Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography

Reading is a means to true freedom, raising the mind of the reader beyond what can be found in direct experience. This theme is one of those expressed by Benjamin Franklin in The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, a work that is especially interesting because it shows the themes we consider distinctively American and that those themes were prevalent in certain quarters from the beginning of the republic. One of those themes is education and the way education contributes to the ability of the individual to rise and succeed, no matter what level of society he was born into in the first place.

Benjamin Franklin was born to a Puritan household, and his father was a candlemaker. Franklin would become a different sort of craftsman and work as a printer before becoming a scientist, writer, statesman, and other occupations. Franklin expresses much of the American view of reading and writing as he shows how much can be learned from this process and how Americans can communicate with one another and with others. Franklin is always interested in promoting the importance of action as opposed to inaction, but reading is not seen as inaction but as a form of intellectual action. Education is a vital element in the American view of how to get ahead, and Franklin was a prime proponent of self-improvement and getting ahead. In his Autobiography, he refers to his delight upon finding a copy of the newspaper, the Spectator, which he bought and read over and over again and which he us

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, and so on just by deciding that he would do so. His education similarly shows how a man can create himself. Franklin was born to a Puritan father, a chandler (candlemaker), who had come to Boston from England in 1683. Franklin himself was selfeducated and wellread in John Locke, Lord Shaftesbury, Joseph Addison, and other Enlightenment writers. He learned from them to apply reason to his own life and to break with tradition when his ideals told him to do so. When he was young, he taught himself languages, read widely, and practiced writing for the public. When he moved from Boston to Philadelphia, he already had the kind of education associated with the upper classes, though he acquired this education largely on his own by reading. Another of the American characteristics that can be seen in his life is his Puritan capacity for hard work, constant self scrutiny, and the desire to better himself. In Franklin's case, these qualities helped him achieve wealth, respectability, and honor. In this book and others, Franklin tried to help other people become successful by sharing his insights. This book was for his son, but he also included these ideas in the continuing Poor Richard's Almanack from 1732 on, published thr

Category: History - B