American C-Note: Benjamin Franklin

The American C-Note:  Benjamin Franklin

Like the $100 C-Note that bears his countenance, Benjamin Franklin lived as one hundred men rolled into one.   Sometimes called the first American, Mr. Franklin lived as the quintessential Renaissance man:  Printer, writer, businessman; scientist, diplomat, humorist and ‘man of affairs’.  His historical reputation stands beyond reproach.  Indeed, no one proposes wresting Franklin statues from their pedestals found across our land. 

So on the birthday of the United States, a few words about this great American sage, kept to a minimum.   As old Ben himself would say:  “A word to the wise is enough….and many words won’t fill a bushel.”

 Born in 1706, the 10^th and youngest son of a candle maker, young Ben —similar to many Americans of yesteryear—attended minimal schooling.  Like Sam Clemens (one of his few quote-master peers), the 12-year old lad began as an apprentice printer working for an older brother.

At age 17, he moved to Philadelphia, a near pauper to find work as a printer, and later in London, living by his credo:  “God helps those who help themselves.”  By 1730, he emerged as a master printer and successful businessman.   His printing press rolled out not only works of others, but words from his own pen discoursing on topics ranging from philosophy, politics, humor and practical essays on wealth, industry and living economically.  

A master of time and organization, he embodied his own homespun  maxim:  “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”   Franklin lived by his own credo:  “Do not squander time because that is what life is made of”, and memorialized his truthful witticism,  “Lost time is never found again.”

Successfully utilizing his talents and maximizing his productive time, this businessman secured early retirement at age 42.  Of course, “retirement” ill-described such a man.   To a summarize a few of Franklin’s post-retirement feats:

• Altruism:
  • Formed the Union Fire Company (fire was the scourge of colonial life).
  • Founded the American Philosophical Company—the oldest American learned society that still exists today.
  • Established the first library in Philadelphia.
  • Founded and served as first president of Pennsylvania Academy, now known a the University of Pennsylvania

• Scientist
  • Meteorologist.
  • Invented the lightning rod to ground bolts to reduce direct hits and resulting fires to homes and businesses.
  • Electricity.  He not only flew the kite, but also conceived electricity as a single fluid, and the theory of positive and negative charges.
  • Invented the Franklin Stove, which radiated more heat inside the building while minimizing heat loss escaping out the flue (incidentally, he declined a patent).
  • Created bifocals.

In summary, old Ben rarely rested.   “Sloth like rust, consumes faster than labor wears.  A used key is always bright.”

He authored the renowned Poor Richard’s Almanack, which includes witticisms and aphorisms that remain relevant over 250 years later:

•  Experience is the teacher of fools.

• The sound of your hammer at 5:00 in the morning or at 9:00 at night heard by a creditor makes him easier for six months longer.  But if he sees you at a billiard table or hears your voice at a tavern when you should be at work, he sends for his money the next day. 

• Fish and visitors stink in three days.

• ‘Tis hard for an empty sack to stand upright. (recognizing poverty’s cause and effect relating to criminal activity)

• A child and a fool imagine 20 shillings and 20 years can never be spent.

• He that riseth late must trot all day and scarce over take his business at night.

• Buy what thou hast no need of and ‘ere long thou shall sell thy necessaries.

• There are no gains without pains.

If all this were not enough, Mr. Franklin bestowed a good name on politics.  He first served in local Pennsylvania colonial politics, then later as a diplomat in England prior to the Revolution.  In the turbulent times that followed, he attended as a delegate to the Continental Congress, and worked on the committee drafting the Constitution. 

This “bright key” to colonial America’s quest for independence acted as our ambassador to France (where at the age of 70+ wowed the ladies of the Parisian court) to help secure that country’s largesse so crucial in the War of Independence.   Upon his return home, Delegate Franklin served in the Constitutional Convention.  And if this were not enough, the American sage even penned letters concerning the abolishment of slavery.  Alas, if we only listened back then.

Old Ben summarized his political philosophy in Franklin-esque terms.  “Never directly contradict no matter the temptation.  Instead say ‘I believe’; ‘I apprehend’; ‘I imagine’.   He summarized the cornerstone of his political acumen regarding human relations thusly: “I resolve to speak ill of no man whatever, not even in a matter of truth, but rather by some means excuse the faults I hear charged upon others, and upon proper occasions speak all the good I know of everybody.” 

Franklin, like many of our founding fathers, identified himself as a Deist, which can be explained as a natural religion, as opposed to organized religion, based on human reason emphasizing morality and denying the interference of the Creator in the laws of nature.   Deist principles included the following:

• God made the world and governed it by his Providence.
• God should be worshiped by adoration, prayer and thanksgiving.
• The most acceptable service to God is by doing good to Man.
• Our souls are immortal.
• All crime will be punished and virtue rewarded either here or in the hereinafter.

Even in these turbulent and iconoclastic times, Americans cherish Benjamin Franklin’s service to Mankind, acknowledge his sage works of wisdom and witticisms, and safely assume that his soul enjoys immortality.   No wonder we smile when we see his countenance looking back at us from his portrait on the American C-Note.