiment: What Do We Know?

Surprisingly little.

Benjamin Franklin: Printer and Publisher

Benjamin Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1726, and two years later opened a printing shop. The business became highly successful producing a range of materials, including government pamphlets, books and currency. In 1729, Franklin became the owner and publisher of a colonial newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette , which proved popular—and to which he contributed much of the content, often using pseudonyms. Franklin achieved fame and further financial success with “Poor Richard’s Almanack,” which he published every year from 1733 to 1758. The almanac became known for its witty sayings, which often had to do with the importance of diligence and frugality, such as “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”

In 1730, Franklin began living with Deborah Read (c. 1705-74), the daughter of his former Philadelphia landlady, as his common-law wife. Read’s first husband had abandoned her; however, due to bigamy laws, she and Franklin could not have an official wedding ceremony. Franklin and Read had a son, Francis Folger Franklin (1732-36), who died of smallpox at age 4, and a daughter, Sarah Franklin Bache (1743-1808). Franklin had another son, William Franklin (c. 1730-1813), who was born out of wedlock. William Franklin served as the last colonial governor of New Jersey , from 1763 to 1776, and remained loyal to the British during the American Revolution . He died in exile in England.

Benjamin Franklin and Philadelphia

As Franklin’s printing business prospered, he became increasingly involved in civic affairs. Starting in the 1730s, he helped establish a number of community organizations in Philadelphia, including a lending library (it was founded in 1731, a time when books weren’t widely available in the colonies, and remained the largest U.S. public library until the 1850s), the city’s first fire company , a police patrol and the American Philosophical Society , a group devoted to the sciences and other scholarly pursuits. 

Franklin also organized the Pennsylvania militia, raised funds to build a city hospital and spearheaded a program to pave and light city streets. Additionally, Franklin was instrumental in the creation of the Academy of Philadelphia, a college which opened in 1751 and became known as the University of Pennsylvania in 1791.

Franklin also was a key figure in the colonial postal system. In 1737, the British appointed him postmaster of Philadelphia, and he went on to become, in 1753, joint postmaster general for all the American colonies. In this role he instituted various measures to improve mail service; however, the British dismissed him from the job in 1774 because he was deemed too sympathetic to colonial interests. In July 1775, the Continental Congress appointed Franklin the first postmaster general of the United States, giving him authority over all post offices from Massachusetts to Georgia . He held this position until November 1776, when he was succeeded by his son-in-law. (The first U.S. postage stamps, issued on July 1, 1847, featured images of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington .)

Benjamin Franklin's Inventions

In 1748, Franklin, then 42 years old, had expanded his printing business throughout the colonies and become successful enough to stop working. Retirement allowed him to concentrate on public service and also pursue more fully his longtime interest in science. In the 1740s, he conducted experiments that contributed to the understanding of electricity, and invented the lightning rod, which protected buildings from fires caused by lightning. In 1752, he conducted his famous kite experiment and demonstrated that lightning is electricity. Franklin also coined a number of electricity-related terms, including battery, charge and conductor.

In addition to electricity, Franklin studied a number of other topics, including ocean currents, meteorology, causes of the common cold and refrigeration. He developed the Franklin stove, which provided more heat while using less fuel than other stoves, and bifocal eyeglasses, which allow for distance and reading use. In the early 1760s, Franklin invented a musical instrument called the glass armonica. Composers such as Ludwig Beethoven (1770-1827) and Wolfgang Mozart (1756-91) wrote music for Franklin’s armonica; however, by the early part of the 19th century, the once-popular instrument had largely fallen out of use.

Benjamin Franklin and the American Revolution

In 1754, at a meeting of colonial representatives in Albany, New York , Franklin proposed a plan for uniting the colonies under a national congress. Although his Albany Plan was rejected, it helped lay the groundwork for the Articles of Confederation , which became the first constitution of the United States when ratified in 1781.

In 1757, Franklin traveled to London as a representative of the Pennsylvania Assembly, to which he was elected in 1751. Over several years, he worked to settle a tax dispute and other issues involving descendants of William Penn (1644-1718), the owners of the colony of Pennsylvania. After a brief period back in the U.S., Franklin lived primarily in London until 1775. While he was abroad, the British government began, in the mid-1760s, to impose a series of regulatory measures to assert greater control over its American colonies. In 1766, Franklin testified in the British Parliament against the Stamp Act of 1765, which required that all legal documents, newspapers, books, playing cards and other printed materials in the American colonies carry a tax stamp. Although the Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, additional regulatory measures followed, leading to ever-increasing anti-British sentiment and eventual armed uprising in the American colonies .

Franklin returned to Philadelphia in May 1775, shortly after the Revolutionary War (1775-83) had begun, and was selected to serve as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, America’s governing body at the time. In 1776, he was part of the five-member committee that helped draft the Declaration of Independence , in which the 13 American colonies declared their freedom from British rule. That same year, Congress sent Franklin to France to enlist that nation’s help with the Revolutionary War. In February 1778, the French signed a military alliance with America and went on to provide soldiers, supplies and money that proved critical to America’s victory in the war.

As minister to France starting in 1778, Franklin helped negotiate and draft the 1783  Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War.

Benjamin Franklin’s Later Years

In 1785, Franklin left France and returned once again to Philadelphia. In 1787, he was a Pennsylvania delegate to the Constitutional Convention. (The 81-year-old Franklin was the convention’s oldest delegate.) At the end of the convention, in September 1787, he urged his fellow delegates to support the heavily debated new document. The U.S. Constitution was ratified by the required nine states in June 1788, and George Washington (1732-99) was inaugurated as America’s first president in April 1789.

Franklin died a year later, at age 84, on April 17, 1790, in Philadelphia. Following a funeral that was attended by an estimated 20,000 people, he was buried in Philadelphia’s Christ Church cemetery. In his will, he left money to Boston and Philadelphia, which was later used to establish a trade school and a science museum and fund scholarships and other community projects.

More than 200 years after his death, Franklin remains one of the most celebrated figures in U.S. history. His image appears on the $100 bill, and towns, schools and businesses across America are named for him.

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Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin is best known as one of the Founding Fathers who never served as president but was a respected inventor, publisher, scientist and diplomat.

Who Was Benjamin Franklin?

Quick facts, silence dogood, living in london, wife and children, life in philadelphia, poor richard's almanack, scientist and inventor, electricity, election to the government, stamp act and declaration of independence, life in paris, drafting the u.s. constitution, accomplishments.

Benjamin Franklin was a Founding Father and a polymath, inventor, scientist, printer, politician, freemason and diplomat. Franklin helped to draft the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution , and he negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War .

His scientific pursuits included investigations into electricity, mathematics and mapmaking. A writer known for his wit and wisdom, Franklin also published Poor Richard’s Almanack , invented bifocal glasses and organized the first successful American lending library.

FULL NAME: Benjamin Franklin BORN: January 17, 1706 DIED: April 17, 1790 BIRTHPLACE: Boston, Massachusetts SPOUSE: Deborah Read (1730-1774) CHILDREN: William, Francis, Sarah ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Capricorn

Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston, in what was then known as the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Franklin’s father, English-born soap and candlemaker Josiah Franklin, had seven children with first wife, Anne Child, and 10 more with second wife, Abiah Folger. Franklin was his 15th child and youngest son.

Franklin learned to read at an early age, and despite his success at the Boston Latin School, he stopped his formal schooling at 10 to work full-time in his cash-strapped father’s candle and soap shop. Dipping wax and cutting wicks didn’t fire the young boy’s imagination, however.

Perhaps to dissuade him from going to sea as one of his other sons had done, Josiah apprenticed 12-year-old Franklin at the print shop run by his older brother James.

Although James mistreated and frequently beat his younger brother, Franklin learned a great deal about newspaper publishing and adopted a similar brand of subversive politics under the printer’s tutelage.

When James refused to publish any of his brother’s writing, 16-year-old Franklin adopted the pseudonym Mrs. Silence Dogood, and “her” 14 imaginative and witty letters delighted readers of his brother’s newspaper, The New England Courant . James grew angry, however, when he learned that his apprentice had penned the letters.

Tired of his brother’s “harsh and tyrannical” behavior, Franklin fled Boston in 1723 although he had three years remaining on a legally binding contract with his master.

He escaped to New York before settling in Philadelphia and began working with another printer. Philadelphia became his home base for the rest of his life.

Encouraged by Pennsylvania Governor William Keith to set up his own print shop, Franklin left for London in 1724 to purchase supplies from stationers, booksellers and printers. When the teenager arrived in England, however, he felt duped when Keith’s letters of introduction never arrived as promised.

Although forced to find work at London’s print shops, Franklin took full advantage of the city’s pleasures—attending theater performances, mingling with the locals in coffee houses and continuing his lifelong passion for reading.

A self-taught swimmer who crafted his own wooden flippers, Franklin performed long-distance swims on the Thames River. (In 1968, he was inducted as an honorary member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame .)

In 1725 Franklin published his first pamphlet, "A Dissertation upon Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain," which argued that humans lack free will and, thus, are not morally responsible for their actions. (Franklin later repudiated this thought and burned all but one copy of the pamphlet still in his possession.)

In 1723, after Franklin moved from Boston to Philadelphia, he lodged at the home of John Read, where he met and courted his landlord’s daughter Deborah.

After Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1726, he discovered that Deborah had married in the interim, only to be abandoned by her husband just months after the wedding.

The future Founding Father rekindled his romance with Deborah Read and he took her as his common-law wife in 1730. Around that time, Franklin fathered a son, William, out of wedlock who was taken in by the couple. The pair’s first son, Francis, was born in 1732, but he died four years later of smallpox. The couple’s only daughter, Sarah, was born in 1743.

The two times Franklin moved to London, in 1757 and again in 1764, it was without Deborah, who refused to leave Philadelphia. His second stay was the last time the couple saw each other. Franklin would not return home before Deborah passed away in 1774 from a stroke at the age of 66.

In 1762, Franklin’s son William took office as New Jersey’s royal governor, a position his father arranged through his political connections in the British government. Franklin’s later support for the patriot cause put him at odds with his loyalist son. When the New Jersey militia stripped William Franklin of his post as royal governor and imprisoned him in 1776, his father chose not to intercede on his behalf.

After his return to Philadelphia in 1726, Franklin held varied jobs including bookkeeper, shopkeeper and currency cutter. In 1728 he returned to a familiar trade - printing paper currency - in New Jersey before partnering with a friend to open his own print shop in Philadelphia that published government pamphlets and books.

In 1730 Franklin was named the official printer of Pennsylvania. By that time, he had formed the “Junto,” a social and self-improvement study group for young men that met every Friday to debate morality, philosophy and politics.

When Junto members sought to expand their reading choices, Franklin helped to incorporate America’s first subscription library, the Library Company of Philadelphia, in 1731.

In 1729 Franklin published another pamphlet, "A Modest Enquiry into The Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency," which advocated for an increase in the money supply to stimulate the economy.

With the cash Franklin earned from his money-related treatise, he was able to purchase The Pennsylvania Gazette newspaper from a former boss. Under his ownership, the struggling newspaper was transformed into the most widely-read paper in the colonies and became one of the first to turn a profit.

He had less luck in 1732 when he launched the first German-language newspaper in the colonies, the short-lived Philadelphische Zeitung . Nonetheless, Franklin’s prominence and success grew during the 1730s.

Franklin amassed real estate and businesses and organized the volunteer Union Fire Company to counteract dangerous fire hazards in Philadelphia. He joined the Freemasons in 1731 and was eventually elected grand master of the Masons of Pennsylvania.

At the end of 1732, Franklin published the first edition of Poor Richard’s Almanack .

In addition to weather forecasts, astronomical information and poetry, the almanac—which Franklin published for 25 consecutive years—included proverbs and Franklin’s witty maxims such as “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” and “He that lies down with dogs, shall rise up with fleas.”

In the 1740s, Franklin expanded into science and entrepreneurship. His 1743 pamphlet "A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge" underscored his interests and served as the founding document of the American Philosophical Society , the first scientific society in the colonies.

By 1748, the 42-year-old Franklin had become one of the richest men in Pennsylvania, and he became a soldier in the Pennsylvania militia. He turned his printing business over to a partner to give himself more time to conduct scientific experiments. He moved into a new house in 1748.

Franklin was a prolific inventor and scientist who was responsible for the following inventions:

• Franklin stove : Franklin’s first invention, created around 1740, provided more heat with less fuel.
• Bifocals : Anyone tired of switching between two pairs of glasses understands why Franklin developed bifocals that could be used for both distance and reading.
• Armonica : Franklin’s inventions took on a musical bent when, in 1761, he commenced development on the armonica, a musical instrument composed of spinning glass bowls on a shaft. Both Ludwig van Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed music for the strange instrument.
• Rocking chair
• Flexible catheter
• American penny

Franklin also discovered the Gulf Stream after his return trip across the Atlantic Ocean from London in 1775. He began to speculate about why the westbound trip always took longer, and his measurements of ocean temperatures led to his discovery of the existence of the Gulf Stream. This knowledge served to cut two weeks off the previous sailing time from Europe to North America.

Franklin even devised a new “scheme” for the alphabet that proposed to eliminate the letters C, J, Q, W, X and Y as redundant.

Franklin’s self-education earned him honorary degrees from Harvard , Yale , England’s University of Oxford and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

In 1749, Franklin wrote a pamphlet concerning the education of youth in Pennsylvania that resulted in the establishment of the Academy of Philadelphia, now the University of Pennsylvania .

In 1752, Franklin conducted the famous kite-and-key experiment to demonstrate that lightning was electricity and soon after invented the lightning rod.

His investigations into electrical phenomena were compiled into “Experiments and Observations on Electricity,” published in England in 1751. He coined new electricity-related terms that are still part of the lexicon, such as battery, charge, conductor and electrify.

In 1748, Franklin acquired the first of several enslaved people to work in his new home and in the print shop. Franklin’s views on slavery evolved over the following decades to the point that he considered the institution inherently evil, and thus, he freed his enslaved people in the 1760s.

Later in life, he became more vociferous in his opposition to slavery. Franklin served as president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and wrote many tracts urging the abolition of slavery . In 1790 he petitioned the U.S. Congress to end slavery and the trade.

Franklin became a member of Philadelphia’s city council in 1748 and a justice of the peace the following year. In 1751, he was elected a Philadelphia alderman and a representative to the Pennsylvania Assembly, a position to which he was re-elected annually until 1764. Two years later, he accepted a royal appointment as deputy postmaster general of North America.

When the French and Indian War began in 1754, Franklin called on the colonies to band together for their common defense, which he dramatized in The Pennsylvania Gazette with a cartoon of a snake cut into sections with the caption “Join or Die.”

He represented Pennsylvania at the Albany Congress, which adopted his proposal to create a unified government for the 13 colonies. Franklin’s “Plan of Union,” however, failed to be ratified by the colonies.

In 1757 Franklin was appointed by the Pennsylvania Assembly to serve as the colony’s agent in England. Franklin sailed to London to negotiate a long-standing dispute with the proprietors of the colony, the Penn family, taking William and his two enslaved people but leaving behind Deborah and Sarah.

He spent much of the next two decades in London, where he was drawn to the high society and intellectual salons of the cosmopolitan city.

After Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1762, he toured the colonies to inspect its post offices.

After Franklin lost his seat in the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1764, he returned to London as the colony’s agent. Franklin returned at a tense time in Great Britain’s relations with the American colonies.

The British Parliament ’s passage of the Stamp Act in March 1765 imposed a highly unpopular tax on all printed materials for commercial and legal use in the American colonies. Since Franklin purchased stamps for his printing business and nominated a friend as the Pennsylvania stamp distributor, some colonists thought Franklin implicitly supported the new tax, and rioters in Philadelphia even threatened his house.

Franklin’s passionate denunciation of the tax in testimony before Parliament, however, contributed to the Stamp Act’s repeal in 1766.

Two years later he penned a pamphlet, “Causes of the American Discontents before 1768,” and he soon became an agent for Massachusetts, Georgia and New Jersey as well. Franklin fanned the flames of revolution by sending the private letters of Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson to America.

The letters called for the restriction of the rights of colonists, which caused a firestorm after their publication by Boston newspapers. In the wake of the scandal, Franklin was removed as deputy postmaster general, and he returned to North America in 1775 as a devotee of the patriot cause.

In 1775, Franklin was elected to the Second Continental Congress and appointed the first postmaster general for the colonies. In 1776, he was appointed commissioner to Canada and was one of five men to draft the Declaration of Independence.

After voting for independence in 1776, Franklin was elected commissioner to France, making him essentially the first U.S. ambassador to France. He set sail to negotiate a treaty for the country’s military and financial support.

Much has been made of Franklin’s years in Paris, chiefly his rich romantic life in his nine years abroad after Deborah’s death. At the age of 74, he even proposed marriage to a widow named Madame Helvetius, but she rejected him.

Franklin was embraced in France as much, if not more, for his wit and intellectual standing in the scientific community as for his status as a political appointee from a fledgling country.

His reputation facilitated respect and entrees into closed communities, including the court of King Louis XVI . And it was his adept diplomacy that led to the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which ended the Revolutionary War. After almost a decade in France, Franklin returned to the United States in 1785.

Franklin was elected in 1787 to represent Pennsylvania at the Constitutional Convention , which drafted and ratified the new U.S. Constitution.

The oldest delegate at the age of 81, Franklin initially supported proportional representation in Congress, but he fashioned the Great Compromise that resulted in proportional representation in the House of Representatives and equal representation by state in the Senate . In 1787, he helped found the Society for Political Inquiries, dedicated to improving knowledge of government.

Franklin was never elected president of the United States. However, he played an important role as one of eight Founding Fathers, helping draft the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

He also served several roles in the government: He was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly and appointed as the first postmaster general for the colonies as well as diplomat to France. He was a true polymath and entrepreneur, which is no doubt why he is often called the "First American."

Franklin died on April 17, 1790, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the home of his daughter, Sarah Bache. He was 84, suffered from gout and had complained of ailments for some time, completing the final codicil to his will a little more than a year and a half prior to his death.

He bequeathed most of his estate to Sarah and very little to his son William, whose opposition to the patriot cause still stung him. He also donated money that funded scholarships, schools and museums in Boston and Philadelphia.

Franklin had actually written his epitaph when he was 22: “The body of B. Franklin, Printer (Like the Cover of an Old Book Its Contents torn Out And Stript of its Lettering and Gilding) Lies Here, Food for Worms. But the Work shall not be Lost; For it will (as he Believ'd) Appear once More In a New and More Elegant Edition Revised and Corrected By the Author.”

In the end, however, the stone on the grave he shared with his wife in the cemetery of Philadelphia’s Christ Church reads simply, “Benjamin and Deborah Franklin 1790.”

The image of Franklin that has come down through history, along with his likeness on the $100 bill, is something of a caricature—a bald man in a frock coat holding a kite string with a key attached. But the scope of things he applied himself to was so broad it seems a shame.

Founding universities and libraries, the post office, shaping the foreign policy of the fledgling United States, helping to draft the Declaration of Independence, publishing newspapers, warming us with the Franklin stove, pioneering advances in science, letting us see with bifocals and lighting our way with electricity—all from a man who never finished school but shaped his life through abundant reading and experience, a strong moral compass and an unflagging commitment to civic duty. Franklin illuminated corners of American life that still have the lingering glow of his attention.

• A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.
• Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.
• From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books.
• So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.
• In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps, often in this history; for, even if I could conceive that I had compleatly overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.
• Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day.
• There never was a good war or a bad peace.
• In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.
• Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins.
• He does not possess wealth, it possesses him.
• Experience keeps a dear school, yet fools will learn in no other.

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9 Books About Benjamin Franklin, “The First American”

Read up on the man who defined the American ethos.

• Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Diplomat. Scientist. Writer. Philosopher. Founding Father of the United States. The man who flew a kite and a key in a storm and discovered electricity. Benjamin Franklin’s fascinating and eventful life makes for enthralling reading, especially in our own politically turbulent, rapidly changing times. It’s understandable that readers would seek out material on a figure who served as a force of change in his own times. But where does one start? 

Related: The History of Freemasonry, a Fraternal Organization Fraught with Conspiracy Theories

There is an abundance of biographies available on Franklin and the accomplishments and controversies that made up his 84 years. Below are nine remarkable and highly recommended biographies written by trustworthy historians. With unique styles and approaches to 18th-century American politics and scientific advancements, each author can sign their name to their work as proudly as Franklin signed his to the 1776 Declaration of Independence. 

The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 1

By J.A. Leo Lemay

The sheer size of the volumes from Lemay’s series may seem daunting at first, but if you're seeking out a richly detailed and thorough biography, this is the one for you. The three volumes divide Benjamin Franklin’s life into the following time categories: 1706-1730, 1730-1747, and 1748-1757. Each volume specifically focuses on a role Franklin played in his lifetime, with the first being his work as a journalist, the second being his life as a printer and publisher of monumental works, and the third being his triple-act as a solider, scientist, and politician (the job titles he is most famous for). It's up to you to decide which of Franklin’s illustrious careers you would like to commit your attention to. 

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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

By Walter Isaacson

This lengthy biography was produced by a professor of history and seasoned biographer of other innovators, including Leonardo da Vinci , Albert Einstein , and Steve Jobs. Isaacson’s approach to Franklin’s life is that of a biographer who appreciates and admires geniuses. 

This biography explores the broader spectrum of Franklin’s scientific and governmental achievements, from his discovery of electricity to his establishment of local lending libraries to his project of redesigning kitchen stoves so they wouldn’t smoke so much. Isaacson presents Franklin as a full enterprising spirit and human being, just as he does with his other subjects. 

Related: You Know the Founding Fathers, Now Meet the Founding Mothers

Young Benjamin Franklin: The Birth of Ingenuity

By Nick Bunker

This biography is an ideal choice for readers and researchers who are looking for the psychological elements that shaped Franklin into a Founding Father. It was written by a Pulitzer Prize finalist who tackles his subject matter with intensity and insight. 

This biography, as the title suggests, focuses primarily on young Franklin’s struggles to navigate through the brutal worlds of imperialist England and colonial-age America, which was not so much an idealistic promised land as raw material to be molded and reshaped by strong-willed individuals with big ideas. The book ends when Franklin is age 41 and is in the process of discovering electricity.

Benjamin Franklin in London

By George Goodwin

From 1724-1726 Franklin was a printer’s apprentice in London, and from 1757-1775 he called Britain’s capital his home yet again. It was in London during this second stretch where he would defend American interests and socialize with some of the era’s great minds, such as Enlightenment philosopher David Hume and physician and inventor Erasmus Darwin. This biography explores Franklin’s inner tug-of-war and how he teetered between his identity as an Anglophile and his role as an American representative. Goodwin’s work is an interesting journey through Franklin’s divided locations and principles. 

Related: 14 Little-Known Facts About America's Founding Fathers

The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin

By H.W. Brands

This biography was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, written by a well-respected professor of history. Its wealth of source material includes Franklin’s letters and correspondence, some of which has never been published before. Like Lemay’s work, this book is profound and accurate, leading readers by the hand through Franklin’s journey from obscurity to notoriety. Unlike some of the others included on this list, the book doesn’t focus on one particular aspect of Franklin’s life, but on his status as a Renaissance man of his time, who thrived in science, publishing, travel, the military, and politics alike. 

By Thomas Fleming

Thomas Fleming presents Franklin as a man of courage and innovation during a time when society was undergoing a dramatic transition into modernity and industrialization. This book particularly finds its grounding in Franklin’s political and scientific breakthroughs, such as his discovery of electricity and his part in America’s road to independence. As an ambassador he was also essential in the process of maintaining shaky relationships with the British Empire and the rest of Europe during these tempestuous times. This book is about a man brave enough to face the wrath of kings and diplomats as well as the wrath of the natural world. 

Related: 9 Fascinating Books About the Founding Fathers of America

A Little Revenge: Benjamin Franklin and His Son

By Willard Sterne Randall

What is a historical figure’s life without a bit of family drama? In the spirit of American freedom and a break from age-old traditions, Franklin entered into a common-law marriage with a woman named Deborah Read and also conducted love affairs on the side. One of these affairs produced his illegitimate son William Franklin, whose animosity with his father is the center of this account. 

Though Franklin had hoped, and almost expected, that William would follow in his footsteps and fight for American independence, William stayed rigidly loyal to the British crown, leading to imprisonment, exile, and a soured, never-resolved relationship between father and son. This book is a good choice for readers interested in the more scandalous side of Franklin’s personal life. 

Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father

By Thomas S. Kidd

With Franklin’s public and historic image being that of a man of science, his religious faith, or lack thereof, is an aspect of his life that is often overlooked. This account tackles the subject head-on. Relying on Franklin’s letters, essays, and other personal writings, the book explores Franklin’s relationships with devout family members and acquaintances whose influence partially bound him to his strict Puritan upbringing, even as he was embracing Revolutionary ideas and upheavals. 

Throughout his life, Franklin’s faith swayed, and he tended to lean towards skepticism and deism, meaning that he believed it was humans, not God, who influenced and manipulated events on Earth. It was this philosophy that likely allowed him the brashness to fly a kite in a storm. 

Related: 6 Historical Political Cartoons That Capture the Hopes and Fears of the Past

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

By Benjamin Franklin

And finally, here is a version of events “straight from the horse’s mouth,” as the English idiom goes. Written during the author-politician’s retirement years, between 1771 and 1790 (the year of his death), this is a first-person retelling of a most extraordinary life. Franklin leads his readers from his sheltered upbringing in Boston to his ardent participation in the American Revolution. Franklin uses his autobiography as a platform for penning his own wisdom and advice for leading a productive and virtuous life, as he abhorred idleness and complacency above anything else. Though the shortest book on the list, it nevertheless has had the longest and largest impact on American history. 

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Reading the Best Biographies of All Time

Review of “The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin” by H. W. Brands

20 Tuesday Aug 2019

Posted by Steve in Leaders / Politicians

≈ 25 Comments

American history , Ben Franklin , biographies , book reviews , H.W. Brands , Pulitzer Prize nominee

H. W. Brands’ “The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin” was published in 2000 and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Brands is a professor of history and government at the University of Texas and a prolific author. He has written nearly three-dozen books including biographies of Andrew Jackson, Ulysses Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR and Ronald Reagan (each of which I have read and reviewed).

Given its encyclopedic breadth and scholarly bent, “The First American” has largely supplanted Carl Van Doren’s 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning classic as the standard biography of Franklin.  With 716 pages of text and studious attention to every major facet of Franklin’s unusually varied and interesting life, Brands’ biography is comprehensive, detailed and incredibly thoughtful.

It is quickly obvious that this distinguished Founding Father is a somewhat elusive biographical subject – a man of many talents who remains enigmatic due to his apparent affinity for contradictions and failure to chronicle his own innermost thoughts during a life situated on the front row of so much early American history.

Nevertheless, Brands is able to craft a rich narrative which explores the familiar features of Franklin’s life and captures many of the nuances which will have eluded readers who have never undertaken a serious study of the man. Among the many excellent aspects of this biography are stories of young Franklin’s journey to Philadelphia from Boston, his earliest weeks as an up-and-coming printer and his introduction to a notoriously unreliable governor of Pennsylvania.

A later chapter devoted largely to chronicling his playful pursuit of a number of (much younger) French ladies and the ongoing exploration of Franklin’s relationship with his oldest son are incredibly revealing.  But the most thought-provoking observations are those related to Franklin’s lifelong efforts to maintain allegiance to the American colonies while preserving his friendly status – and strong personal relationships – in Britain.

But as interesting as this book can be, it is neither an effortless nor a particularly carefree read. The author’s writing style is penetrating and thoughtful but not consistently captivating or colorful. And because it possesses a distinct scholarly quality some readers will find it a bit too erudite (if not abstruse).

In addition, Brands helpfully supplies background and context which can be useful for anyone unfamiliar with 18th century history. But occasional context quickly morphs into relentless tangents which distract from the narrative and cause the reader to lose sight of the bigger picture. Finally, despite the author’s efforts to paint a robust and vibrant portrait of his subject, Benjamin Franklin remains stubbornly perplexing and mysterious after more than seven-hundred pages.

Overall, H. W. Brands’ “The First American” is a solid biography of one of America’s most fascinating Founding Fathers. Benjamin Franklin’s eccentricities and contradictions seem to confound even the most determined of biographers. Nevertheless, readers with an interest in early American life – or with one of America’s most intriguing personalities – will find this biography compelling and enlightening.

Overall rating: 3¾ stars

25 thoughts on “Review of “The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin” by H. W. Brands”

August 20, 2019 at 9:24 am

How does this one compare to Isaacson’s? Thanks.

August 20, 2019 at 9:27 am

I haven’t read Isaacson’s bio of Ben Franklin yet but understand from some who have that it is a bit “breezier,” somewhat less detailed and perhaps even more forgiving of his imperfections.

August 20, 2019 at 10:23 am

I’ve not read Brands, but thought Issacson’s masterful. I know Richard Brookhiser STILL regard Van Doren as the best Franklin bio though. I think he said it was so good it’s why he’s not written one of his own.

August 22, 2019 at 10:35 pm

I just finished Isaacson’s and found it good, but not engrossing or enthralling. He missed some stuff that I really wanted to know about (bifocals) and went into detail on some areas that I thought had already been covered, or I just found not that interesting.

August 20, 2019 at 10:06 am

I think the key to understanding Brands’ biographies is knowing that once upon a time he proposed writing a history of the U.S. Publisher(s) rejected the idea. In its place Brand has written (mostly presidential) biographies spanning the country’s history. They focus on one person, of course, but it’s not surprising they’re filled with contextual information.

August 20, 2019 at 11:43 am

I didn’t realize that about Brands – fascinating. It certainly helps explain why his bio of Ben Franklin occasionally seems more like an exploration of Pennsylvania state politics during the 1750s, or an analysis of the French and Indian War, etc.

August 20, 2019 at 4:07 pm

I believe his book American Colossus was intended for the Oxford History of the United States but the publishers disliked the end product and turned them down. I haven’t read that one but I’d probably enjoy it more than Richard White’s The Republic for Which It Stands, which ultimately took its place.

August 20, 2019 at 5:50 pm

Richard White’s book was the only volume of the Oxford series that I didn’t buy. A quick look through revealed it to have quite a strident, ideological bent. I purchased American Colossus instead and am happy that I did.

August 20, 2019 at 6:47 pm

It is both very ideological (which I wouldn’t necessarily mind if it were done better) and curiously dated (his portrayal of Grant’s administration of a sinkhole of corruption and incompetence). Some interesting nuggets but you’re not missing anything crucial.

August 22, 2019 at 8:24 am

I read American Colossus years ago and enjoyed it very much. I’ve always liked learning about the Gilded Age, and this book didn’t fail to disappoint. If you like Brands, which I do, and you like the Gilded Age as well, try The Reckless Decade. It’s a good read.

August 20, 2019 at 12:16 pm

I got to see H. W. Brands speak last year, and he was a wonderful speaker. I just finished his book about Clay, Wester and Calhoun. I really enjoyed it and thought that it was the best book I have read about the period of American history between the War of 1812 and the CIvil War.

https://www.npr.org/2018/11/21/669557874/heirs-of-the-founders-looks-at-efforts-to-stave-off-civil-war

August 20, 2019 at 2:45 pm

I recently read Robert Remini’s take on Henry Clay which was good but not as great as I had hoped. I’ve got a bio of Clay, Calhoun and Webster by Merrill Peterson on my “to read” list but I may have to check out Brands’s…

August 20, 2019 at 5:38 pm

I’ve seen Esmond Wright’s “Franklin of Philadelphia” frequently described as the standard scholarly bio of Franklin. Any thoughts?

August 20, 2019 at 6:42 pm

I have four Franklin bios on my “master” list to read (well, one down…three to go) and two more on my “shadow” list, including Wright’s book which you refer to. The primary reason I didn’t include it in the more actionable list is that I’ve haven’t been able to get any real insight into what might make it “special.” And if anyone has suggested it replaced Van Doren’s as the “go to” biography of Franklin I simply missed it.

October 14, 2019 at 10:39 am

Hi Steve – thanks for all you’ve done with this and the Best Presidential Bios site. I notice there haven’t been many updates recently. I hope all is ok and just wanted to offer a note of appreciation for the work that’s gone into this effort.

October 14, 2019 at 10:44 am

Thanks – have been overseas on an assignment and am just recently back. I’m currently updating the new releases page on my presidential-focused site and then will do the same here. Then I need to restart (but probably from the beginning) the Thomas Jefferson biography I had almost completed when I “skipped town”…!

October 15, 2019 at 12:13 am

Glad to hear it! And obviously no expectations from your devoted readership – I can’t tell you how helpful it is as a guide (I’m currently making my way through the Jackson bios).

November 1, 2019 at 1:12 pm

Hi Steve- Thanks so much- Your reading list has been very helpful. I started on my path over 10 years ago and began reading biographies of all presidents but also some contemporaries like Franklin and also have read several of the books in the Oxford History of the United States series- each about 700- 900 pages and very well written. I am currently holding at McKinley as I wait for Stiles Book on TR that I am hoping will come out in the next 1-2 years.

In any case I am writing this message for 2 reasons. First to thank you for helping in picking biographies to read. I generally read one but occasionally 2 and your direction has been very helpful in many of these. Second I saw you are reading a biography of Meriwether Lewis and I wanted to highly recommend the book Undaunted Courage which is primarily a biography of Lewis but also a story of the expedition and has lots of information about the relationships between Lewis and Jefferson as well as between Lewis and Clark. A very good read.

November 9, 2019 at 8:13 am

Thanks for your note, and rest assured I not only have “Undaunted Courage” on my list – and in my library – but it is sitting on a bookshelf staring at me so it is ever-present…though I haven’t yet read it.

I will be very interested to see how the Stiles bio of TR turns out. He’s a phenomenally interesting character and it would be hard to write a dull book on him, but to perfectly capture the essence of his personality and adequately but not excessively document his life story is probably a challenge. My fingers are crossed this turns out to be great! In the meantime, if you just can’t resist tackling Teddy Roosevelt and don’t mind reading a second book on him later, you have plenty to choose from-

January 17, 2021 at 4:22 am

I’m curious how you would rank the Benjamin Franklin Biographies you have read thus far? I’ve been reading through your Presidential rankings and I was curious what you thought on this particular matter.

Also thanks for putting in all the work, I’ve already bought a ton (thank goodness for used Amazon copies) of biographies off your suggestion after having the idea of wanting to read about every president myself.

January 18, 2021 at 10:07 am

I’ve only read one Ben Franklin bio – one by HW Brands – but am planning to (eventually) read at least two more: Van Doren’s and Walter Isaacson’s. I’m also tempted to do a summary post on “The Best Bios of Ben Franklin” once I get through four or five…

January 20, 2021 at 11:36 am

Thanks for the reply. Do you have any inclination as to what 5 you think you’d end up wanting to read? I’ll do my own research on your suggestions to try and make a choice. Trying to decide if I want to plough through reading all the presidents first or if I want to read for example Washington through Jefferson/Monroe then branch off on interesting subjects/people around their time period like the Revolutionary War in general or Franklin/Hamilton/Knox etc.

Thanks for putting all this information Together. Just reading all of your reviews has been entertaining.

January 22, 2021 at 5:14 pm

In addition to Van Doren & Isaacson I would probably feel compelled to read Lemay’s 3-volume series, a biography written by James Srodes I’m told is pretty good and Gordon Wood’s book on Franklin.

January 22, 2021 at 7:40 pm

The primary limitation of Dr. Lemay’s series is that it only reaches 1757. You may want to consider adding Edmund Morgan’s “Benjamin Franklin” and/or Stacy Schiff’s “A Great Improvisation.”

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Top Five Books on Benjamin Franklin

What are the best books on the ever-fascinating founder Benjamin Franklin? As I have been writing a religious biography of Franklin for Yale University Press, I have been getting to know the vast literature on Franklin. Here are my suggestions for where to start.

2)  The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin , by Gordon Wood. Wood, one of our generation’s greatest historians, is able to separate the man from the myth and place Franklin in his eighteenth-century world.

3) Carl Van Doren, Benjamin Franklin . Still arguably the definitive and most readable of all Franklin biographies, Van Doren won the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for this book. It is an important predecessor to Walter Isaacson’s biography of Franklin – also eminently readable – which I might suggest as a bonus sixth addition to this list.

4) Jill Lepore, Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin . A stirring account of the much lesser-known life of Franklin’s sister Jane, an impoverished evangelical Christian who exercised great influence on Franklin, even though he neglected to mention her in the  Autobiography .

5) J.A. Leo Lemay,  The Life of Benjamin Franklin . 3 vols. The place to start for research on Franklin, this is the definitive biography of Franklin’s life through 1757. Lemay sadly died before finishing what was supposed to be a monumental seven-volume project.

What would you add or subtract from the list?

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Quick Biography of Benjamin Franklin

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Finding Benjamin Franklin: A Resource Guide

Franklin's autobiography, introduction.

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"Franklin gave us the definitive formation of the American Dream" —J. A. Leo Lemay

Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography is both an important historical document and Franklin's major literary work. It was not only the first autobiography to achieve widespread popularity, but after two hundred years remains one of the most enduringly popular examples of the genre ever written. As such, it provides not only the story of Franklin’s own remarkably influential career, but maps out a strategy for self-made success in the context of emerging American nationhood. The Autobiography is a major source for exploring Franklin’s ideas on wealth and virtue as well as his motivations in pursuing a long life of active civic participation. It is also uniquely useful as the story of a successful working printer in eighteenth-century North America, revealing much about the art and business of the printer's trade that is not documented with such coherence elsewhere.

Written over the course of several decades and never completed, Franklin's Autobiography is divided into four distinct sections that differ both in tone and in focus—though Franklin always intended the work to stand as a whole. As outlined by editors J. A. Leo Lemay and P. M. Zall , Part One was penned while Franklin was in England in July-August of 1771. This is also when Franklin most likely drew up his outline for the entire work. By the summer of 1782, both documents had been seen by a friend, Abel James, who wrote to Franklin urging him to resume the project. Franklin drafted Part Two in 1784 while living in France. Part Three, dating from 1788-89, was composed when a Franklin now in his eighties had, after a long and distinguished international career, returned home to settle his affairs. This is also when he added most of his revisions. The shortest section, Part Four, was written when Franklin was in poor health in the last few months of his life.

Part One of Franklin's memoir is addressed as a letter to Franklin's son William, perhaps as a literary conceit—and although the two would later become estranged over the events of the American Revolution, Franklin still preserved this aspect of the work. In fact, Revolutionary affairs figure little in the memoir. The four Autobiography sections completed by Franklin in his lifetime examine the earlier and formative periods of his life: his childhood and youth, his apprenticeship and flight to Philadelphia, his accomplishments as a printer and then as a scientist, and his civic involvements as a resident of Pennsylvania. Due to public interest in Franklin's later political accomplishments, most early printed editions of the Autobiography include added text written by others, which rounds out the story of Franklin's years as a national and international diplomat.

The Autobiography , known variously as a Life or Memoirs before the 1840s, has an unusual and complicated publication history, with several competing versions of the text in circulation at once. Franklin named his grandson William Temple Franklin as his literary executor, but Temple Franklin was slow to bring an authorized edition of Franklin's memoir to print. Soon after Franklin’s death in April, 1790, unauthorized extracts appeared in two Philadelphia magazines: Universal Asylum and Columbian Magazine by Henry Stuber (installments from May 1790 through June 1791) and American Museum by Matthew Carey (July and November, 1790). The first book-length edition appeared in French, produced in Paris in 1791—but this translation was based on an early copy of Franklin's manuscript and included only an unrevised version of Part One. Like the magazine pieces, it also contained biographical material of which Franklin was not the author.

A book-length English edition, The Private Life of the Late Benjamin Franklin , was published in London in 1793, a year after it had already appeared in German and Swedish . This English version was, however, a translation back into English from the 1791 French, so that the still-partial twice-translated text differed considerably from Franklin’s intended words. A second English retranslation appeared in London the same year, first in installments in Lady's Magazine , then as part of a two-volume set of Franklin's collected Works .  By 1794, American editions printed in New York , Philadelphia and elsewhere, again based on one or another of the retranslated versions, began to circulate. And so it went back and forth across versions, languages, translations and continents for another twenty-four years. A 1798 Vie de Benjamin Franklin , for example, translated into French the English retranslation of the earlier French version of Part One, but also included a directly translated Part Two, which had not yet appeared in English.

Although grandson William Temple Franklin's Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin of 1818 quickly became the standard version once it was available, it too was flawed. Mistakenly based on another still-incomplete copy of Franklin's manuscript, it did not include Franklin's final revisions of the text, or any of Part Four. Part Four first appeared in Mémoires sur la Vie de Benjamin Franklin , a Paris edition of 1828, available once again in French translation before it appeared in English.  It was not until 1868 and the publication of John Bigelow's Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin —at last based directly on Franklin's final manuscript—that all four parts of the work were at last printed together in their final form, and in English.

Please note: bibliographies and/or links to the items mentioned here are available in other sections of this guide:

• Franklin's Life and Autobiography Online.
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The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Paperback – March 1, 2019

• Print length 135 pages
• Language English
• Publication date March 1, 2019
• Dimensions 6 x 0.31 x 9 inches
• ISBN-10 1508475091
• ISBN-13 978-1508475095
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Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (March 1, 2019)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 135 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1508475091
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1508475095
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.4 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.31 x 9 inches
• #12 in Colonialism & Post-Colonialism
• #19 in American Revolution Biographies (Books)
• #142 in Political Leader Biographies

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