I would not consider Benjamin Franklin a spiritual descendant of the Puritans. It is easy to make a quick assumptions that could allude to Benjamin Franklin to be a descendant, or at least greatly influenced by the Puritan community. But with a better understanding of Puritans and several instances in Franklin’s autobiography; it’s easily seen he led a life, though influenced by Puritan life and literature, he led a life of thinking that greatly contrasted the Puritan belief. Puritan influence is undeniable in Benjamin Franklin’s life. Most of the literature, acquaintances, including his own family were of Puritan roots. Franklin wrote, “I was put to the grammar-school at eight years of age, my father intending to devote me, as the tithe of his sons, to the service of the Church.” (10) Franklin’s family, Protestants, were proclaimed Puritans and escaped danger from the reign of Queen Mary by finding freedom in Boston. His mother’s father was one of the first settlers of New …show more content…
A great example of the differences between the Puritan Community and himself is with his thirteenth Virtue, “Humility”, where he places Jesus and Socrates on the same level, a view the Puritans would defiantly disagree with. Puritans believed everything to be Gods will, from disaster to dinner whereas Franklin used reasoning. This can be seen though his justification of eating fish after being a vegetarian for a time. He remembered seeing similar fish in the bellies of the fish they caught and concluded, "If you eat one another, I don't see why we mayn't eat you." (36) The Puritans would see the fish as gifts from God put there for them. Franklin originally saw catching the fish as a “kind of unprovoked murder” before his revelation. After his logic behind eating fish he wrote, “So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.”
Religion was very important to the Puritans in the 1600s. John Winthrop a member of the Puritans gentry, wrote to his wife the ‘I am verily persuaded God will bring some heavy affliction upon this land.” A year later he went and lead a group of a group of puritans to New England. By the 1630s another twenty thousand Puritans would come to America. When John became governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he told immigrants that will have to guide people toward this holy ideal or they were not welcomed.
Franklin was trying to reach perfection, and this excerpt documents that struggle. Many people try to reach a higher level of humanity, but none are able to achieve it. People will alway be flawed, no matter how they may wish this was not the case. “...I believe this [is] the case of many, who, having, for want of some
Benjamin Franklin was one of the largest known founding fathers of the United States. He was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents were Josiah Franklin and Abiah Folger. He was the fifteenth child of Josiah and one of ten by Abiah(Franklin Born). His father wanted him to be a clergy but could not afford to send him to school for that many years.
In the 1500s, the Protestant Reformation swept through England and caused people like John Calvin to make up their own religions. Henry VIII made the Anglicanism the official religion of England, and any dissenters, even dissenters who belonged to the Church of England, were persecuted. Puritans were some of these dissenters, and they migrated to the New World seeking religious freedom, a place to live the way they believed was pleasing to God. As the Puritans' lives were shaped by their religion, so too did their religious values and ideas influence the political, social, and economic development of the New England colonies. That their belief that people should obey religious authority and their value of unity shaped the northern colonies'
Puritans are a people with a very strong belief in both God and the power of God. When people see power, they interpret it in different ways. Some know of power through anger and impulse, while others see power through the goodness the powerful one shows. Although Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards are both puritan poets, their writings convey mainly different, though sometimes similar, views on God because they have different perceptions of His will and the use of His power. Anne Bradstreet listens to and accepts anything that God wishes, and that is shown through her poem Upon the Burning of my House.
The Puritans are a Christian religious group that originated in England but ended up in America. The Puritan religious is not commonly practiced now and might even be extinct. Thought they are either sparse or gone the Puritans have effects how we today worship. The Puritans had great effect on the way America was set up, but actually originated in England.
Puritans living in early America Life in the early 1600’s is a big contrast to the way we live in American in present day times. Back then America was just starting out as there were no official towns yet because not many Europeans lived here. All of that changed in the year 1607 when the first English settlement was built. Years later more came to America for different reasons; some came to have better opportunities and make a decent living but another big reason was to escape religious persecution.
There were a lot of American men who had perfect influence on people’s mind of American society. Jonathan Edward and Benjamin Franklin were two of those writers, who were the most important and intellectual men, who left behind many admirable works for the future society. In spite of them being so intelligent, they have some different and similar views in terms of morality, personal responsibility, human nature, and limits of human knowledge and inform people how to live a better life. In addition, they were different in terms of religious inclinations. Benjamin Franklin and Jonathan Edward were both philosopher and had similar views in terms of informing people the right way to live in order to be successful and get salvation by reforming their mind in their life.
Franklin tells the readers about his parents bringing him to church as a child, and him never being very amused with the teachings. He states, “I began to doubt of Revelation itself. … In short, I soon became a thorough Deist.” (pg.
Benjamin Franklin was a scientist, politician, and he invents a bunch of cool things. Benjamin Franklin did not attend school until the age of ten. It took his father two years to pay for his son’s education. Franklin’s family household was large and he is the youngest out of his seventeen siblings. Benjamin Franklin grew up with an unfortunate lifestyle; in the fall of 1723, he went travelled to Philadelphia the city of Pennsylvania with a lack of budget and without support from anyone not even his close family.
Altogether Twain thought Franklin was a dimwitted, ignoramus fruitcake that walked around “flying his kite and fooling away his time in all sorts of such ways, when he ought have been foraging for soap-fat, or constructing candles.” (“Late Benjamin” 140). Twain does have legitimacy with his critique, although he may have been a little rude presenting his points, it was still a valid argument. Franklin does get more credit than he deserves, but unlike Twain, I don 't think we should forget that he ever
Arguably one of the most beloved founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin has been an exceptional example of a man pursuing and living the American Dream. Today we have an immense amount primary sources that illuminate the life of Franklin and his ventures including entire volumes of correspondences with a broad spectrum of people and countless articles and pamphlets authored by himself. While these documents provide inclusive information concerning his service to his country, sciences, and other attributable accomplishments, they also paint a picture of a promiscuous man, who undoubtedly reveled in the company of many different companions. And like many white American and white Europeans during the period, he owned slaves for most of his adult
Franklin claims that he has been living long enough to see errors that he made, therefore as he grow older, he tend to “doubt of [his] own judgment” because nobody is perfect due to his past experiences (43). The informations that Franklin presents is to show his reputation that he is not perfect, also his constitution but he is open minded and willing to make what is best for the people. The perspective errors of the constitution have, is being “sacrificed to the public good” meaning all the flaw that constitution have will not be reveal to the people (44). Franklin is very passion about what is best for the people and their happiness, furthermore his characteristic is very respectful toward the citizen and the congress.
In order to understand how important this man was, I’ll be talking about his life, work, and accomplishments. Benjamin was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 17, 1706 to a soap and candle maker. His father, Josiah Franklin, had seven children with his first spouse, Anne Child, and ten more with his second spouse, Abiah Folger. Ben was the youngest son of Josiah and his 15th child. Ben stopped going to school at age 10 to work full-time in his father’s candle and soap shop.
Franklin describes this inner conflict as having to balance “principle and inclination.” He then justified his desire for the fish with fairly sound reasoning. He writes that if fish can eat other fish, it is okay that he eats the fish that he desired so much. Both of Franklin’s actions can be justified by using proportionate reasoning and logic. His reasons for both eating fish and not eating fish were justified to him with his reasoning in both cases.