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Critical Review of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography

From the poverty and obscurity in which I was born

. . . , I have raised myself to a state of affluence and some degree of celebrity in the world. As constant good fortune has accompanied me even to an advanced period of life, my posterity will perhaps be desirous of learning the means . . . which . . . so well succeeded with me (1).

In other words, Franklin has succeeded because of those means, those means brought him the good fortune which led to that success, and now he is passing on those means to his son and whoever else wants to take similar advantage. Clearly, "affluence" and "celebrity" and "success" refers to economic gain and the power and fame associated in Franklin's case with that gain. This economic focus continues in general, underlies much of the practical wisdom for which Franklin is known, and marks the last page of the autobiography as well, in which the author discusses a specific legal case involving taxation, assessment of property, credit and paper money (158).

Franklin's "methods, data, and "research" in support of his conclusions are the experiences of his life, and, as such, are verifiable only when he presents facts which can be checked against other historical sources. However, the heart of the book does not consist of such checkable data, but rather of the practical wisdom Franklin offers as a means of achieving in life what he himself has a

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Critical Review of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 09:39, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1707202.html