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Benjamin Franklin

Chapter 22: THE AUTHOR
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About This Book

A chronological biography traces the subject's life from a modest New England childhood through apprenticeship and establishment as a printer and publisher, highlighting entrepreneurial ventures such as a lively newspaper and the Poor Richard persona, inquisitive experiments and practical inventions, and leadership in civic projects including a mutual-improvement club, a lending library, and involvement with fraternal orders. It follows growing political engagement—opposition to imperial policies, participation in debates leading to independence, and diplomatic service in Europe—and concludes with his later public roles and reflective old age. Emphasis falls on resourceful self-education, pragmatic civic virtue, and the mingling of scientific curiosity with public-minded reform.

P
Paine, Thomas, 119, 135-36, 138, 147, 162, 164, 178
Palmer (London printer), 25
Paper currency, 32
Paris, Ferdinand John, 77
Paris, France, 144, 161, 165
Paris, Treaty of (1763), 86
Paris, Treaty of (1783), 163
Passy, France, 151, 152, 155, 162, 163, 165, 167-69, 172, 175-76
Paxton Boys, 86-87, 88-89
Peabody, Mrs., 14
Penal code revision, 178
Penn, John, 76, 87, 88, 89, 90
Penn, Richard, 76
Penn, Thomas, 61, 62, 68, 70, 76-77, 89
Penn, William, 20, 21, 61, 62, 76, 87, 110
Pennsylvania Academy, 46, 79, 139
Pennsylvania Assembly, 32, 41, 47, 56, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70, 76, 79, 80, 85, 87, 89, 99, 125, 177, 178
Pennsylvania Gazette, 33, 35-36, 41, 42, 60, 64
Pennsylvania Hospital, 57
Pennsylvania Magazine, 135
Pennsylvania Packet, ship, 121
Perth Amboy, New Jersey, 19
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 18, 19, 20-21, 26, 27, 32, 46-47, 87, 110, 123, 125, 177, 179, 186
Philadelphia City Council, 56
Philadelphia Gazette, 56
Pilgrim’s Progress, 10
Pinel, Philippe, 168
Pitt, William (Lord Chatham), 80, 101-02, 104, 120
“Plain Truth,” 47
Plutarch’s Lives, 10
Police force, Philadelphia, 46
Poor Richard’ s Almanack, 36-37, 42, 56, 60, 73-74
Portsmouth, England, 109
Pratt, Charles, 77, 80
Priestley, Joseph, 100, 117, 118, 121, 131, 171, 173
Pringle, Sir John, 78, 100-01, 103-04, 150, 151
Privateers, 159-61
“Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge Among British Plantations in North America,” 44-45
“Proposal Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania,” 45-46
Public Advertiser, London, 113, 116
Puysegur, Marquis de, 174
Pyrmont, Germany, 101
Q
Quebec, Canada, 136
Queensberry, Duke of, 117
Quincy, Josiah, 136, 163-64
R
Ralph, James, 21, 24, 25
Rancocas, New Jersey, 178
Ranger, privateer, 160
Raspe, Rudolf Erich, 101
Ray, Catherine, see Greene, Catherine Ray
Read, Deborah, see Franklin, Deborah Read
“Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America,” 170
Reprisal, sloop, 142, 143
Revere, Paul, 123
Revolutionary War, 123-31, 132-42, 147, 148, 149-50, 151-52, 157, 158-63
Rochambeau, General, 162
Rockingham, Marquis of, 94, 96, 101, 150
Rozier, Pilâtre de, 165
“Rules by Which a Great Empire may be Reduced to a Small One,” 113-14, 115
Rush, Dr. Benjamin, 57
Rutledge, Edward, 140
Ryan, Luke, 159
S
St. Andrews University, 79
St. Eustatius, West Indies, 129, 161
St. George, Bermuda, 127
Sandwich, Earl of, 117
Saratoga, Battle of, 152
Savannah Pacquet, ship, 127, 128
Scotland, 79
Scotosh, Chief, 178
Second Continental Congress, 124-30, 132-41, 151, 157-58, 161, 163, 166, 174, 175, 178, 179, 183, 185
Serapis, H.M.S., 161
Shelburne, Earl of, 103, 104, 108, 175
Sherman, Roger, 138
Shipley, Jonathan, 107-08
Shipley, Kitty, 111
Shirley, Governor, 67
Six Nations, 62, 64, 87
Slaves and slavery, 9, 16, 36, 75, 138, 185
Sloane, Sir Hans, 25
Smallpox epidemics, 13, 41, 86
Smith, Adam, 79
Smith, William, 79, 84, 187
Socrates, 14-15, 20
Sons of Liberty, 94
Soulavie, Abbé, 172
Southampton, England, 176
Spain, 47, 126, 152
Spencer, Dr. Adam, 49
Stamp Act, 92-99, 102
Steele, Richard, 14
Steuben, Baron von, 150
Stevenson, Margaret, 75, 77, 91, 99, 107, 174
Stevenson, Polly, see Hewson, Polly Stevenson
Storage battery, 52-53
Stormont, Lord, 147, 148, 158
Strahan, William, 74, 132-33
Sullivan, General John, 140
Swaine, Captain Charles, 57
Swift, Jonathan, 26
Synge, Philip, 52
T
Temple, John, 115-16, 117
Townshend, Charles, 102, 104
Townshend Acts, 102, 104
Trenton, Battle of, 148
Tryon, Mr., 14, 18
Tucker, Colonel Henry, 127
Turgot, Baron, 157, 168
U
Union Fire Company of Philadelphia, 47
Universal Instructor in All Arts and Science, and Pennsylvania Gazette, 33
V
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 150
Vergennes, Count Charles Gravier de, 134, 135, 145, 146, 151, 152, 153, 154
Versailles, France, 104, 145, 154
Virginia Resolves, 94
Voltaire, 157, 168
W
Walking Purchase, the, 61-62
Warwick, Rhode Island, 130
Washington, General George, 64, 65, 66, 71, 124, 126, 130, 135, 137, 139, 148, 150, 162, 178, 179, 183, 185
Watt (London printer), 25
“Way to Wealth, The,” 74, 110, 147
Wedderburn, Alexander, 117-18
Wentworth, Paul, 152-53
Whately, William, 115, 116, 117
Whig Club, 80
“Whistle, The,” 171
Whitehead, Paul, 114-15
William and Mary College, 45, 60
Williamsburg, Virginia, 45, 94
Wilson, Benjamin, 150, 162
Wilson, James, 180
Wygate (Benjamin’s London friend), 25-26
Wyndham, Sir William, 26
X
Xenophon’s Memorabilia, 14
Y
Yale College, 45, 60
Yorke, Charles, 77, 80
Yorktown, Battle of, 162
Z
Zenger, Peter, 17

THE Lives to Remember SERIES

Lives To Remember is a series of concise biographies introducing the world’s great men and women.

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ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

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WOODROW WILSON

by Alfred Steinberg

DOROTHEA LYNDE DIX

by Gertrude Norman

MADAME CURIE

by Robin McKown

ALBERT EINSTEIN

by Arthur Beckhard

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

by Manuel Komroff

CHARLES STEINMETZ

by Henry Thomas

DANIEL WEBSTER

by Alfred Steinberg

ADMIRAL RICHARD E. BYRD

by Alfred Steinberg

THE WRIGHT BROTHERS

by Henry Thomas

GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE

by Henry Thomas

ULYSSES S. GRANT

by Henry Thomas

FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT

by Henry Thomas

BILLY MITCHELL

by Arch Whitehouse

GEORGE GERSHWIN

by Edward Jablonski

THOMAS PAINE

by Robin McKown

JOHN MARSHALL

by Alfred Steinberg

ALEXANDER HAMILTON

by William Wise

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

by Robin McKown

HARRY S. TRUMAN

by Alfred Steinberg

JOHN J. PERSHING

by Arch Whitehouse

THADDEUS LOWE

by Lydel Sims

SOCRATES

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by Winifred E. Wise

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JOHN MARSHALL by Alfred Steinberg

THOMAS PAINE by Robin McKown

GEORGE GERSHWIN by Edward Jablonski

BILLY MITCHELL by Arch Whitehouse

FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT by Henry Thomas

ULYSSES S. GRANT by Henry Thomas

WOODROW WILSON by Alfred Steinberg

DOUGLAS MacARTHUR by Alfred Steinberg

THE AUTHOR

Robin McKown was born in Denver and attended the University of Colorado, Northwestern University, and the University of Illinois. She sold her first one-act play to a literary magazine while she was still in college, and later won a drama prize at the University of Colorado. She has worked in public relations, with a literary agency, and prepared radio scripts. Mrs. McKown is the author of Thomas Paine and Marie Curie, both in the Lives to Remember series, as well as Publicity Girl and Foreign Service Girl. She makes her home in New York City.

Other Books by Robin McKown

THOMAS PAINE
MARIE CURIE
FOREIGN SERVICE GIRL
PUBLICITY GIRL
ROOSEVELT’S AMERICA
WASHINGTON’S AMERICA
THE FABULOUS ISOTOPES
GIANT OF THE ATOM: Ernest Rutherford
SHE LIVED FOR SCIENCE: Irène Joliot-Curie
JANINE
THE ORDEAL OF ANNE DEVLIN
AUTHOR’S AGENT
PAINTER OF THE WILD WEST: Frederick Remington
PIONEERS IN MENTAL HEALTH

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Few men have more claims to greatness than Benjamin Franklin. He was in his long lifetime, writer, editor and publisher, scientist and inventor, propagandist for the cause of the American colonies, statesman, diplomat. He was a wit and a humorist, a loyal friend and a good family man. From his birth in Boston as the son of a poor candlemaker to his election by Congress as America’s first ambassador to France and his subsequent return to the United States, the author traces the fascinating development of an impetuous and saucy youth who became a beloved man both on his native soil and throughout the world.

Transcriber’s Notes

  • Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and dialect unchanged.
  • Collected series, volume, and author information at the end of the e-text.
  • Copyright notice provided as in the original—this e-text is public domain in the country of publication.
  • In the text versions, delimited italics text in _underscores_ (the HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.)