Norway
Nova Scotia
“Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind” (Franklin)
Observations on Certain Commercial Transactions in France, Laid before Congress (Lee)
Ohio, land grant for
Old Man’s Wish
“Old Mistresses Apologue” (Franklin)
Oliver, Andrew
One of the late Northern Lights (Franklin)
opium
Order of Cincinnati
Orphan School House, Philadelphia, Pa.
Osborne, Captain
Oswald, Richard
Oxford University
oxygen
pain, reason and
Paine, Thomas
Palais Royal, France
pamphleteering
paper money: depreciation of; problem of; Stamp Act and. See also currency
The Papers of Benjamin Franklin
Papers of Benjamin Franklin Project
Paradise. See Heaven
Parliament: quartering of soldiers and; representation in; sovereignty of; Stamp Act and; taxation of colonies and; Treaty of Paris and; Wilkes, John and
Parsons, Eli
Parsons, William
Partridge, Elizabeth
Passy, France
Paxton Boys
Penn, John
Penn, Lady Dowager
Penn, Thomas
Penn, William
Pennsylvania: Constitutional Convention of; entertainment in; goodness of; proprietary government of; Quakers in; Supreme Executive Council of; taxation of proprietors of
Pennsylvania, University of
Pennsylvania Assembly: Committee of Safety of; Franklin, Benjamin, affection for; Franklin, Benjamin, as clerk of; Franklin, Benjamin, as colonial agent of; Franklin, Benjamin, as representative at
Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention
Pennsylvania fireplace
Pennsylvania Gazette
Pennsylvania Society for the Promoting the Abolition of Slavery
perfection, moral
Peter, Saint
Peter (servant)
Peter the Great
Petty, William. See Shelburne, Earl of
Philadelphia, Pa.; alehouses in; American Revolution and; development of; evacuation of; Franklin, Benjamin, as postmaster of; Franklin, Benjamin, return to; Junto in; Negro School in
Philadelphia City Hospital
Philadelphia Society for the Abolition of Slavery
philosophy; moral; natural
piety
Pilatre de Rosier, M.
Pitt, William, the elder. See Chatham, Lord
Pitt, William, the younger
poetry
Poland
politics, science of
poor laws of England
Poor Richard
Poor Richard’s Almanac
population, representation by
portraits
Portugal
post office
Potter, Mr.
Potts, Jonathan
Potts, Stephen
poverty; education and; wages and
power: love of; unlimited
President. See Executive
press, liberty of
Price, Richard
pride
Priestley, Joseph
Pringle, John
prisoners of war
privateering
private property
Privy Council of Plantation Affairs
prodigality
property
Proposals relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania (Franklin)
Protestantism
Providence
prudence
Prussia
Prymont, Germany
Pulawksi, Count
Quakers
quartering of soldiers
Quinquet, Mr.
Raleigh
Ranger
Raper, Mr.
Rapport Secret sur le Mesmerisme (Secret Report on Mesmerism)
rattlesnake
reason, pain and
religion; charity and; Franklin, Benjamin and; good works and; of Jesus; Ohio land grant and; principles of good; Protestantism; Roman Catholicism; Sunday, observation of, and
Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America (Franklin)
representation: in Articles of Confederation; in Parliament; by population; taxation and
Reprisal
reputation
resignation
revenge
revenue, economy and
Revolutionary War. See American Revolution
Rhode Island
Richmond, Duke of
Roberdeau, Daniel
Rochambault
Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, Duke de la
Rockingham, Marquis de
Rodney, Admiral
Rogers, Deborah Read. See Franklin, Deborah Rogers
Roman Catholicism
Roman orators
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
Royal Academy, France
Royal Society
Royalists
Rule by which a great empire may be reduced to a small one (Franklin)
Rush, Benjamin
Russia
Rutledge, Edward
Sandwich, Lord
Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands
Sandyford, Ralph
Saratoga, Battle of
Sargent, John
Saunders, Dr.
Savannah, Ga.
Saxons
A Scheme for a New Alphabet and Reformed Mode of Spelling (Franklin)
science: animal magnetism and; electricity and; good of; hot air balloons and; moral; of politics; stilling the waters and
Scotland; Enlightenment in; music in; poor in; wretched situation in
Scott, Lydia (sister)
Searle, James
Second Continental Congress. See Continental Congress
Serapis
Seven Grave Sins
Seven Years War. See French and Indian War (1754-1760)
Shakespeare, William
Shays, Daniel
Shays’s Rebellion
Sheffield, England
Shelburne, Earl of; Treaty of Paris and
Shipley, Catherine
Shipley, Georgiana
Shipley, Jonathan
Shoemaker, Abraham
silk
slavery: abolition of; in England; in France. See also Negroes
sloth
Smith, Adam
Smith, William
Smith, Wright & Grey
smuggling
Society of Arts
Soho ironworks
Solomon
South Carolina
South Carolina
Spain: American Revolution and; French and Indian War and; Treaty of Paris and
spectacles, double
squares, magic
Stamp Act; American independence and; enforcement of; framing of; Franklin, Benjamin, opposition to; Grenville, George and, ; as mother of mischief; opposition to; Parliament and; repeal of; repudiation of; Virginia and
St. Andrews, University of
Stanhope, Lord
state constitutions; book of
Staten Island, N.Y.
steam engines
Steuben, Baron de
Stevens, Samuel
Stevenson, Margaret
Stevenson, Polly. See Mary Hewson
St. Germain, M. de
Stiles, Ezra
Stormont, David Murray
stove, Franklin
Strachey, Henry
Strahan, Billy
Strahan, Mrs.
Strahan, William
Sturgeon, William
suspicion
Sweden
Switzerland
Talbot, Silas
taxation: Boston Tea Party and; British-colonial reconciliation and; certainty of; currency depreciation and; direct; indirect; Intolera
ble Acts and; national debt and; of Pennsylvania proprietors; representation and; seeds of disunion and; Stamp Act and; Townsend Acts of 1767 and; war and
Taxation no Tyranny: An Answer to the Resolutions and Address of the American Congress (Johnson)
Temple, John
Ten Commandments
Texel
Thanksgiving
Thomas, John
Thomson, James
Thompson, John
Thornton, John
Thulemier, Baron
tobacco
Tories
Tower of London
Townshend, Charles
Townshend, Thomas
Townshend Acts of 1767,
Tract Relative to the Affair of Hutchinson’s Letters (Franklin)
trade. See commerce
Traveller (Draper)
Travendahl, Prince of. See Christian VII
Treatise on Toleration (Voltaire)
Treaty of Paris (1783); American independence and; American Revolution and; Canada and; English reparations and; fishery and; France and; Parliament and; prisoners of war and; signing of
Trenton, Battle of
Turgot, Anne-Robert-Jacques
turkey, as symbol of America
Tuscany, Italy
Twyford, England
tyranny
United States: agriculture in; asylum in; currency in; felicity in; flag of; Franklin, Benjamin, return to; immigration and; population of; recognition of; seal of; slavery in; symbol of. See also America; colonies
Utrecht, peace of
Valentinois
Valley Forge, Pa.
Van Doren, Carl
vanity
Vaughan, Benjamin
vengeance
Vergennes, Charles, Gravier, Comte de; death of; French financial and military aid and; Treaty of Alliance with France and; Treaty of Paris and
Versailles, France
Victoire, Madame
Viny, Thomas
Virginia
Virginia papers
virtue: education and; heresy and; trilogy of
Volta, M.
Voltaire
wages, poverty and
Walpole, Thomas
war: commerce and; Franklin, Benjamin, hatred of; taxation and
War of Independence. See American Revolution
Washington, George; alliances and; American Revolution and; character of; Constitutional Convention and; Franklin, Benjamin, will of, and; as President of the United States; reputation of; Treaty of Paris and
Watt, James
The Way to Wealth (Franklin)
wealth: friendship and; prodigality and
The Wealth of Nations (Smith)
Webb, Benjamin
Webster, Noah
Wedderburn, Alexander
West, Benjamin
West Indies
West Point
Whately, Thomas
Whately, William
Whatley, George
Wheeler, Adam
Whigs
Whitefield, George
Whitehead, Paul
Wilkes, John
Williams, Jonathan, Jr.
Wilson, Benjamin
Winchester, England
wisdom, misfortune and
The Wit and Wisdom of Ben Franklin (Skousen)
women: in France; patriotism and
Wood, Mr.
Yale University
Yale University Press
Yorktown, Battle of
1 Carl Van Doren, ed., Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiographical Writings (New York: Viking Press, 1945), v.
2 H. W. Brands, The First American (New York: Doubleday, 2000), jacket.
3 BF to Duke de La Rochefoucauld, October 24, 1788.
4 Carl Van Doren, Franklin’s Autobiographical Writings, vi.
5 I do not think the spirit of Franklin’s history was violated in condensing these three lengthy monographs. As Franklin wrote the Duc de La Rochefoucauld regarding the memoirs, “I am persuaded there are many things that would, in case of publication, be best omitted” (November 13, 1789).
6 Carl Van Doren, Franklin’s Autobiographical Writings, v.
7 BF to Benjamin Vaughan, October 24, 1788.
8 The editors of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin considered this source so Franklinesque that they have included it in the Papers. See PBF 25:100-02. The original appeared in Richard Henry Lee, Life of Arthur Lee (Boston: Wells and Lilly, 1829), 343-46.
9 In addition to Carl Van Doren, ed., Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiographical Writings (op. cit.), see Esmond Wright, ed., Benjamin Franklin: His Life as He Wrote It (Boston: Harvard University Press, 1989); Thomas Fleming, Benjamin Franklin: A Biography in His Own Words (New York: Harper & Row, 1972); and Walter Isaacson, ed., A Benjamin Franklin Reader (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003).
10 H. W. Brands, The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin (New York: Doubleday, 2000), jacket.
11 Michael H. Hart, The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, 2nd ed. (New York: Kensington Publishing, 1992), 516-17.
12 Gordon S. Wood, The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin (New York: Penguin, 2004), 139.
13 Letter to the Duc de La Rochefoucauld, October 24, 1788.
14 The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, 2nd ed. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964), 148. Franklin hoped to write a book entitled The Art of Virtue on the subject; the Autobiography is the closest he came to finishing it.
15 This last passage was omitted in early editions of Franklin’s letters “because the editors felt such details were indelicate and unworthy of a Father of the Country.” See Claude-Anne Lopez and Eugenia W. Herbert, The Private Franklin: the Man and His Family (New York: Norton, 1975), 88.
16 “Cupping” refers to bloodletting, a standard medical practice at the time.
17 “Bark” is quinine, frequently prescribed to fight fever and malaria. Franklin had a constitution tough enough to withstand such toxic treatment.
18 Franklin brought with him to London two slaves as household servants, Peter and King. Franklin owned slaves on and off for thirty years, but was one of the first Founding Fathers to abandon the practice and advocate the complete abolition of slavery. See chapter 11.
19 Franklin’s long-time friend, although their friendship was severely strained during the American Revolution.
20 In addition to allaying her fears of the sea, William Strahan wrote Deborah informing her “that Mr. F. has the good fortune to lodge with a very discreet good gentlewoman [Mrs. Stevenson], who is particularly careful of him, who attended him during a very severe cold he was some time ago seized with, with an assiduity, concern, and tenderness, which perhaps only yourself could equal: so that I don’t think you could have a better substitute till you come over to take him under your own protection . . . There are many ladies here that would make no objection to sailing twice as far after him.” See PBF 7:297-98, Strahan to Deborah Franklin, December 13, 1757. Debbie’s answer to Strahan is lost, but Franklin’s comment on it suggests that both her fear of the ocean and her trust in Franklin’s fidelity remained unshaken. See PBF 8:93, BF to Deborah Franklin, June 10, 1758.
21 Strahan and Franklin entertained the idea of marriage between Strahan’s son Billy and Franklin’s daughter Sally. Nothing ever came of it. See PBF 7:297n.
22 The French and Indian War (1754-60), also known as the Seven Years’ War, between France and England.
23 Franklin describes his ancestors in more detail in the Autobiography (Washington, DC: Regnery, 2007).
24 After receiving an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of St. Andrews in 1759, it soon became customary for friends and correspondents to address him formally as “Doctor Franklin,” a title he carried the rest of his life.
25 In 1727 in Philadelphia, Franklin created the Junto, a “club for mutual improvement” composed of enterprising tradesmen and artisans who gathered on Friday e
venings to discuss scientific pursuits, schemes for self-improvement, and philosophical topics. See the Autobiography (Washington, DC: Regnery, 2007).
26 An Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania, by Richard Jackson (1759).
27 As noted earlier, the English were still in conflict with the French following the French and Indian War.
28 Franklin never mentioned it, but his son followed in his footsteps by also fathering an illegitimate son while in London, called William Temple Franklin. Ben Franklin helped to raise and educate Temple.
29 William Franklin was appointed royal governor of New Jersey from 1762 until 1776.
30 This popular painting of Franklin, quill in hand and lightning in the background, was done by Mason Chamberlain in 1762. Engraver Edward Fisher made a mezzotint print, from which hundreds of copies were made and distributed by Franklin and his son William to friends in New England and in England. See PBF 10:frontispiece, xv.
31 A Narrative of the Late Massacres in Lancaster County, of a Number of Indians, Friends of This Province (January 1764). The attackers were known as the “Paxton boys.”
32 Franklin suffered a shoulder injury while touring the post offices a year earlier.
33 On board the ship coming over to England, Franklin completed an essay entitled “Father Abraham’s Speech,” which was added to his Pennsylvania Almanac in answer to the question of heavy taxes in America. In it, Franklin wrote: “Friends, says Father Abraham, and neighbours, the taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid on by the government were the only ones we had to pay, we might more easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous to some of us.” See PBF 7:341, “Father Abraham’s Speech,” Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1758. This essay became “The Way to Wealth,” and was part of the twenty-sixth and last almanac prepared by Franklin himself. It is the most widely reprinted of Franklin’s writings, including the Autobiography. See PBF 7:326-55.
34 It should be pointed out that Franklin did on occasion violate this personal principle. In 1751, Franklin applied to become Deputy Postmaster General of America (PBF 4:134-35); in 1781, he tried to resign his position as ambassador to France, but was turned down (PBF 34:447-48, 533, 35:59, 66, 84, 175, 365, 382, 474-75).