D
Dartmouth, Lord, 96, 106, 117
Davies, Marianne, 81
Deane, Silas, 141, 144-45, 152, 153, 155
Declaration of Independence, 137-39, 147
Declaration of Rights and Grievances, 120
Deffand, Marquise du, 145-46
De Lor, 58
Denham, Thomas, 24, 26, 28
Denny, William, 71, 80
“Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout,” 171
Dickinson, John, 133
Dinwiddie, Robert, 64
“Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, A,” 25
Drake, H.M.S., 160
Dublin, Ireland, 105
Dubourg, Barbeu, 110, 133, 144
Du Fay, Charles François, 49
Dumas, Charles, 133
Dunning, John, 117
E
Easton, Pennsylvania, 69
“Edict by the King of Prussia,” 114-15
Edwards, Jonathan, 55
Electricity, 49-56, 58-60, 100
Empedocles, 54
England, 24-26, 47, 61, 74-83, 86, 91-99, 100-10, 111-21, 126, 150-51, 152-53, 158-59, 161
“Ephemera,” 167, 171
“Experiments and Observations in Electricity, Made at Philadelphia, in America,” 58
F
Fearnot, privateer, 159
First Continental Congress, 119, 120
Fisher, Daniel, 68
Forbes, Brigadier General, 71
Fort Duquesne, 65, 66, 70-71
Fothergill, Dr. John, 58, 77, 89
Fox, Charles James, 150
France and the French, 47, 61, 64, 65, 67, 82, 93, 103, 126, 133-35, 143-54, 157-64, 165-76, 184-85, 187
Franklin, Abiah (Benjamin’s mother), 9, 40
Franklin, Benjamin, agricultural interests, 57;
ambassador to France, 158-63, 166-76;
birth, 9;
book publisher, 42;
boyhood, 9-17;
Braddock and, 65-67;
children, 38, 44;
civic improvements suggested by, 46-47, 56-57;
clerk to Pennsylvania Assembly, 41;
commissioner to France, 141, 143-54;
continental trips, 81, 101, 103-04;
courtship, 20, 34, 169;
death, 186;
Declaration of Independence and, 137-38;
delegate to Constitutional Convention, 179-81;
delegate to Second Continental Congress, 124-31, 132-41;
education, 10, 40;
educational proposals, 45-46;
electrical experiments, 51-56, 58-60, 100;
England visited by, 24-26, 74-83, 91-121;
founder of American Philosophical Society, 44-45;
France visited by, 103;
friendships in England, 100-10;
funeral of, 186;
honors, 60, 79, 81, 166-67, 177, 186-87;
Hutchinson letters and, 112-13, 115-18;
illnesses, 77-78, 93, 107, 137, 163, 164, 171, 183, 184, 185;
inventions, 11, 43-44, 45, 80-81, 178;
journey to Philadelphia, 18-19;
library for public established by, 34-35;
marriage, 34;
Masonic leader, 35, 56;
meeting with Richard Howe, 140-41;
military career, 68-71;
musical interests, 10, 81;
old age, 166-76, 177-86;
peace negotiations with England, 163;
Penn family and, 76-77, 80, 89-90, 91-92;
Pennsylvania Hospital established by, 57;
personal appearance, 11, 20, 42-43, 75, 111, 143-44, 153, 181-82;
postmaster-general of the colonies, 63, 118, 125;
postmaster of Philadelphia, 41;
printer in Philadelphia, 19-24, 29-30, 31-37, 40, 42, 47;
printer’s apprentice, 12-17;
publisher of the Courant in Boston, 16;
religious beliefs, 35, 180;
retirement, 47-48;
scientific interests, 26-27, 33, 49, 51-56, 57-60, 78, 100, 108-10, 121-22, 171-74, 182;
Stamp Act and, 92-99;
summoned before King’s Privy Council, 116-17;
vegetarian diet, 14, 18;
verse-making, 13-14, 43;
virtues, thirteen, 38-40, 41;
Voltaire and, 157;
will of, 183
Franklin, Benjamin (Benjamin’s uncle), 10
Franklin, Deborah Read (Benjamin’s wife), 20, 24, 25, 28, 34, 37, 43-44, 68, 69-70, 71, 74-75, 78, 84, 90, 95, 99, 101, 105, 107, 121
Franklin, Elizabeth (William’s wife), 85
Franklin, Francis Folger (Benjamin’s son), 38, 41, 44
Franklin, James (Benjamin’s brother), 12-13, 14, 15, 16-17, 23, 28, 40-41
Franklin, Jane, see Mecom, Jane Franklin
Franklin, John (Benjamin’s brother), 42, 63
Franklin, Josiah (Benjamin’s father), 9, 10, 11-12, 14, 23, 40, 42, 105
Franklin, Lydia (Benjamin’s sister), 9
Franklin, Peter (Benjamin’s brother), 42, 63
Franklin, Sally (Benjamin’s cousin), 107
Franklin, Sarah (Sally), see Bache, Sarah Franklin
Franklin, William (Benjamin’s son), 38, 44, 47, 59, 63, 65, 68, 71, 77-78, 81-83, 85, 95, 108, 119, 128, 139, 176
Franklin, William Temple (Benjamin’s grandson), 107, 111, 121, 123, 128, 139, 141, 148, 150, 152, 157, 158, 160, 171, 175, 176, 178, 186
Franklin Stove, 44, 45, 90
Frederick the Great, 114
Freedom of the press, 17, 35
Freemasonry, 35
French, Colonel, 21-22, 24
French and Indian Wars, 65, 86
French Academy of Sciences, 157, 171, 172
French Revolution, 184-85
French Royal Academy, 107
G
Gage, General Thomas, 115
Galloway, Joseph, 89, 141
Gates, General Horatio, 161
Gebelin, Count de, 171-72
George III, King, 81, 92, 93, 101, 104, 118, 120, 124, 132, 150, 151, 162
Gérard, Conrad-Alexandre, 152, 153
German Royal Academy of Sciences, 101
Germantown, Pennsylvania, 88
Gerry, Elbridge, 181
Gibbon, Edward, 148
Glover, John, 139
Gnadenhuetten, Pennsylvania, 68, 69
Göttingen, Germany, 101
Greene, Catherine Ray, 67, 85-86, 162, 168
Greene, General Nathanael, 162
Greene, William, 67, 86
Grenville, Lord George, 75-76, 92, 93, 94, 95, 97
Gruet, M., 144
Guillotin, Joseph-Ignace, 174
Gulf Stream, 121-22
H
Hadley, John, 78
Hall, David, 47
Hamilton, Andrew, 32
Hamilton, James, 62, 69
Hancock, John, 138
Harrison, Benjamin, 130, 133
Hartley, David, 158
Havre, France, 175, 176
Harvard College, 10, 15, 45, 60
Hell Fire Club, 12
Helvétius, Madame, 168-69, 176
Henry, Patrick, 94
Hessians, 139, 148
Hewitt, James, 97
Hewson, Polly Stevenson, 75, 85, 91, 103, 107, 118, 174
Hewson, William, 107, 118
Hillsborough, Earl of, 104, 106, 117
Holland, 81, 161
Holmes, Robert, 21, 22
Hortalez and Company, 144-45, 146, 184
Houdon, Jean-Antoine, 157
Howe, Admiral Lord Richard, 120, 139-40, 167
Howe, General Sir William, 123, 124, 126, 139, 151
Hughes, John, 93, 94
Hume, David, 79
Hunter, William, 63
Hutchinson, Thomas, 112, 113, 116
Hutchinson Letters, 112-13, 115-18
Hypnotism, 174
I
Indians, American, 61-62, 64, 65, 67, 68, 71, 86-88, 125, 170, 171-72, 178
“Information to Those who would Remove to America,” 169-70
Ingenhousz, Jan, 171
Ingersoll, Jared, 93, 95
Insurance company, 57
Ireland, 105
J
Jay, John, 133, 163
Jay, Maria 163
Jefferson, Thomas, 124, 138, 141, 174, 175, 185-86
Johnson, Samuel, 101
Johnson, Thomas, 133
Jones, John Paul, 160-61
Junto, the, 30-31, 34, 43, 46, 52, 88, 123
K
Kames, Lord Henry Home, 79, 89, 95, 102
Keimer, Samuel, 19-20, 21, 22, 24, 29, 33
Keith, Sir William, 21-22, 23, 24, 31, 71
King of Prussia, ship, 91
Kinnersley, Ebenezer, 52-53
Kleist, E. C. von, 50
Knox, Henry, 126
L
Lady Catherine, ship, 127, 128
Lafayette, Marquis de, 150, 162
Laurens, Henry, 162
Laurens, Colonel John, 162
Lavoisier, Antoine-Laurent, 171, 174
Le Despencer, Lord, 108, 114, 117
Lee, Arthur, 141, 145, 153, 155, 183
Lee, “Light-Horse Harry,” 162
Lee, Richard Henry, 137
Letters on Philosophical Subjects, 110
Lexington, Battle of, 123
Leyden jar, 50-51, 81, 171
Lighthouse Tragedy, The, 13
Lightning rods, 55-56, 58, 60, 90, 150-51
Linnaeus, 182
Livingston, Robert, 138
London, England, 24-26, 74
London Journal, 16
London Spectator, 14
Lorraine, Prince of, 81
Loudon, Lord, 71
Louis XV, King, 51, 59, 103-04, 105
Louis XVI, King, 146, 153, 154, 173, 175, 185
Lynch, Thomas, 130
M
Marchant, Captain Stephen, 159
Marie Antoinette, Queen, 81, 154
Marion, Francis, 162
Massachusetts Assembly, 104, 112, 113, 117, 118
Massachusetts Committee of Safety, 123
Mather, Cotton, 12
Mecom, Edward, 40
Mecom, Jane Franklin (Benjamin’s daughter), 9, 10, 40, 130-31, 183, 187
Meredith, Hugh, 29-30, 31-32
Mesmer, Dr., 174
Mifflin, Thomas, 183
Militia, Pennsylvania, 47, 68-71, 88, 125
Minutemen, 123-24
Mirabeau, Count de, 187
Montgomery, General Richard, 136
Montreal, Canada, 136, 137
Moravians, 68, 69, 86
Morgan, Daniel, 162
Morris, Robert, 128-29
Morris, Robert Hunter, 68, 70-71
Mozart, Wolfgang, 81
Musschenbroek, Pieter van, 50, 81
N
Nairne, Edward, 171
Nantes, France, 143-44
“Narrative of the Late Massacres in Lancaster County,” 87
“Nature and Necessity of Paper Money, The,” 32
New Castle, Pennsylvania, 47
New England Courant, 13, 15, 16
Newport, Rhode Island, 40, 53
Newton, Sir Isaac, 25
New York City, 17, 71, 137, 186-87
Nollet, Abbé Jean-Antoine, 51
North, Lord, 104, 125
Northwest Passage, search for, 57
O
Oliver, Andrew, 112, 113, 116
“On the Slave Trade,” 185
Oxford University, 81