Benjamin Franklin: American Founder, Atlantic Citizen
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B ENJAMIN FRANKLIN Known for his influential role in the debates that established the founding documents of the United States, Benjamin Franklin brought to the new nation the insights of a political career that spanned half a century, from the French and Indian War to the drafting of the Bill of Rights. In many ways, Franklin’s commitment to the American cause was informed by his experi- ences as an Atlantic citizen who spent the decade before the Declaration of Independence in England, and the following seven years in France. The career and life of this iconic American founder provide an ideal opportunity for students to take a closer look at eighteenth-century colonial society and the contested formation of the early American nation. In this carefully contextualized account, Nathan R. Kozuskanich considers the many facets of Franklin’s private and public lives, and shows how Frank- lin grappled with issues that still concern us today: the right to bear arms, the legacy of slavery, and the nature of American democracy. In a concise narrative bolstered by supporting primary documents, Benjamin Franklin: American Founder, Atlantic Citizen introduces students to the world of the burgeoning United States and enables them to understand the journey from imperial colonies to an independent nation dedicated to the premise that all men are created equal. Nathan R. Kozuskanich is Associate Professor of History at Nipissing University in North Bay, Ontario. R OUTLEDGE HISTORICAL AMERICANS S ERIES EDITOR: PAUL FINKELMAN Routledge Historical Americans is a series of short, vibrant biographies that illuminate the lives of Americans who have had an impact on the world. Each book includes a short overview of the person’s life and puts that person into historical context through essential primary documents, written both by the subjects and about them. A series website supports the books, con- taining extra images and documents, links to further research, and where possible, multi-media sources on the subjects. Perfect for including in any course on American History, the books in the Routledge Historical Ameri- cans series show the impact everyday people can have on the course of history. Woody Guthrie: Writing America’s Songs Ronald D. Cohen Frederick Douglass: Reformer and Statesman L. Diane Barnes Th urgood Marshall: Race, Rights, and the Struggle for a More Perfect Union Charles L. Zelden Harry S. Truman: Th e Coming of the Cold War Nicole L. Anslover John Winthrop: Founding the City upon a Hill Michael Parker John F. Kennedy: Th e Spirit of Cold War Liberalism Jason K. Duncan Bill Clinton: Building a Bridge to the New Millennium David H. Bennett Ronald Reagan: Champion of Conservative America James H. Broussard Laura Ingalls Wilder: American Writer on the Prairie Sallie Ketcham Benjamin Franklin: American Founder, Atlantic Citizen Nathan R. Kozuskanich Brigham Young: Sovereign in America David Vaughn Mason B ENJAMIN FRANKLIN A MERICAN FOUNDER, ATLANTIC CITIZEN NATHAN R. KOZUSKANICH www.routledge.com/cw/HistoricalAmericans First published 2015 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 And by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2015 Taylor & Francis The right of Nathan R. Kozuskanich to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kozuskanich, Nathan, 1975– Benjamin Franklin : American founder, Atlantic citizen / Nathan R. Kozuskanich. pages cm. — (Routledge historical Americans) 1. Franklin, Benjamin, 1706–1790. 2. Statesmen—United States—Biography. 3. Scientists—United States—Biography. 4. Inventors—United States—Biography. 5. Printers—United States—Biography. I. Title. E302.6.F8K87 2014 973.3092—dc23 2014016776 ISBN: 978-0-415-53196-2 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-415-53200-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-08153-2 (ebk) Typeset in Minion and Scala Sans by Apex CoVantage, LLC C ONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Introduction Benjamin Franklin, Biography, and the Writing of History 1 PART I Benjamin Franklin 9 Chapter 1 Inconspicuous Beginnings, 1706–1730 11 Chapter 2 From Tradesman to Gentleman, 1730–1750 33 Chapter 3 War, Electricity, and the Making of a Politician, 1747–1763 54 Chapter 4 Th e Imperial Crisis, 1763–1775 79 Chapter 5 Th e Imperialist and the Revolution, 1775–1778 102 Chapter 6 Th e Long Journey Home, 1778–1790 125 PART II Documents 153 Index 175 This page intentionally left blank ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wrote this book with students in mind. If they do not appreciate its con- tent, then I hope they will at least celebrate its brevity. Many thanks to my own students, Nolan Brennan and Rachel Loewen, for providing feedback on early versions of the opening chapters. Thank you as well to my graduate student, Peter Brath, who assured me that the manuscript was “fine” even though his intensive MA reading list meant that he had no time to read it himself. I am especially grateful to Lacy Bateman whose notes helped me better shape the narrative of Franklin’s life. Thanks to my mother, Janice Kozuskanich, for bringing her years of experience proofreading the local newspaper to this project. When every- one else is too busy with their own stuff, you can always rely on your mom to help out. I cannot thank my friend, Dr. Susan Dawson, enough for helping me get this manuscript ready for publication. She truly is a syntactic ninja. I was able to complete this project on time because of the support of the Nipissing University Faculty Association and Nipissing University. Their recognition of the importance of research at small universities meant that I was able to take a 12 month sabbatical to finish writing. Many thanks to Paul Finkelman for inviting me to submit a proposal to the Historical Americans series. I am grateful for the opportunity, and for the experience of writing a biography. His notes on the manuscript may have been hard to read, but they were invaluable. Thank you to Genevieve Aoki at Routledge for promptly responding to the hundreds of emails I sent about this project over the past few years. Thank you as well to Wilkins Poe at the Packard Humanities Institute for helping me navigate the online ver- sion of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. viii • Acknowledgments I am indebted to Sheila Skemp for sharing her knowledge of Franklin with me, and for providing feedback on the manuscript. I am also grateful to David Waldstreicher for his input on Franklin and slavery. John Brooke has always been a great support to me, and I thank him for his assistance with this project. Thanks to my colleague, Kirsten Greer, who helped me keep my eye on broader Atlantic themes and connections. Finally, I would like to thank the late Bill Pencak for all of his input on this book. Bill was a tireless supporter of my work on Pennsylvania and I owe him a debt I can never repay. He read and commented on chapters of this manuscript one month before his untimely death, and was already hatching a plan for a Franklin panel at the annual meeting of the Pennsyl- vania Historical Association. I, like so many others, will miss him. introduction Benjamin Franklin, Biography, and the Writing of History Who was Benjamin Franklin? This question has challenged every biographer who has attempted to understand the man looking back at us from the $100 bill. Take a stroll through Philadelphia in the summer and every imperson- ator you see comports to the same version of Franklin: balding and old with a prominent belly, distinguished, accomplished, bespectacled, and well- dressed. If you can’t afford the airfare to the City of Brotherly Love, enter “Benjamin Franklin impersonator” into a Google Images search for a similar result. As with most (perhaps all) of the Founding Fathers, it is often difficult to unfreeze Franklin from the moment in time in which he was wealthy and accomplished enough to sit for a portrait in France with Joseph-Siffred Dup- lessis, who had also painted King Louis XVI. It can be hard to imagine Frank- lin as a poor boy in Boston, or as an unkempt and scrappy teenager coming off the boat in Philadelphia harbor, or as an up-and-coming printer cranking out hundreds of copies of the Pennsylvania Gazette in the heat of the Phila- delphia summer. Perhaps the U.S. Treasury is partly to blame. Since 1996, it has used Duplessis’ 1785 portrait of an almost eighty-year-old Franklin on the $100 bill, a change from the 1778 portrait it had used since 1929. Frank- lin sat for his first portrait in 1748, the year that he retired from being a printer and became a gentleman. If you are used to the rounder and older Franklin, then he is practically unrecognizable in this portrait with his thin- ner and younger face framed by a curly wig. But whether we recognize him or not, this portrait is still Franklin as much as are the later ones. It therefore behooves the biographer to understand Franklin in his entirety. 2 • Introduction Figure 0.1 1748 Portrait by Robert Feke.