Benjamin Franklin

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin brings out his famous idea of the new nation of America. He believed that for a person to be prosperous, it was necessary for them to have a lot of motivation, determination and moral values such as temperance, resolution, silence, order, frugality, justice, moderation, tranquility, humility and chastity. He proved that some of the poorest people, through industrialization, could make something of themselves.

Bill Franklin was born in January 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts to a humble religious Puritan household. His background instilled strong foundation values in his life and were instrumental in shaping his virtues and amicable personality.  Due to his humble background he and his siblings started working at a very young age. In his youth, he acquired a strong work ethic that was quite instrumental in shaping his life. His father wanted Benjamin to join the church and so he took him to a grammar school. Fortunately, due to his diligence, he was able to make it to the top the class and was later transferred to another grammar school to help in further development of his exemplary writing and arithmetic skills. He improved his writing skills by borrowing books and using the writing styles of professional writers. He was eventually able to develop his very own writing style (Franklin 26).

From his autobiography, it is clear that he was a renaissance scholar who was always eager to learn anything new and finding ways of improving human life. This was based on a puritan religious opinion that illustrates that the only way of pleasing God is by doing good deeds to other people. He was in a quest for moral perfection and this was clearly expressed in the way he conducted himself in public service and scientific progress. In his youth, he was a printer, scientist, inventor, essayist, moralist and a philosopher. However, he chose to pursue a career that would later enable him to serve as a civil leader, diplomat and as a states man. He was very influential in the development of America as a new nation. Most of his political views expressed him as a man who adored and supported freedom and self-governance.

Benjamin Franklin had two very important virtues: industrial and frugal. He always chose to participate in gainful employment or activities that would go a long way towards productivity and nation building. He did not entertain wastage of time. Hence, most of his time was used up either in employment or in pursuit of self-education. He did this through reading books or engaging in arguments or conversations with his friends. In addition, Franklin was a hardworking man; a fact best signified by the fact that he opened printing shops in order to generate an extra source of income for his family. Finally, Franklin was self-disciplined and chose to live within his means. It is evident that if he had not worked hard all his life he would have achieved little (Franklin 20-23).

Franklin had a challenging beginning that started with having little education and having a family of low social note but later became one of the wealthiest men of the 1700s. Not only was he a renowned inventor but he was also an exemplary diplomat; an attribute well signified by the fact that he convinced the French to support the American anti-colonization strategies. This was truly an American dream come true. Finally, he was involved in the editing of the Declaration of Independence (Murrey 183).

It is clear from Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography that his success portrays a remarkable man who led a life of great virtues. It is from his life story that we get the first accomplishment of the American dream. From his book, we learn that he always illustrated the major American quality that every American strived to achieve which was self-sufficiency, determination, perseverance, hardworking, frugality, and believed in an acceptable code of ethics. These were the ingredients of his success. He explained how it shaped him into an ideal citizen and representative. By illustrating his great strengths and steady diligence through adversity, he managed to aid America achieve independence. Franklin gave hope to the new world for a good future which was illustrated by his own life. Despite having started with very little, he managed to become one of the most admired and respected men in world. In addition, he demonstrated that success was possible with a solid work ethics and hard work. He proved that even an insignificant person from Boston, through hard work, would become an important figure in the United States of America. Thus it is clear that Franklin set a model of the new country of the United States of America, which was the ability rise from rags to much wealth .

It is due to this that the new individual country of United States success is possible but if people were willing to put a lot of effort in their work. Actually, everyone wants to be successful and wealthy. All that was required from any American was the person to make an effort in attempting to achieve leaving no room for been lazy and giving up. Franklin himself deserved every little success that he accomplished in his life. It is from Franklin’s life that the idea of the American dream gets its allegorical meaning and attains much archetypal power. His book tells the story that has some similarity to that of the United States of America development. Franklin became one of most famous men of the 18^th Century. Even some of his critics were in agreement that Franklin’s reputation was more universal than some prominent Americans. In addition he had a character and was more esteemed and beloved than many prominent people in the world. In his autobiography, he wrote about his life in America and knew that at least English men and Europeans would read it as a story about America. Benjamin Vaughan inspired Franklin into finishing his autobiography through telling him that all that happens to any person is connected to the way, details, and manner of society in helping itself achieve success.

Franklin was a model of what United States of America citizens strived for. He believed that when people read his autobiography they would be encouraged because he gave them hope and it was historical for the new American life. Many elementary school children are introduced to Franklin as a renaissance man; he was involved in many fields of knowledge and included other things such as a scientist, statesman, inventor and writer. The Autobiography expresses a countries diverse nature that every American presents today as an American dream. Franklin has mostly been referred to as the first American and from his autobiography we understand the reason.

The primary reason why Franklin autobiography had a lot of power and popularity is found in the basic appeal of self improvement from rags to riches. It is normal in development of every human being for experiences such as from infancy to maturity but we all strive to achieve the American dream. This is why the dream of the new nation of the United States of America has always been important to so many people and it also includes American literature. This can be clearly illustrated by the humble backgrounds of our American presidents who started in having owned very little to later through hard work to become wealthy men such Abraham Lincoln. This president popularity is self made. Thus the new nation of America offered a universal experience which was the American dream.

The new nation of America embraced a new political ideology which was referred to as republicanism. It was embraced by mostly all colonies. It was influenced partly by the Britain way of conducting government business and emphasized that political corruption was a terrible crime. The colonies associated the courts with luxury and involved inheriting aristocracy and were widely unpopular with the Americans. To them corruption was the greatest possible evil because their civil virtue required people to put civic duty ahead of their personal agendas.

 In the new American nation the men had a civil duty to defend and fight for their country. In addition to women the ideal was to represent a republic motherhood whereby they as the republic woman first duty were to instill republic values in her children. They also had to put a lot of effort in avoiding the luxuries and ostentation that can interfere with the development of the country.  The founding fathers always advocated for republicanism. (Rahe 121).

Many colonials remained loyal to the British Empire. They were referred to as loyalist. These loyalist were typically conservatives, unwilling to change their loyalties. They were often associated with the Anglican Church. These loyalist included merchants who still had business connections across the British Empire and recent immigrants who had not yet adjusted to the American way of life. These loyalists were inclined to support the king. Some of these recent immigrants most included recent Scottish settlers and a striking example is flora Macdonald (Axelrod 274).

These loyalists did their best to come up with their own legislature and enforced them on the American people. They did not respect the peoples right to representation them. These led to the call for unification by several legislatures and so nine colonies united and sent delegates to attend the Stamp Act Congress which was held in New York on October 1765. The delegates drew up their demands which were for their rights to be respected and grievances addressed. They stated that taxes passed without representation constituted a violation of ancient rights. In Britain there was a change of administration whereby the Rockingham government ascended onto power. The new government debated on the issue of stamp tax, on whether to repeal the stamp tax or use the army to enforce it. During this time Benjamin Franklin always made the American case explaining that the colonies had been subjected to heavy spending on manpower, money and much of their blood while defending the empire. Therefore paying further tax because of the just concluded war was a violation of the colonies rights and this could lead to a rebellion. Fortunately parliament repealed the tax. However parliament still insisted that they will retain full power of making laws for the colonies thus locking out any discussion of representation (Paul S. Boyer 100).

Benjamin Franklin was once loyal to the British crown and had expectations of been a player in the British power structure. However, his personal character of loyalty to the King of Britain came to a surprise end after his revolution and decided to support for freedom to Americans. He had developed a national identity. However, Franklin did become a revolutionary and was said to be second behind George Washington in terms of revolution. In his whole life he had denigrated and his appearance to other was always clear. Fortunately Franklin’s exemplary discipline in France was critical in getting their support to ensuring American victory. However, his diplomatic mission in France was the cause of much suspicion back in the United States of America. It was when the idea of the first American to do that came up. He was only recognized for efforts in ensuring the success of America in the nineteenth century. This was possible only after the publishing of his autobiography and it helped citizens to model citizens of the young democracy that was needed. Benjamin Franklin Americanization was a milestone work and a superb brand new vision of Franklin's life and not forgetting his reputation, he had a lot of insight and put much of his effort into the revolution  and eventual emergence of the of the united states of America idea as itself (Wood 205).

In conclusion it is clear from the life of Benjamin Franklin that he put a lot work in his life and had eventually become wealthy. Thus he demonstrated to the young new nation of the United States of America how it ought to emulate in order to be successful. The new nation needed to have characters traits that were similar to that of Benjamin Franklin. These traits would ensure that people could become rich due to their own hard work. However, at this time there were loyalists to the British Empire. They who did not share the same vision of were every one had an opportunity to become rich through their own hard work. They tried their best to interfere with the change that was taking place in the United States of America. However, the revolution was successful and ensured freedom of all and protection of their rights.