User:JS Leitch/Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790) was a prolific American printer, scientist, inventor, philosopher, and diplomat. As a young man in colonial Philadelphia, he was a successful publisher, printing his Poor Richard's Almanack for a quarter-century. By the end of the publication's run in 1758, he was wealthy enough to retire from printing and focus on science and politics. A signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, he was a key Founding Father. He spent the years prior to the Revolution in London, acting as the official representative of several colonies. Upon his return to the Colonies in 1775, he began publicly supporting independence. Soon after - as war broke out - he was back overseas, as ambassador to France; his actions secured a critical ally for the struggling new nation.

Contributions to science

Franklin's contributions to science and the Enlightenment ideals of inquiry and reason were impressive. In 1750, he published a proposal for his famous "kite experiment", which was to fly a kite, with a conductor attached, in a lightning storm. This is, of course, extremely dangerous; if Franklin indeed performed the experiment as he described it, he would almost surely have been killed. At any rate, his groundbreaking research into the nature of lightning and electricity led to his creation, in 1752, of the lightning rod. In those days, fires started by lightning strikes were frequent; Franklin's invention undoubtedly saved many lives. Interestingly enough, many churches were initially resistant to the idea of placing lightning rods on their steeples, regarding it a defiance of god's will.

Benjamin Franklin sought no profit from his contributions, seeing the purpose of his scientific pursuits as the betterment of humanity. His ideas on patent law ought to make him the hero of every wiki editor, Linux user, and music stealer file-sharing advocate:

...he offered to give me a patent for the sole vending of them for a term of years; but I declined it from a principle which has ever weighed with me on such occasions, viz., that, as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously.}}

Inventions and other contributions

• Bifocal glasses
• A keyboard-like musical instrument called the glass armonica
• A flexible urinary catheter
• The Franklin stove
• Charted the Gulf Stream, with the assistance of several experienced ship captains

Religious & Philosophical Views

For a solid counter-argument to this section, see Schlafly statistics

Frankin, like many of the Founders, was a Deist. His words on this subject speak for themselves:

"As a child,] some books against Deism fell into my hands; they were said to be the substance of sermons preached at Boyle's Lectures. It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist." Franklin's experience is similar to the process which occurs when one reads Conservapedia.

Although Franklin remained a Deist until the end of his life, he recognized that Christianity had positive effects on colonial society. Following a sermon by George Whitefield, one of the best known Great Awakening evangelicals, Franklin noted the "wonderful...change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seem'd as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk thro' the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street." In retrospect, this may have been not as good a thing.

In a letter dated March 9, 1790, a little more than a month before his death, Franklin outlined his beliefs to Ezra Stiles, president of Yale:

"Here is my Creed: I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That he governs it by Providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable Service we render to him is doing good to his other Children. That the soul of Man is immortal, and will be treated with Justice in another Life respecting its conduct in in this. These I take to be the fundamental Principles of all sound Religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them.

"As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of Morals and His Religion, as he left them to us, the best the world ever saw, or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupting Changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some doubt as to his Divinity; tho' it is a question I need not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble. I see no harm in its being believed, if that belief has the good Consequence, as probably it has, of making his Doctrines more respected and better observed; especially as I do not perceive, that the Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the Unbelievers in his Government of the world with any peculiar Marks of his Displeasure."

As Franklin grew older, though he never became a Christian himself,