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Man as Benjamin Franklin:
Histories of Lives
are seldom entertaining,

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unless they contain something
either admirable or exemplar.

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Know then, That I am
an Enemy to Vice,

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and a Friend to Vertue.

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A mortal Enemy
to arbitrary Government

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and unlimited Power.

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I am naturally very jealous

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for the Rights and Liberties
of my Country;

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and the least appearance
of an Incroachment on those
invaluable Priviledges,

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is apt to make my Blood
boil exceedingly.

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Benjamin Franklin.

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♪

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Man: Franklin is, by far,

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the most approachable
of our Founders.

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He's not somebody made of stone,

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like a George Washington.

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Franklin was pretty simple
in his moral code.

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He was driven by a desire
to pour forth

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benefits for the common good.

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But there's a lot
in Benjamin Franklin

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that makes you flinch,

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and we see Franklin
not as a perfect person,

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but somebody evolving to see

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if he could become more perfect.

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Narrator: He was
a teenage runaway

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who achieved such
remarkable success

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that his example would be
handed down for generations

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as the embodiment
of the American dream.

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He was a printer, a publisher,
and a writer,

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producing everything from
essays on politics and religion

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to biting satires
and words of wisdom

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that would endure forever.

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He was a prolific inventor

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and a scientist whose
pioneering discoveries

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would make him the most famous
American in the world.

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He was a civic leader,

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the founder of a library
and a college,

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who introduced a host
of improvements

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that made the lives
of everyday people better.

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He embraced
the Enlightenment belief

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in the perfectibility
of human beings;

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but no one understood
their foibles and failings,

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including his own,
better than he did.

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♪

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He also owned and enslaved
human beings

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and benefited from
the institution of slavery.

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He was a reluctant revolutionary

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who became an indispensable
founder of a new nation;

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helped craft the document

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that declared his
country’s independence;

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and then did as much as anyone

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to secure the victory
that assured it.

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And he guided
the complicated compromises

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that created his
nation's Constitution,

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then tried to rectify
its central failing.

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Man: He constantly
remade himself

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from apprentice,
to printer, to scientist,

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to government official, to
revolutionary, to abolitionist.

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He never was
finished with himself.

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He always thought that
he was a work in progress.

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Narrator: He could be funny
and unforgiving;

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folksy and philosophical;

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generous
and shrewdly calculating;

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broadminded, yet
deeply prejudiced;

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a family man, who spent years
away from his wife

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and let political differences

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destroy his relationship
with his son.

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He concealed those
contradictions behind

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a carefully crafted
public image.

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Man: He's a Puritan
who then becomes

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the leading figure
in the Enlightenment.

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So that he stands astride

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so many contradictions
in his own life,

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that he understands them
and they don't become

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contradictions for him.

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They become some
seamless web of insight.

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Man: He wrote so much.
He wrote so well.

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He's somebody that
we need to know about.

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He can put us in touch
with the sensibilities

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of the 18th century in a way
that makes it

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both accessible and, yet,
captures its remoteness.

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Woman: Franklin is endlessly,

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endlessly interesting.

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He is the only
Founding Father who

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evidently had a sense of humor,

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who was evidently human,

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who evidently had a sex life.

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And there's so much
about him that makes him

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seem approachable,
on the one hand,

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and super-human
on the other hand.

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Narrator: "Let all men know
thee," Benjamin Franklin said,

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"but no man
know thee thoroughly."

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Man as Franklin: I never intend
to wrap my Talent in a Napkin.

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To be brief; I am courteous
and affable, good humour'd

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unless I am first provok'd,

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and handsome,
and sometimes witty.

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If you would not be forgotten,

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as soon as you are
dead and rotten,

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either write things
worth reading,

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or do things worth the writing.
Benjamin Franklin.

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♪

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♪

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Narrator: Benjamin Franklin
was born in Boston

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on January 17, 1706,

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the youngest son and 15th child
of Josiah Franklin,

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who had come from England

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to the Massachusetts Bay Colony
in 1683.

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Josiah made candles and soap

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and became a respected member
of South Church,

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one of the town's 3
congregations of Puritans.

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When his first wife
died in childbirth,

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Josiah married Abiah Folger
of Nantucket,

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who came from a family
of free-thinkers.

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Benjamin would be
her eighth child.

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He grew up in a 4-room house

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where the dinner table
was always crowded,

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and often included friends his
pious and serious-minded father

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invited over for conversation.

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From the start,
the boy was precocious.

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He was reading
the Bible by age 5.

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His sister Jane recalled
that he "studied incessantly"

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and "was addicted to
all kinds of reading."

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But he was also irreverent.

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He found the long prayers
before each meal tedious

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and suggested his father
simply say grace once

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over the entire winter's
supply of food.

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"It would be," young Benjamin
said, "a vast saving of time."

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♪

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Narrator: He and his
boyhood friends

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fished and frolicked
in a nearby pond.

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An avid swimmer,
he designed rudimentary fins

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to propel himself faster
across the water;

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other times, he floated
on his back

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and let himself be
pulled along by a kite.

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Josiah initially thought his son

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should study for the ministry

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and enrolled him at age 8
in the Boston school

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that prepared students
for Harvard College.

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But the academy proved
too expensive,

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and eager to have
another set of hands,

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his father put him to work
in the family's candle shop.

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He was 10 years old;
his schooling was over.

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Brands: I think it was crucial
to Franklin's success

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that he had very little
formal education.

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When people go through
formal schools,

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they learn what
you're supposed to know.

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They also learn what
you don't have to know.

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With Franklin, he never knew
what he didn't have to know,

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so, he assumed he had
to know everything.

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♪

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Narrator: In 1718, at age 12,

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Franklin began the work
that would define

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the rest of his life.

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He signed
a 9-year apprenticeship,

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legally indenturing himself
to his older brother James,

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who had opened
a printing shop in Boston.

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Printing was
an amazing business if you were

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both clever with your hands
and good at thinking.

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Printers are setting type
upside-down and backward.

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And you have to be really
hyper-literate to understand

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how language works that way,

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and to correct things
as you go along,

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and get it right.

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Narrator: Handling the heavy
sets of lead type

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strengthened and broadened
his shoulders.

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Having access to books

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strengthened and liberated
his mind.

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Man as Franklin:
Often I sat up in my room

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reading the greatest part
of the night,

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when the book was borrowed
in the evening and had to be

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returned early in the morning
lest it should be missed.

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And all the little money
that came into my hands

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was ever laid out in books.

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Woman: Here was a kid
who only had

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two years of
formal education, ever.

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So, what did he do?
He taught himself how to write.

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Narrator: He composed poetry...
Including a ballad

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commemorating the recent killing
of Blackbeard the pirate.

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He read articles
from "The Spectator,"

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a London periodical,

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and, on paper salvaged
from the print shop,

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attempted to
reproduce them by memory.

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He stayed up late at night
and rose early each morning

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to continue his reading
before the shop opened.

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"I was," Franklin said,
"extremely ambitious."

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In 1721, his brother James
decided to publish

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his own weekly newspaper,
"The New-England Courant."

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From its inception,
the paper courted controversy.

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Its first issue
attacked Cotton Mather,

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Boston's pre-eminent preacher
and the colony's

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strict and severe
moral authority.

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Mather called
the newspaper wicked,

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filled with immorality,
and lies.

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What James Franklin does
is he creates

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the first real independent
newspaper in America.

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His paper, in Boston, is, quote,

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"Not published by Authority."

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All the others, you were
given a stamp of authority.

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Narrator: On April 2, 1722,
an essay appeared

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over the name of Silence Dogood,

201
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who claimed to be a widowed
woman from the countryside,

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and who had lots of
homespun wisdom

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and sharp social critiques
to share.

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It was an immediate hit.

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No one, including
James Franklin, had any idea

206
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that the real author
was a teenage boy,

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James's 16-year-old
brother Benjamin,

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who had secretly slipped
the essay under the door.

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More of Silence Dogood's
articles began to appear.

210
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She offered irreverent
advice on funeral eulogies,

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advocated fiercely
for women's education,

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and in one dispatch
poked fun at Harvard

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and the wealthy parents
who dreamed of

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sending their children
to the elite institution.

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Man as Franklin: Most of them
consulted their own Purses

216
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instead of their
Childrens Capacities.

217
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At Harvard They learn
little more than

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how to
carry themselves handsomely,

219
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and enter a Room genteely...

220
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and from whence they return,

221
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after Abundance of
Trouble and Charge,

222
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as great Blockheads as ever,

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only more proud
and self-conceited.

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Narrator: In the summer of 1722,

225
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James was jailed for 3 weeks
without trial

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for questioning the competence
of Cotton Mather

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and the colony's other leaders.

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Quoting from an article he had
read in a London newspaper,

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Benjamin, as Silence Dogood,
came to his brother's defense.

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Man as Franklin:
Without Freedom of Thought,

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there can be no such
Thing as Wisdom;

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and no such Thing
as publick Liberty,

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without Freedom of Speech.

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Whoever would overthrow
the Liberty of a Nation,

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must begin by subduing
the Freeness of Speech.

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Narrator: When James
was released from jail

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and resumed putting out
his newspaper,

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Benjamin confessed publicly
that he, in fact,

239
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was writing
Silence Dogood's essays.

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Many cheered him
for his artfulness,

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but James was jealous.

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They would argue... and it
sometimes came to blows.

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00:13:05,118 --> 00:13:07,053
Man as Franklin: I fancy
his harsh and tyrannical

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Treatment of me,
might be a means of

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impressing me with that
Aversion to arbitrary Power

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00:13:12,925 --> 00:13:16,259
that has stuck to me
thro' my whole Life.

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Narrator: Franklin decided
to run away,

248
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even if it meant breaking his
legal obligation to his brother.

249
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After selling some of his books
to pay for his passage,

250
00:13:28,841 --> 00:13:32,107
he slipped out of town
on a ship heading south,

251
00:13:32,145 --> 00:13:36,276
convincing the captain to keep
quiet under the false pretense

252
00:13:36,316 --> 00:13:40,549
that he had gotten a girl
pregnant and needed to leave.

253
00:13:40,586 --> 00:13:43,385
He was 17 years old.

254
00:13:46,125 --> 00:13:52,429
♪

255
00:13:52,465 --> 00:13:56,926
11 days later,
on October 6, 1723,

256
00:13:56,969 --> 00:13:59,461
Franklin arrived at
the Market Street wharf

257
00:13:59,505 --> 00:14:02,168
on the Delaware River
in Philadelphia,

258
00:14:02,208 --> 00:14:06,270
the City of Brotherly Love
founded by William Penn,

259
00:14:06,312 --> 00:14:11,080
a Quaker for whom the colony of
Pennsylvania was named.

260
00:14:11,117 --> 00:14:14,212
With 6,000 residents,
Philadelphia was now

261
00:14:14,253 --> 00:14:19,191
America's third-largest city
after Boston and New York.

262
00:14:19,225 --> 00:14:23,060
It was a thriving outpost
of the British Empire...

263
00:14:23,096 --> 00:14:27,192
Its streets filled with both
newcomers and Native peoples,

264
00:14:27,233 --> 00:14:33,332
including the Lenape, on whose
land the city now stood.

265
00:14:33,373 --> 00:14:36,502
Isaacson: People are coming
from all sorts of backgrounds.

266
00:14:36,542 --> 00:14:38,534
There's Anglicans, there's Jews,

267
00:14:38,578 --> 00:14:41,047
there's slaves, freed slaves.

268
00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:43,879
There's the Germans coming in
and the Presbyterians

269
00:14:43,916 --> 00:14:46,385
and the Native Americans
who were there.

270
00:14:46,419 --> 00:14:49,981
And, unlike Puritan Boston,
where you have to follow

271
00:14:50,022 --> 00:14:53,288
the theocratic maxims
of the Mather family,

272
00:14:53,326 --> 00:14:58,492
people in Philadelphia
have a certain tolerance.

273
00:14:58,531 --> 00:15:01,501
Woman: Colonial Philadelphia
had a different vibe,

274
00:15:01,534 --> 00:15:03,332
a different flavor.

275
00:15:03,369 --> 00:15:08,034
Growing commerce,
saloons and taverns,

276
00:15:08,074 --> 00:15:11,408
a sort of hospitable place,
but also a place in which

277
00:15:11,444 --> 00:15:15,211
people could find themselves
and create themselves.

278
00:15:15,248 --> 00:15:18,116
Franklin landing in
Philadelphia at this moment

279
00:15:18,151 --> 00:15:21,383
was perfect for him,
in terms of timing.

280
00:15:21,421 --> 00:15:25,449
He didn't have to be someone
who came from great wealth

281
00:15:25,491 --> 00:15:28,620
in order to find opportunity.

282
00:15:28,661 --> 00:15:31,130
Man: He's just a kid.

283
00:15:31,164 --> 00:15:33,326
He's run away from
his apprenticeship,

284
00:15:33,366 --> 00:15:35,460
so, he's scared, probably,
that they're going to

285
00:15:35,501 --> 00:15:36,992
track him down.

286
00:15:37,036 --> 00:15:40,473
He's not sure what comes next.

287
00:15:40,506 --> 00:15:43,305
Narrator: "I was dirty from
my journey," Franklin wrote,

288
00:15:43,342 --> 00:15:46,938
"and I knew no soul
nor where to look for lodging.

289
00:15:46,979 --> 00:15:51,144
I was fatigued and very hungry."

290
00:15:51,184 --> 00:15:54,586
It was a Sunday, and he saw
a crowd of well-dressed people

291
00:15:54,620 --> 00:15:57,215
heading into a church.

292
00:15:57,256 --> 00:16:01,284
They were Quakers about to
attend their weekly service,

293
00:16:01,327 --> 00:16:05,094
marked by sitting
in silence together.

294
00:16:07,333 --> 00:16:08,995
Man as Franklin:
I sat down among them,

295
00:16:09,035 --> 00:16:11,266
and after looking round awhile

296
00:16:11,304 --> 00:16:13,000
and hearing nothing said,

297
00:16:13,039 --> 00:16:16,168
I fell fast asleep,
and continued so

298
00:16:16,209 --> 00:16:20,613
till the meeting broke up, when
one was kind enough to rouse me.

299
00:16:23,449 --> 00:16:25,975
Narrator: Walking up
Market Street, he passed a house

300
00:16:26,018 --> 00:16:28,988
and exchanged glances
with a 15-year-old girl

301
00:16:29,021 --> 00:16:32,082
standing in the doorway,
who, he was sure,

302
00:16:32,124 --> 00:16:34,992
"thought I made,
as I certainly did,

303
00:16:35,027 --> 00:16:38,088
a most awkward,
ridiculous appearance."

304
00:16:39,365 --> 00:16:42,335
He went to work at one of
the city's print shops

305
00:16:42,368 --> 00:16:45,167
and eventually began
renting a room at the house

306
00:16:45,204 --> 00:16:48,072
he had passed
that first morning.

307
00:16:49,275 --> 00:16:51,403
The girl he had seen was
his landlord's daughter...

308
00:16:51,444 --> 00:16:53,572
Deborah Read.

309
00:16:53,613 --> 00:16:55,343
They struck up a romance,

310
00:16:55,381 --> 00:17:00,012
and by the fall of 1724
were talking of marriage.

311
00:17:02,288 --> 00:17:04,689
Meanwhile, patrons of
the print shop had noticed

312
00:17:04,724 --> 00:17:07,387
Franklin's skill and diligence.

313
00:17:07,426 --> 00:17:10,692
One of them, Pennsylvania's
governor William Keith,

314
00:17:10,730 --> 00:17:15,600
offered what seemed to be
the opportunity of a lifetime.

315
00:17:15,635 --> 00:17:18,104
He would send Franklin to London

316
00:17:18,137 --> 00:17:20,629
with letters of introduction
and credit

317
00:17:20,673 --> 00:17:22,403
to purchase the equipment needed

318
00:17:22,441 --> 00:17:26,071
to start his own
print shop in Philadelphia.

319
00:17:28,214 --> 00:17:30,683
Marriage to Deborah
would have to wait.

320
00:17:30,716 --> 00:17:34,209
Benjamin was bound for England.

321
00:17:34,253 --> 00:17:41,421
♪

322
00:17:41,460 --> 00:17:43,305
Man as Daniel Defoe:
The great center of England

323
00:17:43,329 --> 00:17:45,821
is the city of London
and parts adjacent.

324
00:17:46,065 --> 00:17:48,227
All that vast mass of buildings,

325
00:17:48,267 --> 00:17:51,362
and how much farther
it may spread, who knows?

326
00:17:51,404 --> 00:17:54,397
New squares and new streets
rising up every day

327
00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:57,376
to such a prodigy of buildings
that nothing in the world

328
00:17:57,410 --> 00:18:02,610
does, or ever did, equal it,
except old Rome.

329
00:18:02,648 --> 00:18:03,843
Daniel Defoe.

330
00:18:06,319 --> 00:18:08,345
Narrator: With more than
600,000 residents,

331
00:18:08,387 --> 00:18:11,323
100 times the size
of Philadelphia,

332
00:18:11,357 --> 00:18:14,384
London was the teeming hub
of an empire

333
00:18:14,427 --> 00:18:19,491
that considered its far-flung
colonists with mild disdain.

334
00:18:19,532 --> 00:18:23,731
They viewed Americans
as backwards suppliers
of raw materials

335
00:18:23,769 --> 00:18:26,762
and as purchasers
of manufactured goods

336
00:18:26,806 --> 00:18:30,675
only England could provide.

337
00:18:30,710 --> 00:18:31,853
Man: Coming out of
the Provinces,

338
00:18:31,877 --> 00:18:34,346
he found a greater world.

339
00:18:34,380 --> 00:18:39,341
In England, he was
young and impressionable

340
00:18:39,385 --> 00:18:46,258
and able to make his way into
that huge metropolis of London

341
00:18:46,292 --> 00:18:49,490
from nothing but his ability.

342
00:18:49,528 --> 00:18:52,657
Narrator: Upon his arrival,
Franklin learned too late that

343
00:18:52,698 --> 00:18:56,635
Governor Keith had
a reputation for unreliability.

344
00:18:56,669 --> 00:19:00,436
There were no letters of credit
or introduction.

345
00:19:00,473 --> 00:19:03,671
Once more, he would have
to fend for himself.

346
00:19:05,344 --> 00:19:07,540
For a year and a half,
he made the most of it.

347
00:19:07,580 --> 00:19:10,209
London had more print shops
than all of

348
00:19:10,249 --> 00:19:12,650
the American colonies combined,

349
00:19:12,685 --> 00:19:14,745
and he quickly found work,

350
00:19:14,787 --> 00:19:20,283
impressing his employers with
his strength and his sobriety.

351
00:19:20,326 --> 00:19:23,455
Unlike all the other workers,
he did not drink

352
00:19:23,496 --> 00:19:28,594
a pint of beer 6 different times
during the workday.

353
00:19:28,634 --> 00:19:31,832
Man as Franklin: I drank
only Water; the other Workmen

354
00:19:31,871 --> 00:19:33,271
wonder'd to see from this

355
00:19:33,305 --> 00:19:36,571
that the Water-American,
as they call'd me,

356
00:19:36,609 --> 00:19:38,635
was stronger than themselves.

357
00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:43,775
Narrator: He spent his
free time poring through books,

358
00:19:43,816 --> 00:19:48,345
especially Enlightenment
treatises by Isaac Newton,

359
00:19:48,387 --> 00:19:52,324
René Descartes, John Locke,
and other philosophers

360
00:19:52,358 --> 00:19:55,453
who argued that truths
were to be found

361
00:19:55,494 --> 00:19:59,431
through the study of how things
work in the natural world.

362
00:19:59,465 --> 00:20:03,197
♪

363
00:20:03,235 --> 00:20:04,396
Jenkinson: The Enlightenment.

364
00:20:04,437 --> 00:20:07,430
It's a commitment
to reason and science.

365
00:20:07,473 --> 00:20:09,567
It's a belief that
every problem can be solved

366
00:20:09,608 --> 00:20:13,204
and that every institution
can be reformed,

367
00:20:13,245 --> 00:20:14,770
that life on Earth
is perfectible,

368
00:20:14,814 --> 00:20:17,682
at least up to a point,

369
00:20:17,717 --> 00:20:20,209
and maybe altogether.

370
00:20:20,252 --> 00:20:22,221
Narrator: In London,
Franklin also seemed

371
00:20:22,254 --> 00:20:23,882
to have forgotten Deborah

372
00:20:23,923 --> 00:20:26,358
and indulged in what he called

373
00:20:26,392 --> 00:20:29,260
"foolish intrigues
with low women."

374
00:20:29,295 --> 00:20:32,390
He wrote her only one letter.

375
00:20:32,431 --> 00:20:37,267
In his absence,
Deborah married someone else.

376
00:20:37,303 --> 00:20:39,238
But when a Quaker merchant

377
00:20:39,271 --> 00:20:41,570
offered Franklin a job
as a clerk

378
00:20:41,607 --> 00:20:43,906
selling merchandise
in a general store

379
00:20:43,943 --> 00:20:45,411
back in Philadelphia

380
00:20:45,444 --> 00:20:48,812
and then dangled
a potential partnership,

381
00:20:48,848 --> 00:20:50,840
he headed home.

382
00:20:53,786 --> 00:20:57,484
During the 12-week voyage,
Franklin wrote out a plan

383
00:20:57,523 --> 00:21:01,756
for future conduct,
with 4 basic rules:

384
00:21:01,794 --> 00:21:03,854
be "extremely frugal,"

385
00:21:03,896 --> 00:21:07,697
"endeavour to speak the truth
in every instance,"

386
00:21:07,733 --> 00:21:12,467
"apply myself industriously
to whatever business I take,"

387
00:21:12,505 --> 00:21:15,339
and "speak ill of
no man whatever."

388
00:21:17,843 --> 00:21:21,473
In Philadelphia, he threw
himself into his new job,

389
00:21:21,514 --> 00:21:25,610
becoming, he said,
an "expert at selling."

390
00:21:25,651 --> 00:21:29,349
But that winter, his employer
took ill and died.

391
00:21:30,589 --> 00:21:34,321
Franklin decided to return
to his old trade as a printer.

392
00:21:35,461 --> 00:21:37,953
In 1728, he opened

393
00:21:37,997 --> 00:21:40,489
his own shop on Market Street

394
00:21:40,533 --> 00:21:42,866
with a partner
whose father underwrote

395
00:21:42,902 --> 00:21:45,895
the initial expenses.

396
00:21:45,938 --> 00:21:49,534
He had devised a foundry
for casting type,

397
00:21:49,575 --> 00:21:53,068
saving the cost of sending to
England for replacements,

398
00:21:53,312 --> 00:21:55,474
and won a contract to print

399
00:21:55,514 --> 00:21:58,450
the authorized history
of the Quakers.

400
00:21:59,618 --> 00:22:01,484
When his new partner
took to drinking,

401
00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:04,752
Franklin found other backers
to buy him out

402
00:22:04,790 --> 00:22:08,090
and continued as
sole proprietor.

403
00:22:08,327 --> 00:22:10,592
In his drive to succeed,
he often worked

404
00:22:10,629 --> 00:22:12,427
until 11 at night

405
00:22:12,464 --> 00:22:15,366
and was back at his shop
before dawn.

406
00:22:16,836 --> 00:22:19,533
Man as Franklin: I took care
not only to be in Reality

407
00:22:19,572 --> 00:22:22,007
Industrious and frugal,
but to avoid

408
00:22:22,041 --> 00:22:25,500
all Appearances of the Contrary.

409
00:22:25,544 --> 00:22:28,013
Narrator: He made sure
people noticed,

410
00:22:28,047 --> 00:22:31,779
and his business increased.

411
00:22:31,817 --> 00:22:34,685
Chaplin: He was a writer.
You know, writers invent.

412
00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:38,748
He might be
his own best invention.

413
00:22:38,791 --> 00:22:42,728
Franklin is so relentless
in learning how to do things,

414
00:22:42,761 --> 00:22:46,425
learning how to do things
correctly in a certain way,

415
00:22:46,465 --> 00:22:48,593
how to write, how to dress,
how to

416
00:22:48,634 --> 00:22:50,728
speak to different kinds
of people.

417
00:22:50,769 --> 00:22:53,898
It's sort of impossible
to know what was there

418
00:22:53,939 --> 00:22:56,932
before he did all that
and invented himself.

419
00:22:59,745 --> 00:23:02,647
Narrator: With 11 other
up-and-coming tradesmen,

420
00:23:02,681 --> 00:23:05,776
Franklin formed a club
that met each Friday evening

421
00:23:05,818 --> 00:23:10,552
to socialize and forge
business connections.

422
00:23:10,589 --> 00:23:13,149
But they also discussed
current events

423
00:23:13,392 --> 00:23:16,885
and politely debated
a variety of topics...

424
00:23:16,929 --> 00:23:20,866
What is wisdom?
What defines good writing?

425
00:23:20,900 --> 00:23:24,530
Did importing indentured
and enslaved servants

426
00:23:24,570 --> 00:23:27,768
help or hurt
the colonial economy?

427
00:23:29,174 --> 00:23:32,770
The official name of the group
was the Leather Apron Club.

428
00:23:32,811 --> 00:23:36,407
Informally, they
called themselves the Junto,

429
00:23:36,448 --> 00:23:39,714
from the Latin for
"joined together."

430
00:23:39,752 --> 00:23:43,416
At 21, Franklin was
its youngest member,

431
00:23:43,455 --> 00:23:47,654
but unquestionably
its driving force.

432
00:23:47,693 --> 00:23:51,721
Isaacson: Franklin believed
that the virtues and values

433
00:23:51,764 --> 00:23:53,756
of a working middle class

434
00:23:53,799 --> 00:23:57,133
were going to be the backbone
of American society.

435
00:23:57,169 --> 00:23:59,798
The artisans, the shopkeepers,

436
00:23:59,838 --> 00:24:02,808
the people who put on leather
aprons early in the morning

437
00:24:02,841 --> 00:24:05,777
to help serve the public.

438
00:24:05,811 --> 00:24:08,440
Narrator: The Junto
moved its meeting place

439
00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:11,109
from a local tavern
to a rented house,

440
00:24:11,150 --> 00:24:13,119
and at Franklin's suggestion,

441
00:24:13,152 --> 00:24:15,178
each member brought some books

442
00:24:15,220 --> 00:24:17,485
that the other members
could read.

443
00:24:20,559 --> 00:24:21,803
Eventually, they broadened
the idea

444
00:24:21,827 --> 00:24:25,457
into the Library Company
of Philadelphia,

445
00:24:25,497 --> 00:24:27,796
America's first
subscription library

446
00:24:27,833 --> 00:24:29,461
open to the public,

447
00:24:29,501 --> 00:24:32,130
who paid small dues
for the chance to borrow

448
00:24:32,171 --> 00:24:35,664
books imported from Europe.

449
00:24:35,708 --> 00:24:38,109
Dunbar: And, every year,
more and more books would be

450
00:24:38,143 --> 00:24:41,580
collected and extend knowledge.

451
00:24:41,613 --> 00:24:44,674
What was so important
about the Library Company

452
00:24:44,717 --> 00:24:50,623
was that it wasn't
just for wealthy, elite men.

453
00:24:50,656 --> 00:24:52,750
Man as Franklin:
This Library afforded me

454
00:24:52,791 --> 00:24:56,694
the Means of Improvement
by constant Study,

455
00:24:56,729 --> 00:24:59,528
for which I set apart
an Hour or two each Day;

456
00:24:59,565 --> 00:25:01,796
and thus repair'd in some Degree

457
00:25:01,834 --> 00:25:04,269
the Loss of
the Learned Education

458
00:25:04,503 --> 00:25:06,938
my Father once intended for me.

459
00:25:08,974 --> 00:25:10,785
Jenkinson: He always looked
around wherever he was

460
00:25:10,809 --> 00:25:12,607
and said,
"What needs to be done?

461
00:25:12,644 --> 00:25:13,955
"What's missing?
What are the things

462
00:25:13,979 --> 00:25:16,073
that a community ought to have?"

463
00:25:16,115 --> 00:25:19,745
He had read enough to know
that there was more elsewhere

464
00:25:19,785 --> 00:25:22,516
and he wanted to make
those good things happen

465
00:25:22,554 --> 00:25:24,580
to the community
of Philadelphia.

466
00:25:25,958 --> 00:25:28,257
Isaacson: Self-reliance,
which Franklin loved,

467
00:25:28,293 --> 00:25:30,888
and community engagement
may seem like

468
00:25:30,929 --> 00:25:32,261
they oppose each other.

469
00:25:32,297 --> 00:25:35,290
But as Franklin repeatedly said,

470
00:25:35,534 --> 00:25:37,628
the good that we can do together

471
00:25:37,669 --> 00:25:40,571
surpasses the good
we can do alone.

472
00:25:43,709 --> 00:25:46,645
Narrator: Over the coming years,
Franklin and his Junto

473
00:25:46,678 --> 00:25:48,943
would turn to other
civic projects

474
00:25:48,981 --> 00:25:51,678
to improve life in Philadelphia.

475
00:25:53,252 --> 00:25:55,221
Under their guidance,
the city formed

476
00:25:55,254 --> 00:25:57,746
volunteer fire companies.

477
00:25:57,790 --> 00:26:00,123
They advocated
for a police force

478
00:26:00,159 --> 00:26:02,993
paid by a property tax.

479
00:26:03,028 --> 00:26:04,929
And at one Junto meeting,

480
00:26:04,963 --> 00:26:08,991
Franklin raised the idea
of starting a college.

481
00:26:10,936 --> 00:26:13,030
When the Public Academy
of Philadelphia

482
00:26:13,072 --> 00:26:15,974
finally opened in 1751,

483
00:26:16,008 --> 00:26:19,945
Franklin would be elected
president of the board.

484
00:26:19,978 --> 00:26:24,040
It was the first non-sectarian
college in America

485
00:26:24,083 --> 00:26:28,316
and would later become
the University of Pennsylvania.

486
00:26:30,589 --> 00:26:32,148
Expanding on the Junto model,

487
00:26:32,191 --> 00:26:34,319
he proposed and organized

488
00:26:34,359 --> 00:26:37,761
the American
Philosophical Society,

489
00:26:37,796 --> 00:26:41,130
whose members would be
scientists and intellectuals

490
00:26:41,166 --> 00:26:43,761
from throughout the colonies,

491
00:26:43,802 --> 00:26:47,603
who could share ideas
and scholarly papers by mail

492
00:26:47,639 --> 00:26:50,973
if they could not
come to meetings in person.

493
00:26:51,009 --> 00:26:55,242
It would become the colonies'
first learned society.

494
00:26:56,982 --> 00:26:59,884
And to build a new hospital,
he devised a plan

495
00:26:59,918 --> 00:27:04,788
that matched private donations
with public funds,

496
00:27:04,823 --> 00:27:08,385
giving people, he said,
"an additional motive to give,

497
00:27:08,627 --> 00:27:12,155
since every man's donation
would be doubled."

498
00:27:13,799 --> 00:27:15,243
He always believed
that if you just get a few

499
00:27:15,267 --> 00:27:17,827
good and interested men,
always men,

500
00:27:17,870 --> 00:27:21,773
on any civic problem,
you can solve it.

501
00:27:21,807 --> 00:27:26,768
Dunbar: Ben Franklin is,
I think, emblematic of what

502
00:27:26,812 --> 00:27:30,374
America wanted to be,
should be, could be.

503
00:27:30,415 --> 00:27:34,079
The things that he spoke of,
the things that he wrote about,

504
00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:39,387
often missing are other people.

505
00:27:39,424 --> 00:27:42,690
Women, people of color,
in particular,

506
00:27:42,728 --> 00:27:45,789
enslaved men and women,
never had

507
00:27:45,831 --> 00:27:49,097
the opportunities that
a Ben Franklin had.

508
00:27:49,134 --> 00:27:52,263
♪

509
00:27:54,072 --> 00:28:00,808
♪

510
00:28:00,846 --> 00:28:03,145
Narrator: Franklin's
print shop was thriving.

511
00:28:03,182 --> 00:28:06,152
Pennsylvania's colonial
legislature awarded him

512
00:28:06,185 --> 00:28:09,849
the contract to print
its paper currency.

513
00:28:09,888 --> 00:28:11,356
When he learned that
South Carolina

514
00:28:11,390 --> 00:28:13,291
was looking for a printer,

515
00:28:13,325 --> 00:28:15,453
he dispatched
one of his employees

516
00:28:15,694 --> 00:28:18,061
to open a shop in Charleston.

517
00:28:20,032 --> 00:28:24,163
And on October 2, 1729,
he began publishing

518
00:28:24,203 --> 00:28:28,903
his own newspaper,
"The Pennsylvania Gazette."

519
00:28:28,941 --> 00:28:32,036
He filled its pages with
reports from other newspapers

520
00:28:32,077 --> 00:28:34,137
in America and England,

521
00:28:34,179 --> 00:28:36,239
along with crime stories,

522
00:28:36,281 --> 00:28:39,217
notices of fires and deaths,

523
00:28:39,251 --> 00:28:41,220
a moral advice column,

524
00:28:41,253 --> 00:28:46,055
funny tales he concocted that
flirted with sexual innuendo,

525
00:28:46,091 --> 00:28:50,791
and letters from readers,
including some he wrote himself,

526
00:28:50,829 --> 00:28:52,821
under tongue-in-cheek
pseudonyms like

527
00:28:52,864 --> 00:28:57,131
Anthony Afterwit
and Alice Addertongue.

528
00:28:57,169 --> 00:29:00,037
"If you would make your
paper a vehicle of scandal,"

529
00:29:00,072 --> 00:29:02,803
Addertongue advised
in one letter,

530
00:29:02,841 --> 00:29:05,834
"you would double the number
of your subscribers."

531
00:29:07,446 --> 00:29:09,278
The "Gazette" caught on.

532
00:29:10,782 --> 00:29:12,382
Dunbar: Ben Franklin
understood the power

533
00:29:12,417 --> 00:29:15,182
of the printing press.

534
00:29:15,220 --> 00:29:19,089
He understood that
those who controlled words,

535
00:29:19,124 --> 00:29:23,391
those who are able to
disseminate information, um,

536
00:29:23,428 --> 00:29:25,090
had a certain amount of power.

537
00:29:25,130 --> 00:29:29,534
He could be the arbiter of
what was seen as important.

538
00:29:31,503 --> 00:29:33,495
Brands: The idea, first,
was to engage people,

539
00:29:33,538 --> 00:29:35,507
to entertain people.

540
00:29:35,540 --> 00:29:37,085
Franklin understood that
if you could get people

541
00:29:37,109 --> 00:29:38,873
to laugh with you,
you're halfway to

542
00:29:38,910 --> 00:29:41,539
getting them to agree with you.

543
00:29:41,780 --> 00:29:43,772
Narrator: He also
welcomed essays

544
00:29:43,815 --> 00:29:47,252
espousing opinions of all kinds.

545
00:29:47,286 --> 00:29:48,963
Man as Franklin: If all
printers were determined

546
00:29:48,987 --> 00:29:50,819
not to print anything
till they were

547
00:29:50,856 --> 00:29:52,916
sure it would offend nobody,

548
00:29:52,958 --> 00:29:55,052
there would be
very little printed.

549
00:29:56,261 --> 00:29:58,321
Isaacson: He said
in the end you have to bear

550
00:29:58,363 --> 00:30:03,233
some responsibility for the type
of ideas that you put forward.

551
00:30:03,268 --> 00:30:05,794
And if they're really odious,
if they're really harmful,

552
00:30:05,837 --> 00:30:08,966
you have to curate them out.

553
00:30:09,007 --> 00:30:11,067
Woman: If you made
a mistake, you could,

554
00:30:11,109 --> 00:30:16,173
as they always did in those
days, add an errata page.

555
00:30:16,214 --> 00:30:20,515
And you could fix anything
with that errata page.

556
00:30:22,154 --> 00:30:24,350
Narrator: Local merchants
advertised their goods

557
00:30:24,389 --> 00:30:25,948
in the "Gazette;"

558
00:30:25,991 --> 00:30:29,155
tradesmen advertised
their services.

559
00:30:29,194 --> 00:30:32,961
Franklin also published
notices offering rewards

560
00:30:32,998 --> 00:30:35,524
for runaway indentured servants,

561
00:30:35,567 --> 00:30:37,331
like he had once been,

562
00:30:37,369 --> 00:30:39,861
and slaves for sale.

563
00:30:41,973 --> 00:30:44,602
Man: To be sold
in Lots or singly,

564
00:30:44,843 --> 00:30:47,836
a choice parcel of Negroes
lately Imported,

565
00:30:47,879 --> 00:30:50,405
consisting chiefly of
young Men and Girls,

566
00:30:50,449 --> 00:30:52,884
bred to Plantation Business;

567
00:30:52,918 --> 00:30:55,888
also Jamaica Rum,
Sugar of sundry Sorts,

568
00:30:55,921 --> 00:30:58,857
Molasses, Cotton, and Pimento.

569
00:31:01,326 --> 00:31:05,058
Run away from the subscriber,
a Negroe lad called Ned,

570
00:31:05,097 --> 00:31:09,000
about 18 years of age,
5 feet 7 inches high,

571
00:31:09,034 --> 00:31:11,299
speaks pretty good English,
but thick,

572
00:31:11,336 --> 00:31:14,864
has very thick lips, and is much
pitted with the small-pox;

573
00:31:17,109 --> 00:31:20,637
TO BE SOLD, A LIKELY young
breeding Negroe Woman,

574
00:31:20,879 --> 00:31:23,610
speaks good English,
understands her Needle

575
00:31:23,648 --> 00:31:26,277
and any sort of Household Work,

576
00:31:26,318 --> 00:31:27,911
and has had the Small-Pox.

577
00:31:29,488 --> 00:31:31,286
Enquire of the Printer.

578
00:31:35,394 --> 00:31:38,421
♪

579
00:31:38,463 --> 00:31:39,743
Narrator: When Benjamin Franklin

580
00:31:39,898 --> 00:31:41,924
had returned from England,

581
00:31:41,967 --> 00:31:44,562
he had fallen back into
some of the habits

582
00:31:44,603 --> 00:31:47,334
he had acquired in London.

583
00:31:47,372 --> 00:31:50,206
Man as Franklin: That hard-to-
be-govern'd Passion of Youth

584
00:31:50,242 --> 00:31:53,337
hurried me frequently into
Intrigues with low Women

585
00:31:53,378 --> 00:31:55,074
that fell in my Way,

586
00:31:55,113 --> 00:31:57,480
which were attended
with some Expence.

587
00:31:57,516 --> 00:32:01,544
Besides a continual Risque
to my Health by a Distemper

588
00:32:01,586 --> 00:32:03,350
which of all Things I dreaded,

589
00:32:03,388 --> 00:32:06,517
tho' by great good Luck
I escaped it.

590
00:32:08,326 --> 00:32:11,262
Narrator: Now, as he became
a successful businessman,

591
00:32:11,296 --> 00:32:15,358
he decided he needed to
settle down and get married.

592
00:32:16,968 --> 00:32:20,063
Meanwhile, his former fiancée
Deborah Read

593
00:32:20,105 --> 00:32:22,700
had seen her marriage
fall apart.

594
00:32:22,941 --> 00:32:27,379
Her husband had abandoned her
and fled to the West Indies.

595
00:32:27,412 --> 00:32:31,281
Reports came back that he
had died there in a brawl,

596
00:32:31,316 --> 00:32:33,148
but they were unconfirmed.

597
00:32:34,619 --> 00:32:38,386
In Quaker Pennsylvania,
Deborah was in a legal limbo.

598
00:32:38,423 --> 00:32:42,258
If she remarried and it
turned out he wasn't dead,

599
00:32:42,294 --> 00:32:46,288
she would be guilty of bigamy,
punishable at the time

600
00:32:46,331 --> 00:32:50,359
by 39 lashes
and life imprisonment.

601
00:32:52,170 --> 00:32:54,162
She now lived with
her widowed mother,

602
00:32:54,206 --> 00:32:57,404
who sold homemade remedies
to support them both

603
00:32:57,442 --> 00:33:00,344
in their house on Market Street.

604
00:33:00,378 --> 00:33:02,745
Franklin felt
some responsibility

605
00:33:02,981 --> 00:33:05,678
for Deborah's unhappiness,
and he said,

606
00:33:05,717 --> 00:33:09,745
"our mutual affection
was revived."

607
00:33:09,988 --> 00:33:14,688
On September 1, 1730,
forgoing a legal wedding,

608
00:33:14,726 --> 00:33:17,093
they simply moved in together

609
00:33:17,128 --> 00:33:20,030
and entered into
a common-law marriage,

610
00:33:20,065 --> 00:33:23,263
a practice not
all that uncommon.

611
00:33:24,603 --> 00:33:27,038
Man as Franklin: She prov'd
a good and faithful Helpmate.

612
00:33:27,072 --> 00:33:29,507
Assisted me much
by attending the Shop.

613
00:33:29,541 --> 00:33:33,273
We throve together, and have
ever mutually endeavour'd

614
00:33:33,311 --> 00:33:35,678
to make each other happy.

615
00:33:35,714 --> 00:33:38,343
Cohn: I think he loved her.

616
00:33:38,383 --> 00:33:41,444
I think they rubbed on
together beautifully,

617
00:33:41,486 --> 00:33:44,149
as he would have said.

618
00:33:44,189 --> 00:33:45,700
I think during the time
that Franklin was

619
00:33:45,724 --> 00:33:47,784
an up-and-coming tradesman,

620
00:33:48,026 --> 00:33:51,394
it was a perfect union.

621
00:33:51,429 --> 00:33:55,366
Skemp: She was an excellent
choice for a wife.

622
00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:59,496
She was well connected;
she belonged to Christ Church,

623
00:33:59,538 --> 00:34:02,201
which was the church in town.

624
00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:05,176
It was less of a romantic
relationship than it was

625
00:34:05,210 --> 00:34:08,806
a good, strong,
business-like partnership.

626
00:34:10,315 --> 00:34:12,375
Narrator: But there was
a complication.

627
00:34:12,417 --> 00:34:17,117
Franklin had recently fathered
a son with another woman.

628
00:34:17,155 --> 00:34:19,454
He never revealed
the mother's identity,

629
00:34:19,491 --> 00:34:23,258
but Franklin wanted to take
custody of the child.

630
00:34:23,295 --> 00:34:25,787
Deborah agreed the boy
could live with them.

631
00:34:25,830 --> 00:34:29,130
He was named William.

632
00:34:29,167 --> 00:34:31,193
She takes in his son,
who is not her son,

633
00:34:31,236 --> 00:34:33,501
and raises him,
not always happily.

634
00:34:35,106 --> 00:34:36,665
Narrator: Benjamin and Deborah

635
00:34:36,708 --> 00:34:38,609
expanded the print shop
to include

636
00:34:38,643 --> 00:34:41,169
sales of her mother's ointments,

637
00:34:41,212 --> 00:34:45,081
fine soap from Franklin's family
back in Boston,

638
00:34:45,116 --> 00:34:49,383
coffee, tea, chocolate,
and other items.

639
00:34:49,421 --> 00:34:52,152
Deborah purchased rags,
which mills throughout

640
00:34:52,190 --> 00:34:54,557
the colonies turned into paper,

641
00:34:54,593 --> 00:34:57,290
creating another profit center.

642
00:34:57,329 --> 00:35:00,163
She also managed the household,

643
00:35:00,198 --> 00:35:03,600
and at night bound books
by candlelight.

644
00:35:05,637 --> 00:35:09,233
Narrator: Two years into
their union, in 1732,

645
00:35:09,274 --> 00:35:12,335
they had a child
of their own, Francis.

646
00:35:12,377 --> 00:35:16,473
His proud and doting
father called him Franky.

647
00:35:17,749 --> 00:35:20,116
But just after
his fourth birthday,

648
00:35:20,151 --> 00:35:24,885
Franky came down with smallpox
and died.

649
00:35:25,123 --> 00:35:27,615
The huge tragedy of their lives

650
00:35:27,659 --> 00:35:30,424
was the death of Franky.

651
00:35:30,462 --> 00:35:33,762
Franklin was one of the few
people in the Colonies

652
00:35:33,798 --> 00:35:37,565
who was 100% behind inoculation.

653
00:35:37,602 --> 00:35:41,130
But it was thought
that because Franky

654
00:35:41,172 --> 00:35:43,300
had a very bad cold at the time,

655
00:35:43,341 --> 00:35:47,142
they should hold off
until he recovered enough

656
00:35:47,178 --> 00:35:49,807
to be able to withstand
the assault on his system

657
00:35:49,848 --> 00:35:52,647
that inoculation would provide.

658
00:35:52,684 --> 00:35:55,210
He never was inoculated.

659
00:35:55,253 --> 00:35:57,654
Franklin never forgave himself.

660
00:36:01,292 --> 00:36:08,495
♪

661
00:36:08,533 --> 00:36:10,177
Narrator: Franklin's exposure
to the writings of

662
00:36:10,201 --> 00:36:12,466
Europe's Enlightenment thinkers

663
00:36:12,504 --> 00:36:15,838
had led him to reject most of
the Puritan teachings

664
00:36:15,874 --> 00:36:18,537
of his family's church
in Boston.

665
00:36:18,576 --> 00:36:21,842
He no longer worshipped
a God intimately connected

666
00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:23,678
with a person's daily life

667
00:36:23,715 --> 00:36:27,948
who answered private prayers
or sent down punishments.

668
00:36:30,288 --> 00:36:32,757
But he still believed in
a Supreme Being

669
00:36:32,791 --> 00:36:36,228
who had created the world.

670
00:36:36,261 --> 00:36:37,772
Man as Franklin:
I believe He is pleased

671
00:36:37,796 --> 00:36:39,697
and delights in the happiness

672
00:36:39,731 --> 00:36:41,632
of those He has created;

673
00:36:41,666 --> 00:36:46,263
and since without virtue man can
have no happiness in this world,

674
00:36:46,304 --> 00:36:51,242
I firmly believe He
delights to see me virtuous.

675
00:36:51,276 --> 00:36:53,677
A virtuous heretick
shall be saved

676
00:36:53,712 --> 00:36:56,204
before a wicked Christian.

677
00:36:57,582 --> 00:36:59,710
Narrator: No one feared
for Benjamin's soul

678
00:36:59,751 --> 00:37:03,620
more than his pious parents
back in Boston,

679
00:37:03,655 --> 00:37:06,921
whose Calvinist Puritanism
espoused that salvation

680
00:37:06,958 --> 00:37:09,826
came solely through God's grace

681
00:37:09,861 --> 00:37:11,693
rather than good works

682
00:37:11,730 --> 00:37:14,632
and anyone who strayed
from that doctrine

683
00:37:14,666 --> 00:37:17,329
would be eternally damned.

684
00:37:18,570 --> 00:37:21,005
Benjamin, for whom tolerance
was becoming

685
00:37:21,239 --> 00:37:23,799
central to his evolving beliefs,

686
00:37:23,842 --> 00:37:26,676
tried to explain himself.

687
00:37:26,711 --> 00:37:29,738
Man as Franklin: Honored
Father and Mother, I imagine

688
00:37:29,781 --> 00:37:32,478
a Man must have a good deal
of Vanity who believes

689
00:37:32,517 --> 00:37:35,646
that all the Doctrines
he holds, are true;

690
00:37:35,687 --> 00:37:38,247
and all he rejects, are false.

691
00:37:40,525 --> 00:37:43,461
I think vital Religion
has always suffer'd,

692
00:37:43,495 --> 00:37:47,660
when Orthodoxy is more
regarded than Virtue.

693
00:37:47,699 --> 00:37:51,500
And the Scripture assures me,
that at the last Day,

694
00:37:51,536 --> 00:37:54,734
we shall not be examin'd
by what we thought,

695
00:37:54,773 --> 00:37:56,264
but what we did.

696
00:38:00,745 --> 00:38:03,408
Schiff: He's a man of
omnivorous curiosity, um,

697
00:38:03,448 --> 00:38:05,883
of endless invention,
of endless self-invention.

698
00:38:05,917 --> 00:38:07,783
He's so bent on
self-improvement,

699
00:38:07,819 --> 00:38:10,414
on teaching himself
how to write properly,

700
00:38:10,455 --> 00:38:13,323
or cleansing himself
of his moral sins.

701
00:38:13,358 --> 00:38:15,691
He gives us this idea
that human nature

702
00:38:15,727 --> 00:38:17,059
may be flawed in some ways,

703
00:38:17,295 --> 00:38:19,696
but anything can be improved.

704
00:38:21,766 --> 00:38:24,565
Narrator: In his constant
effort for self-improvement,

705
00:38:24,602 --> 00:38:27,731
Franklin made a list
of 12 virtues

706
00:38:27,772 --> 00:38:32,403
that could lead him to what
he called "moral perfection":

707
00:38:32,443 --> 00:38:38,974
temperance, silence, order,

708
00:38:39,017 --> 00:38:44,718
resolution, frugality, industry,

709
00:38:44,756 --> 00:38:52,756
sincerity, justice,
moderation, cleanliness,

710
00:38:53,832 --> 00:38:57,064
tranquility, and chastity.

711
00:38:58,736 --> 00:39:00,932
Then he made a chart
with 7 columns

712
00:39:00,972 --> 00:39:02,941
for each day of the week

713
00:39:02,974 --> 00:39:05,967
and rows labeled
with each virtue

714
00:39:06,010 --> 00:39:08,445
and went to work
on his progress,

715
00:39:08,479 --> 00:39:12,746
marking any infraction
with a black spot.

716
00:39:12,784 --> 00:39:16,778
"I was surprised," he said,
"to find myself much fuller

717
00:39:16,821 --> 00:39:19,484
of faults than I had imagined."

718
00:39:20,892 --> 00:39:24,385
Isaacson: Every week, Franklin
would make a chart and check,

719
00:39:24,429 --> 00:39:26,694
did he master the virtue?

720
00:39:26,731 --> 00:39:29,724
At one point, he said,
"I've mastered all the 12

721
00:39:29,767 --> 00:39:31,360
"virtues I had.

722
00:39:31,402 --> 00:39:33,803
"And I showed it around
with great pride.

723
00:39:33,838 --> 00:39:36,933
"And one of my friends said,
'Franklin, you're missing

724
00:39:36,975 --> 00:39:38,255
a virtue you might want
to try.'"

725
00:39:38,376 --> 00:39:40,140
And Franklin says,
"What's that?"

726
00:39:40,378 --> 00:39:41,846
And the friend says, "Humility.

727
00:39:41,880 --> 00:39:45,681
You might want to add
that one to your list."

728
00:39:45,717 --> 00:39:48,516
Man as Franklin: In reality,
there is perhaps no one of our

729
00:39:48,553 --> 00:39:52,854
natural Passions so hard
to subdue as Pride.

730
00:39:52,891 --> 00:39:55,793
Disguise it, struggle with it,
beat it down, stifle it,

731
00:39:55,827 --> 00:39:59,821
mortify it as much as one
pleases, it is still alive,

732
00:39:59,864 --> 00:40:03,960
and will every now and then
peep out and show itself.

733
00:40:04,002 --> 00:40:07,598
Even if I could conceive that
I had completely overcome it,

734
00:40:07,639 --> 00:40:11,906
I should probably be
proud of my Humility.

735
00:40:15,914 --> 00:40:19,407
Narrator: 7 years after the
death of their son Franky,

736
00:40:19,450 --> 00:40:24,115
Deborah gave birth to another
child, a daughter named Sarah.

737
00:40:24,155 --> 00:40:26,522
They called her Sally.

738
00:40:27,792 --> 00:40:30,660
Franklin's son William
was now a teenager,

739
00:40:30,695 --> 00:40:34,632
as restless as his father
had been at that age.

740
00:40:34,666 --> 00:40:37,659
Deborah treated him
with occasional coldness,

741
00:40:37,702 --> 00:40:40,763
but Franklin was indulgent
as a father,

742
00:40:40,805 --> 00:40:44,003
making sure the boy
got the formal education

743
00:40:44,042 --> 00:40:46,978
Franklin himself
had been denied.

744
00:40:48,613 --> 00:40:51,549
At age 16, William enlisted
to fight against

745
00:40:51,582 --> 00:40:54,108
the French and their
Indian allies

746
00:40:54,152 --> 00:40:57,213
in what was called
King George's War,

747
00:40:57,455 --> 00:40:59,822
and quickly rose
to the rank of captain,

748
00:40:59,857 --> 00:41:03,692
tracking down deserters
in Pennsylvania.

749
00:41:03,728 --> 00:41:06,493
When he returned
to Philadelphia,

750
00:41:06,531 --> 00:41:08,966
his father began
to envision William

751
00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:11,936
rising in the ranks
of the British Empire

752
00:41:11,970 --> 00:41:16,499
and made plans for him
to study the law in England.

753
00:41:20,178 --> 00:41:24,047
Dunbar: Franklin had started
to acquire some wealth.

754
00:41:25,483 --> 00:41:28,146
Like many other
Colonial Pennsylvanians,

755
00:41:28,186 --> 00:41:31,054
he held a number
of enslaved people,

756
00:41:31,089 --> 00:41:33,649
up to 5 or 6, in his home,

757
00:41:33,691 --> 00:41:37,526
including a married couple,
Peter and Jemima.

758
00:41:37,562 --> 00:41:40,623
He was committed to slave labor.

759
00:41:40,665 --> 00:41:45,194
He used it alongside of
his business ventures

760
00:41:45,236 --> 00:41:47,865
in order to gain more wealth.

761
00:41:47,905 --> 00:41:49,635
Narrator: At the time,

762
00:41:49,674 --> 00:41:52,075
nearly a tenth of
Philadelphia's residents

763
00:41:52,110 --> 00:41:53,601
were enslaved,

764
00:41:53,644 --> 00:41:57,513
toiling in homes and businesses.

765
00:41:57,548 --> 00:41:59,949
Brown: We tend to associate
slavery with

766
00:41:59,984 --> 00:42:02,146
plantation labor in the South.

767
00:42:02,186 --> 00:42:04,985
But there were slaves all up
and down the Eastern Seaboard,

768
00:42:05,023 --> 00:42:07,219
every one of the 13 Colonies.

769
00:42:07,258 --> 00:42:09,169
And they did everything.
They served as
domestic servants;

770
00:42:09,193 --> 00:42:12,925
they served as cooks;
um, they served as nursemaids;

771
00:42:12,964 --> 00:42:17,629
they served as dock workers;
they served as hired hands.

772
00:42:17,668 --> 00:42:21,662
The advantage was that
Africans couldn't leave.

773
00:42:21,706 --> 00:42:25,074
Indentured servants
filled out their time.

774
00:42:25,109 --> 00:42:27,635
Africans, you had for life.

775
00:42:28,846 --> 00:42:30,940
Narrator: Many of Franklin's
Quaker friends

776
00:42:30,982 --> 00:42:34,714
considered slavery a sin
that threatened to corrode

777
00:42:34,752 --> 00:42:38,189
the moral fiber of
the community at large.

778
00:42:38,222 --> 00:42:41,989
Franklin published some of
their anti-slavery tracts...

779
00:42:42,026 --> 00:42:45,326
Though he intentionally
kept his own name as printer

780
00:42:45,563 --> 00:42:48,089
off the title page.

781
00:42:48,132 --> 00:42:51,125
Dunbar: Franklin lived in
a moment in which slavery was

782
00:42:51,169 --> 00:42:56,039
being challenged, pretty
constantly, in Philadelphia.

783
00:42:56,074 --> 00:42:59,806
He was very aware that this
was happening, yet he still

784
00:42:59,844 --> 00:43:03,144
made the decision to
hold onto his men and woman

785
00:43:03,181 --> 00:43:05,116
who were enslaved.

786
00:43:05,149 --> 00:43:07,050
He made a choice.

787
00:43:15,693 --> 00:43:17,204
Narrator: Franklin's
publishing empire was

788
00:43:17,228 --> 00:43:20,357
expanding and making more money.

789
00:43:20,598 --> 00:43:22,692
He was named
clerk of Pennsylvania's

790
00:43:22,733 --> 00:43:25,931
colonial assembly,
which didn't pay well,

791
00:43:25,970 --> 00:43:28,940
but had won the contract
to print their proceedings,

792
00:43:28,973 --> 00:43:31,067
which did.

793
00:43:31,109 --> 00:43:34,841
He made even more profits
printing the paper currency

794
00:43:34,879 --> 00:43:38,816
for Pennsylvania, Delaware,
and New Jersey.

795
00:43:38,850 --> 00:43:41,786
With former employees,
he would establish

796
00:43:41,819 --> 00:43:44,948
printing partnerships in
Newport, Rhode Island;

797
00:43:44,989 --> 00:43:48,892
New York City; and Antigua
in the West Indies;

798
00:43:48,926 --> 00:43:53,125
as well as the one in
Charleston, South Carolina.

799
00:43:53,164 --> 00:43:56,794
He published Bibles,
and Samuel Richardson's

800
00:43:56,834 --> 00:44:00,066
"Pamela," the first novel
printed in America,

801
00:44:00,104 --> 00:44:03,973
along with treaties with
Native peoples that were used

802
00:44:04,008 --> 00:44:09,037
to systematically dispossess
them of their lands.

803
00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:14,280
In 1737, he was appointed
Philadelphia's postmaster,

804
00:44:14,318 --> 00:44:16,947
giving him access to news
from Europe

805
00:44:16,988 --> 00:44:21,983
and the rest of the Colonies
before his competitors.

806
00:44:22,026 --> 00:44:23,804
One of the advantages
of being a printer is that

807
00:44:23,828 --> 00:44:26,889
he is totally tuned
into the news.

808
00:44:26,931 --> 00:44:29,093
He's totally tuned into
everything that's

809
00:44:29,133 --> 00:44:30,897
going on in North America.

810
00:44:30,935 --> 00:44:35,305
His vision is broader than
most of his neighbors.

811
00:44:35,339 --> 00:44:39,868
He had a kind of public opinion
embedded in his brain.

812
00:44:39,911 --> 00:44:43,211
And he knew that opinion
in the end was what would

813
00:44:43,247 --> 00:44:45,944
decide where power resided.

814
00:44:45,983 --> 00:44:48,976
♪

815
00:44:49,020 --> 00:44:51,717
Man as Franklin: Early to Bed,
and early to rise,

816
00:44:51,756 --> 00:44:55,249
makes a Man healthy,
wealthy and wise.

817
00:44:56,928 --> 00:44:59,159
Narrator: By now,
thousands of readers

818
00:44:59,197 --> 00:45:01,257
from South Carolina to New York

819
00:45:01,299 --> 00:45:05,168
were buying Franklin's
"Poor Richard's Almanack,"

820
00:45:05,203 --> 00:45:08,867
which he had launched in 1733.

821
00:45:08,906 --> 00:45:11,933
Many printers
published almanacs.

822
00:45:11,976 --> 00:45:16,038
They outsold everything
in the colonies except Bibles

823
00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:18,447
and had the advantage
of requiring people

824
00:45:18,482 --> 00:45:22,214
to buy a new one each year.

825
00:45:22,253 --> 00:45:24,313
But Franklin's stood out.

826
00:45:24,355 --> 00:45:26,256
In addition to
weather predictions,

827
00:45:26,290 --> 00:45:30,386
astronomical, astrological,
and other observations,

828
00:45:30,428 --> 00:45:35,366
he included aphorisms that
combined wisdom with humor,

829
00:45:35,399 --> 00:45:38,460
philosophy with word play.

830
00:45:38,502 --> 00:45:40,494
All of it was ostensibly written

831
00:45:40,738 --> 00:45:42,900
by the hapless Richard Saunders,

832
00:45:42,940 --> 00:45:45,136
who claimed he was
writing his almanac

833
00:45:45,176 --> 00:45:48,874
simply because his wife
threatened to burn his books

834
00:45:48,913 --> 00:45:52,077
if he didn't earn something
from them.

835
00:45:52,116 --> 00:45:54,108
Jenkinson: Franklin got
this from his reading

836
00:45:54,151 --> 00:45:55,779
of Jonathan Swift.

837
00:45:55,820 --> 00:45:57,130
Swift had produced
the "Bickerstaff Papers,"

838
00:45:57,154 --> 00:46:00,056
which was a parody
of the almanac.

839
00:46:00,091 --> 00:46:04,392
And Franklin decides
to incorporate this style

840
00:46:04,428 --> 00:46:06,397
into Richard Saunders.

841
00:46:06,430 --> 00:46:08,331
And it was genius.

842
00:46:08,366 --> 00:46:10,377
People go to almanacs for
all sorts of important things...

843
00:46:10,401 --> 00:46:11,926
When to plant potatoes or peas;

844
00:46:11,969 --> 00:46:14,905
when... what's the best time
to harvest...

845
00:46:14,939 --> 00:46:17,408
But they stayed
because these fillers were

846
00:46:17,441 --> 00:46:20,934
funny, witty, and useful.

847
00:46:20,978 --> 00:46:23,538
Narrator: "Fish and visitors,"
Poor Richard wrote,

848
00:46:23,781 --> 00:46:26,273
"stink in 3 days."

849
00:46:26,317 --> 00:46:31,915
"He that lies down with dogs,
shall rise up with fleas."

850
00:46:31,956 --> 00:46:35,358
"God helps them
that help themselves."

851
00:46:35,393 --> 00:46:38,124
"Haste," he said, "makes waste."

852
00:46:38,162 --> 00:46:41,894
And "lost time is
never found again."

853
00:46:43,367 --> 00:46:47,304
Man as Franklin: God heals,
and the doctor takes the fees.

854
00:46:47,338 --> 00:46:49,864
A countryman between two lawyers

855
00:46:49,907 --> 00:46:53,241
is like a fish between two cats.

856
00:46:54,879 --> 00:46:57,542
The greatest monarch
on the proudest throne,

857
00:46:57,581 --> 00:47:00,881
is obliged to sit upon
his own arse.

858
00:47:01,886 --> 00:47:05,254
Schiff: Franklin
is endlessly quotable.

859
00:47:05,289 --> 00:47:08,088
You could live your life,
I think, in Franklin aphorisms,

860
00:47:08,125 --> 00:47:10,370
most of which, we should say,
are stolen from other people

861
00:47:10,394 --> 00:47:12,488
but slightly reworked,
so in Franklin's version,

862
00:47:12,530 --> 00:47:14,863
they're in a better form.

863
00:47:14,899 --> 00:47:17,459
"Three can keep a secret,
if two of them are dead."

864
00:47:19,503 --> 00:47:22,496
Isaacson: I think one of
Franklin's great inventions is

865
00:47:22,540 --> 00:47:26,272
that American style of
homespun humor,

866
00:47:26,310 --> 00:47:30,179
somebody who's pricking at
the pretensions of the elite,

867
00:47:30,214 --> 00:47:33,150
somebody who has sort of a
cracker barrel sensibility.

868
00:47:33,184 --> 00:47:36,586
This new style of humor
where people are poking fun

869
00:47:36,620 --> 00:47:38,919
at themselves indirectly.

870
00:47:38,956 --> 00:47:42,620
You see it in Mark Twain
and Will Rogers and others.

871
00:47:42,860 --> 00:47:44,624
I think it started
with Franklin.

872
00:47:47,932 --> 00:47:55,100
♪

873
00:47:55,139 --> 00:47:56,983
Narrator: The man who had
arrived in Philadelphia

874
00:47:57,007 --> 00:48:00,102
virtually penniless at age 17

875
00:48:00,144 --> 00:48:02,909
was now the city's
largest bookseller,

876
00:48:02,947 --> 00:48:06,213
its most successful
printer and publisher,

877
00:48:06,250 --> 00:48:10,312
and the biggest paper merchant
in all the colonies.

878
00:48:10,354 --> 00:48:14,052
He considered himself
prosperous enough to retire

879
00:48:14,091 --> 00:48:18,358
from the day-to-day running
of his businesses in 1748,

880
00:48:18,396 --> 00:48:21,195
at age 42.

881
00:48:21,232 --> 00:48:24,464
"I would rather have it said,
'He lived usefully, '"

882
00:48:24,502 --> 00:48:29,338
Franklin wrote his mother,
"than 'He died rich.'"

883
00:48:29,373 --> 00:48:31,342
Man as Franklin:
I am in a fair Way of having

884
00:48:31,375 --> 00:48:35,540
no other Tasks than such as I
shall like to give my Self,

885
00:48:35,579 --> 00:48:40,415
and of enjoying what I look upon
as a great Happiness,

886
00:48:40,451 --> 00:48:44,013
Leisure to read,
make Experiments,

887
00:48:44,054 --> 00:48:47,923
and converse at large with such
ingenious and worthy Men

888
00:48:47,958 --> 00:48:49,654
as are pleas'd to honour me

889
00:48:49,693 --> 00:48:52,322
with their friendship
and Acquaintance,

890
00:48:52,363 --> 00:48:54,195
on such points as may produce

891
00:48:54,231 --> 00:48:58,396
something for
the common benefit of mankind,

892
00:48:58,436 --> 00:49:02,237
uninterrupted by the
little cares and fatigues

893
00:49:02,273 --> 00:49:03,536
of business.

894
00:49:05,376 --> 00:49:06,386
Brands: There was something
in Franklin that always

895
00:49:06,410 --> 00:49:08,038
wanted a little bit more.

896
00:49:08,078 --> 00:49:10,013
He wanted to learn more.
He wanted to go

897
00:49:10,047 --> 00:49:11,982
to more interesting places.

898
00:49:12,016 --> 00:49:14,281
He wanted to have
a broader influence.

899
00:49:14,318 --> 00:49:16,719
Narrator: Despite his lack of
a formal education,

900
00:49:16,954 --> 00:49:19,116
Franklin had turned himself

901
00:49:19,156 --> 00:49:22,354
into an influential
writer and thinker.

902
00:49:22,393 --> 00:49:24,225
Now, with more time to pursue

903
00:49:24,261 --> 00:49:27,527
whatever intrigued his
restless imagination,

904
00:49:27,565 --> 00:49:31,969
he would become better known
as a scientist and inventor.

905
00:49:35,039 --> 00:49:37,065
He studied the earth's rotation;

906
00:49:37,107 --> 00:49:40,043
conducted experiments
showing that dark cloths

907
00:49:40,077 --> 00:49:43,104
absorb more heat
than bright fabrics;

908
00:49:43,147 --> 00:49:45,707
and became fascinated
by the human body's

909
00:49:45,749 --> 00:49:48,218
circulatory system.

910
00:49:48,252 --> 00:49:52,019
Isaacson: He loved anatomy,
he loved botany,

911
00:49:52,056 --> 00:49:54,719
he loved the way
leaves had veins.

912
00:49:54,758 --> 00:49:58,217
He was most curious to know
everything you can know about

913
00:49:58,262 --> 00:50:00,493
everything that was
possibly knowable.

914
00:50:00,531 --> 00:50:05,299
Wanting to know everything
is a key to his creativity.

915
00:50:05,336 --> 00:50:07,328
Narrator: He observed
weather patterns

916
00:50:07,371 --> 00:50:10,671
and correctly deduced
that the coastal storms

917
00:50:10,708 --> 00:50:12,734
now called Nor'easters

918
00:50:12,776 --> 00:50:16,042
actually moved in
from the south.

919
00:50:16,080 --> 00:50:18,379
For an ailing brother,
he fashioned

920
00:50:18,415 --> 00:50:21,249
a more comfortable catheter.

921
00:50:21,285 --> 00:50:25,552
And he designed a metal stove
to fit into a hearth,

922
00:50:25,589 --> 00:50:30,050
improving on the ones many
German immigrants were using.

923
00:50:30,094 --> 00:50:33,326
Franklin's radiated more heat
out into the room

924
00:50:33,364 --> 00:50:36,425
and had an opening for those
who still wished

925
00:50:36,467 --> 00:50:39,266
to bask in the fire's glow.

926
00:50:39,303 --> 00:50:42,330
An ironworker who was
a fellow Junto member

927
00:50:42,373 --> 00:50:46,777
began manufacturing them,
and they sold for 5 pounds each

928
00:50:46,810 --> 00:50:49,302
throughout the northeast.

929
00:50:49,346 --> 00:50:51,542
When Franklin was urged
to take out

930
00:50:51,582 --> 00:50:57,783
a potentially lucrative patent
on his invention, he declined.

931
00:50:57,821 --> 00:50:59,813
Man as Franklin:
As we enjoy great advantages

932
00:51:00,057 --> 00:51:01,685
from the invention of others,

933
00:51:01,725 --> 00:51:05,423
we should be glad of
an opportunity to serve others

934
00:51:05,462 --> 00:51:07,260
by an invention of ours,

935
00:51:07,298 --> 00:51:11,759
and this we should do
freely and generously.

936
00:51:14,338 --> 00:51:16,569
Narrator: But nothing he did
as a scientist

937
00:51:16,607 --> 00:51:18,769
would do more to serve others,

938
00:51:18,809 --> 00:51:20,710
and bring him more fame,

939
00:51:20,744 --> 00:51:25,444
than his work in the fledgling
field of electricity.

940
00:51:25,482 --> 00:51:29,442
"I never was before engaged
in any study," Franklin wrote,

941
00:51:29,486 --> 00:51:34,220
"that so totally engrossed
my attention and my time."

942
00:51:35,626 --> 00:51:38,357
Jenkinson: Franklin had become
interested in electricity,

943
00:51:38,395 --> 00:51:41,263
which, at the time,
was certainly not understood,

944
00:51:41,298 --> 00:51:43,290
but it was also
sort of a parlor trick.

945
00:51:43,334 --> 00:51:45,303
People would come in
with a... with a glass rod

946
00:51:45,336 --> 00:51:48,670
and some silk and shock
each other and lift

947
00:51:48,706 --> 00:51:50,174
pieces of paper.

948
00:51:50,207 --> 00:51:51,800
Narrator: He and his
Junto friends

949
00:51:51,842 --> 00:51:54,539
staged electricity parties

950
00:51:54,578 --> 00:51:58,379
in which they used a charge
to ring bells

951
00:51:58,415 --> 00:52:03,285
and make a toy he called an
electrical spider jump around.

952
00:52:03,320 --> 00:52:07,553
Men and women exchanged
electrical kisses.

953
00:52:07,591 --> 00:52:09,560
Franklin also electrified

954
00:52:09,593 --> 00:52:13,462
a gilt-edged portrait of
King George Il that created

955
00:52:13,497 --> 00:52:16,194
what he called
a high-treason shock

956
00:52:16,233 --> 00:52:20,603
if someone touched his crown.

957
00:52:20,638 --> 00:52:23,870
He used a more powerful shock
to kill a turkey and reported

958
00:52:23,907 --> 00:52:26,638
that it seemed uncommonly tender

959
00:52:26,677 --> 00:52:30,580
compared to one slaughtered
the conventional way.

960
00:52:30,614 --> 00:52:33,914
Isaacson: He kept saying,
"We have to find useful things

961
00:52:34,151 --> 00:52:36,586
to do with this electricity."

962
00:52:36,620 --> 00:52:38,632
He said one of the only useful
things in his first year

963
00:52:38,656 --> 00:52:41,626
of experiments was that
he would get shocked

964
00:52:41,659 --> 00:52:44,493
and knock him down; and he said,
"Electricity was useful

965
00:52:44,528 --> 00:52:47,327
for making
a vain person humble."

966
00:52:47,364 --> 00:52:50,334
Narrator: As his studies
turned more serious,

967
00:52:50,367 --> 00:52:53,303
and he began documenting
his observations,

968
00:52:53,337 --> 00:52:55,499
he came up with new terms
to describe

969
00:52:55,539 --> 00:52:58,338
electricity's mysterious
properties.

970
00:52:59,910 --> 00:53:01,936
It had two charges, he wrote,

971
00:53:02,179 --> 00:53:04,307
positive and negative,

972
00:53:04,348 --> 00:53:08,843
and it could travel by what
he called a conductor.

973
00:53:08,886 --> 00:53:12,414
He grouped a collection of
glass containers together,

974
00:53:12,456 --> 00:53:14,652
each possessing
an electrical charge,

975
00:53:14,692 --> 00:53:19,187
and named it a battery,
using the military term

976
00:53:19,229 --> 00:53:22,427
for an array of cannons.

977
00:53:22,466 --> 00:53:24,277
Isaacson: Benjamin Franklin
comes up with the most

978
00:53:24,301 --> 00:53:27,203
important theory of the era,
which is

979
00:53:27,237 --> 00:53:29,331
the Single Fluid Theory
of Electricity,

980
00:53:29,373 --> 00:53:32,935
which is that it's not
some substance,

981
00:53:32,976 --> 00:53:34,376
but it's a positive
and a negative.

982
00:53:34,411 --> 00:53:37,677
And it flows from
positive to negative.

983
00:53:37,715 --> 00:53:41,208
Narrator: But pure science
had less appeal to Franklin

984
00:53:41,251 --> 00:53:43,413
than putting it
to practical use.

985
00:53:45,522 --> 00:53:48,686
Man: Lightning was seen as being
Divine Retribution.

986
00:53:48,726 --> 00:53:51,321
Of course, the irony was that
most of the buildings

987
00:53:51,361 --> 00:53:53,523
that were destroyed by lightning
were churches

988
00:53:53,564 --> 00:53:55,726
'cause in a lot of communities
in the 18th century,

989
00:53:55,766 --> 00:53:57,046
they were the highest structure.

990
00:53:58,769 --> 00:54:01,568
Isaacson: Franklin is
convinced that lightning

991
00:54:01,605 --> 00:54:05,838
bears a similarity
to an electrical spark.

992
00:54:05,876 --> 00:54:07,742
He's looking at electric sparks,

993
00:54:07,778 --> 00:54:10,577
he's looking at lightning,
and he puts in his notebook

994
00:54:10,614 --> 00:54:14,278
all the similarities
and at the end of the page,

995
00:54:14,318 --> 00:54:16,549
he says, "Let the experiment
be made."

996
00:54:19,289 --> 00:54:20,767
Narrator: Franklin detailed
his theory

997
00:54:20,791 --> 00:54:23,022
that lightning was electricity

998
00:54:23,260 --> 00:54:26,697
and that metal objects
could draw off a charge.

999
00:54:26,730 --> 00:54:30,758
He proposed an experiment
that involved placing a person

1000
00:54:30,801 --> 00:54:33,032
in what he called a sentry box

1001
00:54:33,270 --> 00:54:35,398
on a high tower or hilltop

1002
00:54:35,439 --> 00:54:38,273
and raising a sharply pointed
iron rod

1003
00:54:38,308 --> 00:54:41,335
when storm clouds approached.

1004
00:54:41,378 --> 00:54:44,507
He shared his observations
with a London scientist,

1005
00:54:44,548 --> 00:54:47,882
Peter Collinson, who had
supplied him with equipment

1006
00:54:47,918 --> 00:54:50,478
for his electrical studies.

1007
00:54:50,521 --> 00:54:53,514
Franklin was planning
to conduct the experiment

1008
00:54:53,557 --> 00:54:56,721
on the new steeple of
Christ Church off Market Street

1009
00:54:56,760 --> 00:54:59,855
as soon as its
construction was completed.

1010
00:54:59,897 --> 00:55:04,699
But the work went slowly
and Franklin grew impatient.

1011
00:55:04,735 --> 00:55:06,897
He then came up with
an alternative way

1012
00:55:06,937 --> 00:55:08,929
to test his theory.

1013
00:55:08,972 --> 00:55:11,066
He was less confident
in this method

1014
00:55:11,308 --> 00:55:13,607
and decided to do it in secret,

1015
00:55:13,644 --> 00:55:17,046
trusting only his son William
to take part.

1016
00:55:18,582 --> 00:55:22,815
In June of 1752,
with storm clouds threatening,

1017
00:55:22,853 --> 00:55:26,449
he and William went to a field
with a silk kite,

1018
00:55:26,490 --> 00:55:30,325
to which Franklin had attached
a sharp-pointed wire.

1019
00:55:31,628 --> 00:55:34,621
Dangling at the end of
the kite's long twine string

1020
00:55:34,665 --> 00:55:36,896
was a metal key.

1021
00:55:36,934 --> 00:55:40,894
They got the kite aloft
and Franklin maneuvered it

1022
00:55:40,938 --> 00:55:43,772
toward the approaching clouds.

1023
00:55:43,807 --> 00:55:45,901
Dray: What he was showing
was that the atmosphere

1024
00:55:45,943 --> 00:55:47,935
became electrified,

1025
00:55:47,978 --> 00:55:50,914
not that the kite had to be
struck by a lightning bolt,

1026
00:55:50,948 --> 00:55:54,476
which is often the way it's
depicted in illustrations.

1027
00:55:54,518 --> 00:55:55,952
Narrator:
Franklin suddenly noticed

1028
00:55:55,986 --> 00:55:57,921
the individual strands of hemp

1029
00:55:57,955 --> 00:55:59,116
along the kite's string

1030
00:55:59,356 --> 00:56:02,349
stiffening and standing on end.

1031
00:56:02,392 --> 00:56:04,588
He moved his free hand
toward the key

1032
00:56:04,628 --> 00:56:07,996
and felt a mild shock
on his knuckle.

1033
00:56:08,031 --> 00:56:10,000
When the rain began, and water

1034
00:56:10,033 --> 00:56:12,434
started streaming
down the twine,

1035
00:56:12,469 --> 00:56:14,938
sparks flew off the key.

1036
00:56:14,972 --> 00:56:17,567
Franklin was exultant.

1037
00:56:17,608 --> 00:56:20,703
"Thereby," he wrote
of his experiment,

1038
00:56:20,744 --> 00:56:24,146
"the sameness of electrical
matter with that of lightning

1039
00:56:24,381 --> 00:56:26,782
has been
completely demonstrated."

1040
00:56:29,453 --> 00:56:31,081
Meanwhile, the theories

1041
00:56:31,121 --> 00:56:33,090
he had shared with Collinson

1042
00:56:33,123 --> 00:56:34,682
had been published,

1043
00:56:34,725 --> 00:56:37,524
and unbeknownst to him,
other scientists

1044
00:56:37,561 --> 00:56:40,963
were already
testing and verifying them.

1045
00:56:40,998 --> 00:56:44,765
Experiments using his original
sentry box proposal

1046
00:56:44,801 --> 00:56:49,830
had been taking place
all over England and Europe.

1047
00:56:49,873 --> 00:56:53,401
"Monsieur Franklin's idea,"
a French physicist wrote,

1048
00:56:53,443 --> 00:56:55,412
"has ceased to be a conjecture;

1049
00:56:55,445 --> 00:56:58,813
here it has become a reality."

1050
00:56:58,849 --> 00:57:01,409
Dray: The kite experiment,
that really was

1051
00:57:01,451 --> 00:57:03,943
the symbol of his breakthrough.

1052
00:57:03,987 --> 00:57:07,788
It showed that the atmosphere
was electrified,

1053
00:57:07,824 --> 00:57:11,488
that thus thunder and lightning
were electrical forces.

1054
00:57:11,528 --> 00:57:14,794
And it overthrew
centuries of superstition

1055
00:57:14,831 --> 00:57:17,960
and scientific confusion about
what this might be.

1056
00:57:19,636 --> 00:57:20,880
Man: He made a really
fundamental contribution

1057
00:57:20,904 --> 00:57:23,100
to basic science.

1058
00:57:23,140 --> 00:57:25,735
And the fact that
he did it as an American,

1059
00:57:25,776 --> 00:57:28,746
coming out of the wilds
of, uh, of America,

1060
00:57:28,779 --> 00:57:33,615
in the European eyes, made him,
uh, instantly world famous.

1061
00:57:33,650 --> 00:57:36,518
Chaplin: There's
a hilarious little piece

1062
00:57:36,553 --> 00:57:38,579
in the "Gentleman's Magazine"
in London

1063
00:57:38,622 --> 00:57:40,648
where this commentator
says that "Now we know

1064
00:57:40,691 --> 00:57:42,819
"that Mr. Franklin's
theories about

1065
00:57:42,859 --> 00:57:45,727
"emptying the clouds of
electricity are actually true;

1066
00:57:45,762 --> 00:57:48,061
"whereas, once upon a time,
we didn't even think there was

1067
00:57:48,098 --> 00:57:50,590
such a person as Mr. Franklin."

1068
00:57:50,634 --> 00:57:52,145
'Cause it does seem
incredibly improbable

1069
00:57:52,169 --> 00:57:54,934
that the reigning expert on

1070
00:57:54,972 --> 00:57:57,806
an enormous attribute of Nature

1071
00:57:57,841 --> 00:58:00,606
would come from Philadelphia,
wherever the hell that was.

1072
00:58:01,945 --> 00:58:03,880
Narrator: Benjamin Franklin
had unlocked

1073
00:58:03,914 --> 00:58:05,815
the mystery of electricity,

1074
00:58:05,849 --> 00:58:09,945
but he still wanted
to put his discovery to work.

1075
00:58:09,987 --> 00:58:12,616
In Germany during
the mid-century,

1076
00:58:12,656 --> 00:58:16,593
386 churches had been
struck by lightning

1077
00:58:16,626 --> 00:58:19,892
and more than 100
bell ringers killed.

1078
00:58:19,930 --> 00:58:22,923
In Italy, hundreds more
people perished

1079
00:58:22,966 --> 00:58:27,700
when a bolt hit a building that
had gunpowder stored in it.

1080
00:58:27,738 --> 00:58:30,606
Franklin concluded
that lightning

1081
00:58:30,640 --> 00:58:32,905
seeks the path
of least resistance

1082
00:58:32,943 --> 00:58:34,912
to connect with the ground.

1083
00:58:34,945 --> 00:58:36,504
Providing a better conductor

1084
00:58:36,546 --> 00:58:39,983
might safely divert the charge.

1085
00:58:40,017 --> 00:58:43,510
He then arranged for
what he called lightning rods

1086
00:58:43,553 --> 00:58:46,182
to be placed atop
Pennsylvania's State House

1087
00:58:46,223 --> 00:58:48,658
and his college building...

1088
00:58:48,692 --> 00:58:53,562
The first such devices
ever erected in the world.

1089
00:58:53,597 --> 00:58:55,793
Isaacson: Lightning bolts
aren't there

1090
00:58:55,832 --> 00:58:57,528
sent by an angry god.

1091
00:58:57,567 --> 00:58:59,297
It's not something you can just

1092
00:58:59,536 --> 00:59:02,734
try to pray and it goes away.

1093
00:59:02,773 --> 00:59:05,607
You have to find practical,
scientific solutions

1094
00:59:05,642 --> 00:59:09,079
that help us understand
our cosmos.

1095
00:59:09,112 --> 00:59:11,707
Jenkinson: The lightning rod
changes the world.

1096
00:59:11,748 --> 00:59:13,580
It's one of the most
important inventions

1097
00:59:13,617 --> 00:59:14,961
of the Enlightenment
and, of course,

1098
00:59:14,985 --> 00:59:16,180
he won't patent it.

1099
00:59:16,219 --> 00:59:17,983
He believes a good idea

1100
00:59:18,021 --> 00:59:19,649
belongs to humankind.

1101
00:59:19,689 --> 00:59:21,681
Narrator: Some religious
leaders objected

1102
00:59:21,725 --> 00:59:24,320
that Franklin was
attempting to interfere

1103
00:59:24,561 --> 00:59:30,057
with one of God's most effective
methods of punishing sinners.

1104
00:59:30,100 --> 00:59:31,944
Man as Franklin: Surely the
Thunder of Heaven is no more

1105
00:59:31,968 --> 00:59:36,838
supernatural than the Rain,
Hail or Sunshine of Heaven,

1106
00:59:36,873 --> 00:59:39,570
against the Inconvenience
of which we guard

1107
00:59:39,609 --> 00:59:42,078
by Roofs and Shades
without Scruple.

1108
00:59:43,947 --> 00:59:46,883
Narrator: Scientists
in America and Europe

1109
00:59:46,917 --> 00:59:50,115
were hailing him for his
achievements in electricity.

1110
00:59:50,153 --> 00:59:54,591
Harvard, Yale, and the College
of William and Mary in Virginia

1111
00:59:54,624 --> 00:59:57,719
gave him honorary degrees.

1112
00:59:57,761 --> 01:00:00,925
London's Royal Society
made him the first person

1113
01:00:00,964 --> 01:00:03,593
living outside of Britain
to receive

1114
01:00:03,633 --> 01:00:06,865
its prestigious Copley Medal.

1115
01:00:06,903 --> 01:00:09,600
And one English scientist
called his work

1116
01:00:09,639 --> 01:00:12,006
"the greatest discovery
that has been made

1117
01:00:12,042 --> 01:00:15,342
since the time
of Sir Isaac Newton."

1118
01:00:15,378 --> 01:00:20,180
In Germany, the Enlightenment
philosopher Immanuel Kant said

1119
01:00:20,217 --> 01:00:24,917
Franklin had stolen the fire
of heaven and called him

1120
01:00:24,955 --> 01:00:26,856
the "modern Prometheus."

1121
01:00:31,661 --> 01:00:37,123
♪

1122
01:00:37,167 --> 01:00:39,345
Man as Franklin:
By the collision
of different sentiments,

1123
01:00:39,369 --> 01:00:42,066
sparks of truth are struck,

1124
01:00:42,105 --> 01:00:45,075
and political light is obtained.

1125
01:00:46,643 --> 01:00:48,703
Brands: He had a kind of
social intelligence

1126
01:00:48,745 --> 01:00:52,147
that matched his
book learning intelligence.

1127
01:00:52,182 --> 01:00:55,118
He really was an American
genius, but part of his genius

1128
01:00:55,152 --> 01:00:58,953
lay in his ability
to get people to work with him

1129
01:00:58,989 --> 01:01:00,287
and to move things
in a direction

1130
01:01:00,323 --> 01:01:02,224
he wanted them to go.

1131
01:01:02,259 --> 01:01:04,888
Narrator: Franklin's
involvement in civic affairs

1132
01:01:04,928 --> 01:01:08,092
took a new political turn
when he was elected to

1133
01:01:08,131 --> 01:01:13,229
Pennsylvania's colonial
Assembly in 1751.

1134
01:01:13,270 --> 01:01:15,705
Man as Franklin: I conceived
my becoming a member

1135
01:01:15,739 --> 01:01:19,141
would enlarge my power
of doing good.

1136
01:01:19,176 --> 01:01:21,907
I would not however insinuate
that my ambition was not

1137
01:01:21,945 --> 01:01:24,813
flattered by
all these promotions.

1138
01:01:24,848 --> 01:01:26,680
It certainly was.

1139
01:01:26,716 --> 01:01:28,810
For considering my low beginning

1140
01:01:28,852 --> 01:01:31,117
they were great things to me.

1141
01:01:34,324 --> 01:01:37,123
Narrator: He worked on
everything from regulations

1142
01:01:37,160 --> 01:01:39,152
on the size of bread loaves

1143
01:01:39,196 --> 01:01:41,927
to a tax on dogs;

1144
01:01:41,965 --> 01:01:44,332
pushed through a plan
to pave Market Street

1145
01:01:44,367 --> 01:01:46,962
and keep it swept of dust;

1146
01:01:47,003 --> 01:01:49,404
then gained approval
to install newly designed

1147
01:01:49,439 --> 01:01:51,704
street lamps in the city

1148
01:01:51,741 --> 01:01:54,370
with 4 replaceable glass panes

1149
01:01:54,411 --> 01:01:57,074
that made them easier to repair.

1150
01:01:58,782 --> 01:02:01,946
In 1752, the British
government appointed

1151
01:02:01,985 --> 01:02:03,851
the 46-year-old Franklin

1152
01:02:03,887 --> 01:02:06,914
to the top postal job
in America,

1153
01:02:06,957 --> 01:02:09,392
sharing the title
of deputy postmaster

1154
01:02:09,426 --> 01:02:11,986
with a man from the South.

1155
01:02:12,028 --> 01:02:14,759
Franklin immediately started
making the colonies'

1156
01:02:14,798 --> 01:02:17,962
mail service more efficient.

1157
01:02:18,001 --> 01:02:21,028
He established the first
home-delivery system

1158
01:02:21,071 --> 01:02:23,734
and cut the time it took
for a letter to get from

1159
01:02:23,773 --> 01:02:28,006
Philadelphia to New York City
to one day.

1160
01:02:28,044 --> 01:02:30,445
On an inspection tour
that took him through

1161
01:02:30,480 --> 01:02:33,348
Delaware, Maryland,
and Virginia,

1162
01:02:33,383 --> 01:02:38,083
he learned more about the
colonies south of Pennsylvania.

1163
01:02:38,121 --> 01:02:41,114
Isaacson: The American
identity begins to form

1164
01:02:41,157 --> 01:02:44,787
when Franklin creates a Postal
System that allows people

1165
01:02:44,828 --> 01:02:47,923
to communicate
up and down the coast.

1166
01:02:47,964 --> 01:02:49,956
Most of the Colonies
thought of themselves

1167
01:02:50,000 --> 01:02:51,764
closer to London.

1168
01:02:51,801 --> 01:02:53,997
Even letters would go,
from Charleston,

1169
01:02:54,037 --> 01:02:56,404
if it had to go to Boston,
it would go to London,

1170
01:02:56,439 --> 01:02:58,999
and then back to Boston.

1171
01:02:59,042 --> 01:03:01,238
So, by doing a Postal Road
up and down the coast,

1172
01:03:01,278 --> 01:03:05,511
he helps knit the American
Colonies together.

1173
01:03:05,548 --> 01:03:08,416
Narrator: The future
prosperity of
the British Empire,

1174
01:03:08,451 --> 01:03:10,420
Franklin wrote in one essay,

1175
01:03:10,453 --> 01:03:13,480
lay in the American colonies.

1176
01:03:13,523 --> 01:03:15,992
Because of the abundance
of land,

1177
01:03:16,026 --> 01:03:18,825
he predicted the white
population would double

1178
01:03:18,862 --> 01:03:21,559
every 20 years,
and within a century

1179
01:03:21,798 --> 01:03:24,563
would even surpass England's.

1180
01:03:24,801 --> 01:03:28,863
All of this disregarded the
sovereignty of Native peoples,

1181
01:03:28,905 --> 01:03:31,807
whose land it had been
for millennia.

1182
01:03:34,010 --> 01:03:35,808
In the same essay, he argued,

1183
01:03:35,845 --> 01:03:38,314
strictly on economic grounds,

1184
01:03:38,348 --> 01:03:43,048
that the importation of black
slaves diminished a nation

1185
01:03:43,086 --> 01:03:45,112
because "The Whites
who have Slaves"

1186
01:03:45,155 --> 01:03:49,855
are "enfeebled" by
not working themselves.

1187
01:03:49,893 --> 01:03:52,328
Brown: He is combining racism

1188
01:03:52,362 --> 01:03:56,265
and opposition to the
slave trade, simultaneously.

1189
01:03:56,299 --> 01:03:58,894
Some of the initial efforts

1190
01:03:58,935 --> 01:04:03,566
to stop the slave trade
to North America

1191
01:04:03,606 --> 01:04:04,539
originated in concern
that there were

1192
01:04:04,574 --> 01:04:07,100
too many black people there.

1193
01:04:07,143 --> 01:04:10,944
It was an immigration problem,
rather than a moral problem.

1194
01:04:13,183 --> 01:04:15,982
Narrator: He also worried
about the influx of immigrants

1195
01:04:16,019 --> 01:04:19,512
he described as having
"a swarthy complexion,"

1196
01:04:19,556 --> 01:04:22,526
including Spaniards, Italians,

1197
01:04:22,559 --> 01:04:26,553
French, Russians, and Swedes...

1198
01:04:26,596 --> 01:04:28,861
Even the Germans,
who now represented

1199
01:04:28,898 --> 01:04:31,891
a third of his own colony.

1200
01:04:31,935 --> 01:04:34,427
"Why," he wrote,
"should Pennsylvania,

1201
01:04:34,471 --> 01:04:39,205
"founded by the English,
become a Colony of Aliens,

1202
01:04:39,242 --> 01:04:43,407
"who will shortly be so numerous
as to Germanize us

1203
01:04:43,446 --> 01:04:47,042
instead of our Anglifying them."

1204
01:04:48,418 --> 01:04:50,910
Man as Franklin: We have
so fair an Opportunity,

1205
01:04:50,954 --> 01:04:53,480
by excluding all Blacks
and Tawneys,

1206
01:04:53,523 --> 01:04:57,153
of increasing the lovely
White and Red.

1207
01:04:57,193 --> 01:05:01,062
But perhaps I am partial to
the Complexion of my Country,

1208
01:05:01,097 --> 01:05:05,159
for such Kind of Partiality
is natural to Mankind.

1209
01:05:06,469 --> 01:05:09,337
Brown: In the middle decades
of the 18th century,

1210
01:05:09,372 --> 01:05:13,207
notions of racial inferiority
were so deeply embedded

1211
01:05:13,243 --> 01:05:16,475
that the unusual fact
of this document, actually,

1212
01:05:16,513 --> 01:05:20,450
is how he says, at the end,
"Or maybe I'm just biased

1213
01:05:20,483 --> 01:05:23,510
in favor of people like myself."

1214
01:05:23,553 --> 01:05:27,581
Franklin doesn't deserve
particular praise for that.

1215
01:05:27,624 --> 01:05:32,187
But it is unusual
in the sense of

1216
01:05:32,228 --> 01:05:35,323
he's being self-reflective
about his own prejudices.

1217
01:05:35,365 --> 01:05:38,460
It's the self-reflective part
which is slightly unusual.

1218
01:05:38,501 --> 01:05:40,367
The prejudices are not.

1219
01:05:44,941 --> 01:05:48,275
Narrator: In 1754,
increased white settlement

1220
01:05:48,311 --> 01:05:49,973
in the Ohio River Valley

1221
01:05:50,013 --> 01:05:52,676
ignited another struggle
with France

1222
01:05:52,715 --> 01:05:55,150
for control of Native lands...

1223
01:05:55,185 --> 01:05:59,555
What would come to be called
the French and Indian War.

1224
01:05:59,589 --> 01:06:03,287
Franklin was chosen as one of
4 Pennsylvania delegates

1225
01:06:03,326 --> 01:06:06,694
to meet with representatives
from 6 other colonies

1226
01:06:06,729 --> 01:06:11,190
in Albany, New York, to
negotiate with Native Americans

1227
01:06:11,234 --> 01:06:15,330
they hoped would side with
England in the conflict.

1228
01:06:15,371 --> 01:06:18,205
He was familiar with
the way the Iroquois nations

1229
01:06:18,241 --> 01:06:21,734
had formed a confederation,
the Haudenosaunee,

1230
01:06:21,978 --> 01:06:23,674
more than a century earlier

1231
01:06:23,713 --> 01:06:26,273
that promoted
unity through consensus

1232
01:06:26,316 --> 01:06:29,377
on matters that
affected them all.

1233
01:06:29,419 --> 01:06:32,514
It gave him an idea.

1234
01:06:32,555 --> 01:06:34,751
Man as Franklin: It would be
a very strange thing,

1235
01:06:34,991 --> 01:06:37,256
if 6 nations of ignorant
savages should be

1236
01:06:37,293 --> 01:06:40,320
capable of forming a scheme
for such a union,

1237
01:06:40,363 --> 01:06:42,730
and be able to execute it
in such a manner

1238
01:06:42,765 --> 01:06:45,599
as that it has
subsisted for ages,

1239
01:06:45,635 --> 01:06:48,332
and appears indissoluble;

1240
01:06:48,371 --> 01:06:52,069
and yet that a like union
should be impracticable

1241
01:06:52,108 --> 01:06:55,135
for 10 or a dozen
English colonies,

1242
01:06:55,178 --> 01:06:58,148
to whom it is more necessary,

1243
01:06:58,181 --> 01:07:01,049
and must be more advantageous.

1244
01:07:02,218 --> 01:07:04,119
Narrator: Franklin urged
his fellow delegates

1245
01:07:04,153 --> 01:07:07,180
to consider creating
their own charter

1246
01:07:07,223 --> 01:07:10,318
to encourage the colonies
to work together.

1247
01:07:10,360 --> 01:07:14,388
He and Thomas Hutchinson,
an ally from Massachusetts,

1248
01:07:14,430 --> 01:07:17,696
spearheaded a committee
that drew up what was called

1249
01:07:17,734 --> 01:07:21,171
the Albany Plan of Union.

1250
01:07:21,204 --> 01:07:24,402
It proposed a Grand Council
for the Colonies,

1251
01:07:24,440 --> 01:07:27,467
empowered to make treaties
with Indians,

1252
01:07:27,510 --> 01:07:32,414
regulate trade, oversee
land sales on the frontier,

1253
01:07:32,448 --> 01:07:36,112
build forts and raise troops
for common defense,

1254
01:07:36,152 --> 01:07:38,678
and enact whatever
taxes and duties

1255
01:07:38,721 --> 01:07:41,316
were needed for it all.

1256
01:07:41,357 --> 01:07:44,350
Individual colonies would
keep their own authority

1257
01:07:44,394 --> 01:07:49,196
over everything else
under their own constitutions.

1258
01:07:49,232 --> 01:07:51,701
In an article in
the "Gazette," he attached

1259
01:07:51,734 --> 01:07:54,704
a drawing showing
a dismembered snake

1260
01:07:54,737 --> 01:07:56,831
representing the colonies.

1261
01:07:57,073 --> 01:08:00,373
At the bottom
was a dire warning.

1262
01:08:00,410 --> 01:08:03,380
Isaacson: It says,
"Join or die."

1263
01:08:03,413 --> 01:08:07,145
And it's his way of saying
that we have to come together

1264
01:08:07,183 --> 01:08:10,585
to have one
national sensibility.

1265
01:08:10,620 --> 01:08:12,350
So, he's the great visionary

1266
01:08:12,388 --> 01:08:14,084
that sees that we have to

1267
01:08:14,123 --> 01:08:16,558
knit the Colonies together,

1268
01:08:16,593 --> 01:08:19,427
rather than have each of
the Colonies think of themselves

1269
01:08:19,462 --> 01:08:23,229
as sort of a separate entity
reporting back to London.

1270
01:08:23,266 --> 01:08:25,531
Narrator: On both sides
of the Atlantic,

1271
01:08:25,568 --> 01:08:30,165
the Albany Plan
was considered too radical.

1272
01:08:30,206 --> 01:08:31,868
Man as Franklin:
Its Fate was singular.

1273
01:08:32,108 --> 01:08:33,838
The Assemblies did not adopt it,

1274
01:08:33,876 --> 01:08:37,404
as they all thought there was
too much Prerogative in it;

1275
01:08:37,447 --> 01:08:42,249
and in England it was judg'd to
have too much of the democratic.

1276
01:08:42,285 --> 01:08:43,719
Despite all
the failure, and it was

1277
01:08:43,753 --> 01:08:46,450
a total failure,

1278
01:08:46,489 --> 01:08:50,290
it did possibly plant
some kind of seed

1279
01:08:50,326 --> 01:08:54,855
for future organization
among the Colonies.

1280
01:08:54,897 --> 01:08:58,163
♪

1281
01:08:58,201 --> 01:09:01,171
Narrator: In 1755,
Franklin met with

1282
01:09:01,204 --> 01:09:03,230
Major General Edward Braddock,

1283
01:09:03,272 --> 01:09:05,639
who had
arrived in America boasting

1284
01:09:05,675 --> 01:09:09,612
that he and his British redcoats
would have little trouble

1285
01:09:09,646 --> 01:09:13,515
defeating the French and their
Native American allies.

1286
01:09:13,549 --> 01:09:17,486
Franklin warned the general
against overconfidence.

1287
01:09:17,520 --> 01:09:20,922
On July 9, 1755,

1288
01:09:21,157 --> 01:09:23,388
8 miles from Fort Duquesne,

1289
01:09:23,426 --> 01:09:25,895
where the Monongahela
and Allegheny rivers

1290
01:09:25,928 --> 01:09:28,420
join to form the Ohio,

1291
01:09:28,464 --> 01:09:31,400
Braddock's forces
stumbled into an ambush

1292
01:09:31,434 --> 01:09:35,633
and were routed by
French and Indian soldiers.

1293
01:09:35,672 --> 01:09:39,541
Nearly 1,000 of the British
were killed or wounded;

1294
01:09:39,575 --> 01:09:44,411
most of the officers died,
including Braddock.

1295
01:09:44,447 --> 01:09:47,849
In the battle, two horses
were shot out from underneath

1296
01:09:47,884 --> 01:09:49,546
a young lieutenant colonel

1297
01:09:49,585 --> 01:09:52,350
and land speculator
from Virginia,

1298
01:09:52,388 --> 01:09:55,483
and 4 bullets pierced his coat.

1299
01:09:55,525 --> 01:10:01,226
But somehow, 23-year-old
George Washington survived.

1300
01:10:02,832 --> 01:10:04,664
The French
and Indians soon pushed

1301
01:10:04,701 --> 01:10:06,499
farther into Pennsylvania,

1302
01:10:06,536 --> 01:10:10,439
burning houses,
killing and capturing settlers,

1303
01:10:10,473 --> 01:10:13,307
spreading panic
across the colony.

1304
01:10:13,342 --> 01:10:16,642
In Philadelphia,
the Assembly seemed paralyzed.

1305
01:10:16,679 --> 01:10:21,617
Dominated by Quaker pacifists,
it resisted raising an army.

1306
01:10:22,985 --> 01:10:24,749
Meanwhile, the governor,
appointed by

1307
01:10:24,787 --> 01:10:26,881
William Penn's sons in England,

1308
01:10:26,923 --> 01:10:29,358
steadfastly rejected any tax

1309
01:10:29,392 --> 01:10:31,952
on the family's lands
in Pennsylvania

1310
01:10:31,994 --> 01:10:35,522
to help defend the colony.

1311
01:10:35,565 --> 01:10:38,262
Man as Franklin: Vassals
fight at their lord's expense;

1312
01:10:38,301 --> 01:10:40,497
but our lord would have us
defend his estate

1313
01:10:40,536 --> 01:10:42,437
at our own expense!

1314
01:10:42,472 --> 01:10:45,704
It is even more slavish
than slavery itself.

1315
01:10:47,510 --> 01:10:49,288
Narrator: When a raiding party
struck a settlement

1316
01:10:49,312 --> 01:10:52,305
only 75 miles north
of Philadelphia,

1317
01:10:52,348 --> 01:10:54,715
Franklin led a force
of militiamen,

1318
01:10:54,751 --> 01:10:59,246
including his son William,
over rough terrain to the scene,

1319
01:10:59,288 --> 01:11:00,813
where they buried the dead

1320
01:11:00,857 --> 01:11:02,485
and began to build

1321
01:11:02,525 --> 01:11:03,857
a series of forts.

1322
01:11:05,361 --> 01:11:07,853
The winter weather was
cold and wet.

1323
01:11:07,897 --> 01:11:10,298
Franklin spent his 50th birthday

1324
01:11:10,333 --> 01:11:12,893
encamped at Lehigh Gap.

1325
01:11:15,404 --> 01:11:18,431
But the immediate crisis
had been met.

1326
01:11:18,474 --> 01:11:22,673
In Philadelphia,
Franklin was hailed as a hero.

1327
01:11:22,712 --> 01:11:26,808
"The people," he wrote
a friend, "happen to love me."

1328
01:11:30,553 --> 01:11:34,285
Narrator: In June of 1757,
Franklin once more

1329
01:11:34,323 --> 01:11:37,816
found himself on a ship
bound for England.

1330
01:11:37,860 --> 01:11:41,456
The Assembly had sent him on
a mission to try to negotiate

1331
01:11:41,497 --> 01:11:43,932
with the Penn family in person

1332
01:11:43,966 --> 01:11:46,561
about their refusal to be taxed.

1333
01:11:47,970 --> 01:11:51,031
He brought his son William
along as his assistant,

1334
01:11:51,073 --> 01:11:54,407
but Deborah and Sally
stayed behind.

1335
01:11:54,443 --> 01:11:56,469
Deborah worried that
her husband's ship

1336
01:11:56,512 --> 01:11:58,811
might be attacked by the French

1337
01:11:58,848 --> 01:12:02,444
or go down in the dangerous
waters of the North Atlantic.

1338
01:12:04,620 --> 01:12:05,964
Woman as Deborah Franklin:
I have been in much pain

1339
01:12:05,988 --> 01:12:08,719
for some days on account
of my Husband,

1340
01:12:08,758 --> 01:12:11,922
for by this time he is,
as I suppose,

1341
01:12:11,961 --> 01:12:14,726
near the Land's End of England,

1342
01:12:14,764 --> 01:12:17,757
and of course in danger of
being taken,

1343
01:12:17,800 --> 01:12:20,929
which I pray God prevent.

1344
01:12:20,970 --> 01:12:24,407
I am not able to bear
the least thing in the world

1345
01:12:24,440 --> 01:12:27,433
and I find myself
very weak indeed.

1346
01:12:30,546 --> 01:12:31,957
Narrator: Approaching
the coast of England,

1347
01:12:31,981 --> 01:12:34,610
Franklin's ship was nearly

1348
01:12:34,650 --> 01:12:35,743
wrecked on the rocks,

1349
01:12:35,785 --> 01:12:37,879
just as his wife had feared,

1350
01:12:37,920 --> 01:12:41,652
but finally landed safely.

1351
01:12:41,691 --> 01:12:44,354
"Were I a Roman Catholic,"
he wrote Deborah,

1352
01:12:44,393 --> 01:12:47,386
"perhaps I should
on this occasion

1353
01:12:47,430 --> 01:12:50,400
"vow to build a chapel
to some saint;

1354
01:12:50,433 --> 01:12:53,665
"but as I am not,
if I were to vow at all,

1355
01:12:53,703 --> 01:12:56,366
it should be to build
a lighthouse."

1356
01:12:57,940 --> 01:13:01,900
In London, he found lodging
at a home on Craven Street,

1357
01:13:01,944 --> 01:13:04,914
a short walk from
the British government offices

1358
01:13:04,947 --> 01:13:06,779
at Whitehall.

1359
01:13:06,816 --> 01:13:08,978
Isaacson: When he gets to
London, Franklin tries to

1360
01:13:09,018 --> 01:13:11,715
recreate his family life.

1361
01:13:11,754 --> 01:13:14,519
And, so, he finds a landlady
who's quite like

1362
01:13:14,557 --> 01:13:17,425
Deborah Franklin,
named Margaret Stevenson,

1363
01:13:17,460 --> 01:13:19,691
who has a daughter named Polly.

1364
01:13:19,729 --> 01:13:22,460
And they set up
on Craven Street a replica

1365
01:13:22,498 --> 01:13:25,058
of what he had
back in Philadelphia.

1366
01:13:27,637 --> 01:13:29,799
Narrator: Franklin and William
had brought along

1367
01:13:29,839 --> 01:13:36,507
two enslaved men, known only as
Peter and King, as servants.

1368
01:13:36,545 --> 01:13:39,413
"Peter behaves very well
to me in general,"

1369
01:13:39,448 --> 01:13:41,144
Franklin wrote home to Deborah,

1370
01:13:41,183 --> 01:13:46,679
"and begins to know the town so
as to go anywhere on errands."

1371
01:13:46,722 --> 01:13:49,590
But King, sensing
an opportunity for freedom

1372
01:13:49,625 --> 01:13:54,063
in his new surroundings,
ran away.

1373
01:13:54,096 --> 01:13:56,759
Dunbar: What we know
about these men

1374
01:13:56,799 --> 01:13:58,665
is relatively little.

1375
01:13:58,701 --> 01:14:02,661
What we do know is that,
while Ben Franklin's

1376
01:14:02,705 --> 01:14:05,834
feelings or opinions
about slavery

1377
01:14:05,875 --> 01:14:08,504
may have changed over time,

1378
01:14:08,544 --> 01:14:14,780
he doesn't set his
slaves free, ever.

1379
01:14:14,817 --> 01:14:17,753
They run off and he doesn't
necessarily pursue them,

1380
01:14:17,787 --> 01:14:21,155
perhaps, with as much
vigor as he might have.

1381
01:14:21,190 --> 01:14:23,125
And they die off.

1382
01:14:23,159 --> 01:14:27,460
But at no moment do we really
see Franklin step out front

1383
01:14:27,496 --> 01:14:29,988
and say, "I am setting
an example

1384
01:14:30,032 --> 01:14:31,967
by setting my slaves free."

1385
01:14:34,670 --> 01:14:36,730
Narrator: When Franklin
met with the Penn family,

1386
01:14:36,772 --> 01:14:39,742
they categorically dismissed
the notion that they should

1387
01:14:39,775 --> 01:14:42,210
pay any taxes at all.

1388
01:14:42,244 --> 01:14:44,145
They saw the colony solely as

1389
01:14:44,180 --> 01:14:47,582
a source of wealth and power
for them,

1390
01:14:47,616 --> 01:14:50,609
and declared Franklin
a malicious villain.

1391
01:14:52,088 --> 01:14:54,614
Franklin decided
to change tactics.

1392
01:14:54,657 --> 01:14:56,853
He thought he might be
able to persuade

1393
01:14:56,892 --> 01:14:59,623
King George Il and his ministers

1394
01:14:59,662 --> 01:15:03,224
to declare Pennsylvania
a Crown colony,

1395
01:15:03,265 --> 01:15:05,700
like most of the others
in America,

1396
01:15:05,735 --> 01:15:08,933
where governors were appointed
by the King.

1397
01:15:10,973 --> 01:15:13,670
He let Deborah know he would
not be returning as quickly

1398
01:15:13,709 --> 01:15:16,269
as the two of them had planned.

1399
01:15:16,512 --> 01:15:19,710
Franklin was enjoying London.

1400
01:15:19,749 --> 01:15:23,686
♪

1401
01:15:23,719 --> 01:15:25,847
Isaacson: London was
the greatest city in the world

1402
01:15:25,888 --> 01:15:27,117
at the time.

1403
01:15:27,156 --> 01:15:28,715
It was filled with coffee shops

1404
01:15:28,758 --> 01:15:33,719
and had a thriving
intellectual middle class.

1405
01:15:33,763 --> 01:15:35,273
And Franklin goes around
with his friends,

1406
01:15:35,297 --> 01:15:37,698
mainly scientists and writers,

1407
01:15:37,733 --> 01:15:40,066
and they spend their afternoons
in the coffee shops

1408
01:15:40,102 --> 01:15:42,196
discussing new ideas.

1409
01:15:42,238 --> 01:15:44,264
That glittering,
sophisticated world

1410
01:15:44,306 --> 01:15:46,707
was made for Ben Franklin.

1411
01:15:46,742 --> 01:15:49,837
He was made for a dinner party
and conversation.

1412
01:15:49,879 --> 01:15:51,939
Philadelphia might have
been extraordinary

1413
01:15:51,981 --> 01:15:54,951
for the New World,
but it couldn't compare

1414
01:15:54,984 --> 01:16:00,082
to the absolute sophistication
of the Old World.

1415
01:16:00,122 --> 01:16:02,990
Brands: There were people who
shared his views on science;

1416
01:16:03,025 --> 01:16:05,551
there were people who shared
his broadminded view

1417
01:16:05,594 --> 01:16:08,291
of all sorts of
human institutions.

1418
01:16:08,330 --> 01:16:11,095
He made friends very easily.

1419
01:16:11,133 --> 01:16:13,932
In fact, if Debbie

1420
01:16:13,969 --> 01:16:18,805
had been willing to relocate
from Philadelphia to London,

1421
01:16:18,841 --> 01:16:20,332
Franklin might very well

1422
01:16:20,576 --> 01:16:22,943
have become a permanent
resident of London.

1423
01:16:22,978 --> 01:16:26,142
Narrator: In England,
as he had in America,

1424
01:16:26,182 --> 01:16:30,017
Franklin forged intellectual
and affectionate relationships

1425
01:16:30,052 --> 01:16:31,714
with a number of young women

1426
01:16:31,754 --> 01:16:34,622
whose intelligence
he appreciated...

1427
01:16:34,657 --> 01:16:37,593
Exchanging letters,
providing advice,

1428
01:16:37,626 --> 01:16:40,323
and encouraging their ambitions;

1429
01:16:40,362 --> 01:16:42,627
the kind of attention
he neglected to give

1430
01:16:42,665 --> 01:16:44,634
his own daughter Sally.

1431
01:16:46,802 --> 01:16:49,931
Skemp: Sally was born
at a bad time, I think,

1432
01:16:49,972 --> 01:16:53,204
just as Benjamin Franklin
became involved in politics

1433
01:16:53,242 --> 01:16:55,268
and was away most of the time.

1434
01:16:55,311 --> 01:16:56,321
And, so, I don't think
she ever really

1435
01:16:56,345 --> 01:16:58,143
got to know her father.

1436
01:16:58,180 --> 01:17:00,376
And her father didn't
seem particularly interested

1437
01:17:00,616 --> 01:17:03,814
in knowing her in those days.

1438
01:17:03,853 --> 01:17:05,263
She wanted the education
that her brother had

1439
01:17:05,287 --> 01:17:06,778
and never got it.

1440
01:17:06,822 --> 01:17:08,133
She wanted to go
to England with him;

1441
01:17:08,157 --> 01:17:10,353
that never happened.

1442
01:17:10,392 --> 01:17:11,985
Narrator: With William
by his side,

1443
01:17:12,027 --> 01:17:16,158
Franklin traveled beyond London
whenever possible.

1444
01:17:16,198 --> 01:17:18,633
A friend reported
to Deborah that

1445
01:17:18,667 --> 01:17:21,865
"William is daily
in the company of his father,

1446
01:17:21,904 --> 01:17:25,671
"who is at the same time
his friend, his brother,

1447
01:17:25,708 --> 01:17:28,678
his intimate,
and easy companion."

1448
01:17:32,348 --> 01:17:34,408
In Edinburgh,
they socialized with

1449
01:17:34,650 --> 01:17:37,085
two of the Enlightenment's
leading thinkers,

1450
01:17:37,119 --> 01:17:42,888
the economist Adam Smith
and the philosopher David Hume.

1451
01:17:42,925 --> 01:17:45,360
At St. Andrews,
the university placed

1452
01:17:45,394 --> 01:17:48,421
a crimson and white robe
over Franklin's shoulder

1453
01:17:48,664 --> 01:17:50,656
and presented him, a man with

1454
01:17:50,699 --> 01:17:53,669
only two years
of formal education,

1455
01:17:53,702 --> 01:17:56,035
with an honorary doctorate.

1456
01:17:56,071 --> 01:17:59,439
From that moment on,
most people referred to him

1457
01:17:59,675 --> 01:18:01,701
as Doctor Franklin.

1458
01:18:05,881 --> 01:18:07,941
One evening
in Cambridge, he attended

1459
01:18:07,983 --> 01:18:09,383
a concert of sorts,

1460
01:18:09,418 --> 01:18:11,887
where the rims of wine glasses

1461
01:18:11,921 --> 01:18:14,755
were rubbed to produce
musical notes.

1462
01:18:16,759 --> 01:18:18,303
Cohn: Franklin looked at that
and he thought,

1463
01:18:18,327 --> 01:18:22,025
"Now, that's just inefficient."

1464
01:18:22,064 --> 01:18:26,092
Why move your arms
to that degree?

1465
01:18:26,135 --> 01:18:29,299
Why not take the glasses
and have them move

1466
01:18:29,338 --> 01:18:32,137
and your hand stay still?

1467
01:18:32,174 --> 01:18:34,234
Narrator: He hired a London
glassblower to create

1468
01:18:34,276 --> 01:18:40,739
a series of 36 glass bowls, to
specific thicknesses and sizes.

1469
01:18:43,252 --> 01:18:46,279
Cohn: And rather than
having your fingers

1470
01:18:46,322 --> 01:18:48,052
move around the glass,

1471
01:18:48,090 --> 01:18:49,456
the glasses rotated,

1472
01:18:49,491 --> 01:18:51,392
and he wet his fingers

1473
01:18:51,427 --> 01:18:52,986
and played it like a keyboard.

1474
01:19:00,302 --> 01:19:02,999
Narrator: He named his
new invention the armonica,

1475
01:19:03,038 --> 01:19:05,906
after the Italian word
for harmony,

1476
01:19:05,941 --> 01:19:09,810
and charmed visitors
with performances on it.

1477
01:19:09,845 --> 01:19:12,076
Soon, more of the instruments
were being

1478
01:19:12,114 --> 01:19:15,983
manufactured and sold,
though Franklin again refused

1479
01:19:16,018 --> 01:19:18,817
to patent or profit
from his invention.

1480
01:19:20,856 --> 01:19:22,484
What pleased him most was that,

1481
01:19:22,524 --> 01:19:24,356
in musical circles throughout

1482
01:19:24,393 --> 01:19:26,191
England and Europe,

1483
01:19:26,228 --> 01:19:27,321
the armonica

1484
01:19:27,363 --> 01:19:28,854
created a sensation.

1485
01:19:32,201 --> 01:19:33,897
In Austria, Franklin's invention

1486
01:19:33,936 --> 01:19:37,100
provided the music
for a royal wedding.

1487
01:19:37,139 --> 01:19:39,074
Even Mozart and Beethoven

1488
01:19:39,108 --> 01:19:42,408
would compose chamber pieces
for it.

1489
01:19:44,446 --> 01:19:48,440
Cohn: The sound it made
was described as

1490
01:19:48,484 --> 01:19:50,976
celestial ravishment.

1491
01:20:05,334 --> 01:20:07,212
Man as Franklin: I have long
been of the opinion

1492
01:20:07,236 --> 01:20:08,795
that the foundations of

1493
01:20:08,837 --> 01:20:10,533
the future
grandeur and stability

1494
01:20:10,572 --> 01:20:14,134
of the British Empire
lie in America,

1495
01:20:14,176 --> 01:20:17,977
broad and strong enough
to support the greatest

1496
01:20:18,013 --> 01:20:21,848
political structure
human wisdom ever yet erected.

1497
01:20:25,287 --> 01:20:30,157
Narrator: By 1761, the French
and Indian War had exploded

1498
01:20:30,192 --> 01:20:33,993
into a global conflict
called the Seven Years' War,

1499
01:20:34,029 --> 01:20:37,193
involving all
the European powers.

1500
01:20:37,232 --> 01:20:41,067
In North America, England
had won a decisive victory

1501
01:20:41,103 --> 01:20:44,540
against the French
by capturing Quebec.

1502
01:20:46,041 --> 01:20:48,272
Man as Franklin: No one
can rejoice more sincerely

1503
01:20:48,310 --> 01:20:52,509
than I do on the possible
addition of Canada;

1504
01:20:52,548 --> 01:20:55,347
and this not
merely as I am a colonist,

1505
01:20:55,384 --> 01:20:58,616
but as I am a Briton.

1506
01:21:00,856 --> 01:21:02,882
Brown: Franklin is one of
the earliest to say,

1507
01:21:02,925 --> 01:21:05,622
"Look, the weight of
the British world

1508
01:21:05,861 --> 01:21:08,524
is going to be
in North America."

1509
01:21:08,564 --> 01:21:11,591
And he put himself
at the center of it.

1510
01:21:11,633 --> 01:21:16,196
He imagined himself as being
the kind of linchpin between

1511
01:21:16,238 --> 01:21:20,869
these... this emerging empire
in North America

1512
01:21:20,909 --> 01:21:23,469
and the seat of power in London.

1513
01:21:23,512 --> 01:21:27,210
Narrator: By this time,
William Franklin had completed

1514
01:21:27,249 --> 01:21:28,547
his legal studies

1515
01:21:28,584 --> 01:21:31,076
and enjoyed socializing with

1516
01:21:31,120 --> 01:21:34,318
wealthy friends
in the upper class.

1517
01:21:34,356 --> 01:21:36,552
William also took up with

1518
01:21:36,592 --> 01:21:39,619
women from London's
high society,

1519
01:21:39,661 --> 01:21:44,099
and others with
less sterling reputations.

1520
01:21:44,133 --> 01:21:48,229
Just like his own father,
he sired a son out of wedlock.

1521
01:21:48,270 --> 01:21:51,968
Unlike his father, William
arranged for the baby boy

1522
01:21:52,007 --> 01:21:56,206
to be secretly placed
in a foster home.

1523
01:21:56,245 --> 01:21:59,215
♪

1524
01:21:59,248 --> 01:22:02,218
On September 22, 1761,

1525
01:22:02,251 --> 01:22:05,619
hundreds of England's
well-born and well-connected

1526
01:22:05,654 --> 01:22:07,623
gathered in Westminster Hall

1527
01:22:07,656 --> 01:22:10,148
for the coronation of
a new monarch:

1528
01:22:10,192 --> 01:22:13,060
King George Ill.

1529
01:22:13,095 --> 01:22:15,291
Among those present
for the occasion

1530
01:22:15,330 --> 01:22:18,630
were two staunch defenders
of the Empire...

1531
01:22:18,667 --> 01:22:21,398
Benjamin and William Franklin.

1532
01:22:23,105 --> 01:22:26,598
From the balcony, Benjamin
watched the lavish ritual.

1533
01:22:28,043 --> 01:22:30,410
On the hall's floor,
his son William

1534
01:22:30,446 --> 01:22:32,381
stood with a more
privileged crowd

1535
01:22:32,414 --> 01:22:34,974
of nobles and high officials.

1536
01:22:37,019 --> 01:22:39,215
Then William marched
in a small procession

1537
01:22:39,254 --> 01:22:41,553
into Westminster Abbey,
where the crown

1538
01:22:41,590 --> 01:22:45,083
was to be placed
on George's head.

1539
01:22:45,127 --> 01:22:52,660
♪

1540
01:22:52,701 --> 01:22:55,170
Benjamin, not part of
that select group,

1541
01:22:55,204 --> 01:22:58,538
walked back to
Craven Street alone.

1542
01:23:01,243 --> 01:23:04,077
Franklin's efforts to
elevate his son's station

1543
01:23:04,112 --> 01:23:06,104
were paying off.

1544
01:23:06,148 --> 01:23:08,049
William had caught
the attention of ministers

1545
01:23:08,083 --> 01:23:10,245
in the new king's government

1546
01:23:10,285 --> 01:23:13,585
who decided that he, though
barely into his early thirties,

1547
01:23:13,622 --> 01:23:16,217
was a natural leader.

1548
01:23:16,258 --> 01:23:18,420
With their support,
William Franklin

1549
01:23:18,460 --> 01:23:23,592
was chosen to be the next
royal governor of New Jersey.

1550
01:23:23,632 --> 01:23:26,124
And there was other good news.

1551
01:23:26,168 --> 01:23:29,195
William had fallen in love
with Elizabeth Downes,

1552
01:23:29,238 --> 01:23:31,070
the daughter of a wealthy
owner of

1553
01:23:31,106 --> 01:23:33,632
sugar plantations in Barbados,

1554
01:23:33,675 --> 01:23:36,440
and they were now engaged.

1555
01:23:36,478 --> 01:23:39,448
Benjamin Franklin had been
gone from Philadelphia

1556
01:23:39,481 --> 01:23:41,473
for 5 years.

1557
01:23:41,517 --> 01:23:48,014
He was now 56, and still
captivated by life in England.

1558
01:23:48,056 --> 01:23:49,752
Man as Franklin:
Why should this island,

1559
01:23:49,791 --> 01:23:52,386
which compared to America
is but like

1560
01:23:52,427 --> 01:23:54,658
a stepping stone in a brook,

1561
01:23:54,696 --> 01:23:57,689
enjoy in almost
every neighborhood

1562
01:23:57,733 --> 01:24:01,727
more sensible, virtuous,
and elegant minds

1563
01:24:01,770 --> 01:24:08,074
than we can collect in ranging
100 leagues of our vast forests?

1564
01:24:10,045 --> 01:24:11,809
Narrator: In the summer of 1762,

1565
01:24:12,047 --> 01:24:14,607
he booked passage
for Philadelphia,

1566
01:24:14,650 --> 01:24:18,178
determined to convince Deborah
to come back with him,

1567
01:24:18,220 --> 01:24:20,212
and promising his
English friends

1568
01:24:20,255 --> 01:24:24,158
he intended to return
to London permanently.

1569
01:24:25,661 --> 01:24:27,425
Man as Franklin:
In two Years at farthest

1570
01:24:27,462 --> 01:24:30,432
I hope to settle all my Affairs
in such a Manner,

1571
01:24:30,465 --> 01:24:34,425
as that I may then conveniently
remove to England,

1572
01:24:34,469 --> 01:24:38,406
provided we can persuade the
good Woman to cross the Seas.

1573
01:24:38,440 --> 01:24:41,137
That will be
the great Difficulty.

1574
01:24:42,744 --> 01:24:43,643
Narrator: Franklin would
be at sea

1575
01:24:43,679 --> 01:24:45,307
when William was married

1576
01:24:45,347 --> 01:24:48,579
in St. George's Church
in London,

1577
01:24:48,617 --> 01:24:50,643
and when he bowed to George Ill

1578
01:24:50,686 --> 01:24:52,746
in St. James's Palace,

1579
01:24:52,788 --> 01:24:55,280
kissed the new king's ring,

1580
01:24:55,324 --> 01:24:59,591
and swore his eternal allegiance
to the crown.

1581
01:25:02,297 --> 01:25:05,199
♪

1582
01:25:05,233 --> 01:25:08,101
Narrator: On November 1, 1762,

1583
01:25:08,136 --> 01:25:11,573
Benjamin Franklin arrived
back in Philadelphia.

1584
01:25:11,607 --> 01:25:14,338
It wasn't a teeming
metropolis like London,

1585
01:25:14,376 --> 01:25:18,108
but with a population
of nearly 25,000,

1586
01:25:18,146 --> 01:25:20,513
it had surpassed
Boston and New York

1587
01:25:20,549 --> 01:25:24,384
as the largest city
in the American colonies.

1588
01:25:24,419 --> 01:25:29,153
Deborah and 19-year-old Sally
welcomed him home.

1589
01:25:29,191 --> 01:25:31,888
A few months later,
William arrived from England

1590
01:25:32,127 --> 01:25:34,221
with his new wife Elizabeth,

1591
01:25:34,262 --> 01:25:37,426
and Franklin accompanied them
across the Delaware River

1592
01:25:37,466 --> 01:25:40,459
to New Jersey, where Benjamin
watched proudly

1593
01:25:40,502 --> 01:25:44,200
as his son became that colony's
ninth governor.

1594
01:25:46,408 --> 01:25:48,673
As deputy postmaster
of His Majesty's

1595
01:25:48,710 --> 01:25:50,474
colonies in North America,

1596
01:25:50,512 --> 01:25:53,812
Franklin embarked on another
inspection tour

1597
01:25:53,849 --> 01:25:56,250
that took him through
6 colonies,

1598
01:25:56,284 --> 01:25:58,844
all the way to New Hampshire.

1599
01:25:58,887 --> 01:26:03,188
The trip lasted 5 months.

1600
01:26:03,225 --> 01:26:05,387
Jenkinson: Franklin sees
the many different

1601
01:26:05,427 --> 01:26:07,259
American styles.

1602
01:26:07,295 --> 01:26:09,196
There's a Northern community;

1603
01:26:09,231 --> 01:26:10,199
there's a New England community;

1604
01:26:10,232 --> 01:26:11,666
there are the Middle Colonies;

1605
01:26:11,700 --> 01:26:13,430
the Upper South;
the Lower South.

1606
01:26:13,468 --> 01:26:16,836
He begins to understand
the vast complexity

1607
01:26:16,872 --> 01:26:18,568
of the Colonial situation.

1608
01:26:18,607 --> 01:26:20,303
And nobody else did.

1609
01:26:20,342 --> 01:26:23,471
He was the best-informed
person in the New World

1610
01:26:23,512 --> 01:26:26,482
about the diversity of
geography, of economy,

1611
01:26:26,515 --> 01:26:31,579
of social structure, and he
also saw discontentments.

1612
01:26:31,620 --> 01:26:34,749
There was concern
about representation;

1613
01:26:34,790 --> 01:26:38,227
there was concern about
arbitrary economic tariffs

1614
01:26:38,260 --> 01:26:40,456
that were being imposed
by Britain,

1615
01:26:40,495 --> 01:26:42,589
and the increasing sense
that the British

1616
01:26:42,631 --> 01:26:45,430
don't really understand us

1617
01:26:45,467 --> 01:26:49,427
and they're also using us
as an extraction machine

1618
01:26:49,471 --> 01:26:50,734
for British wealth.

1619
01:26:50,772 --> 01:26:51,967
And, even though they will

1620
01:26:52,207 --> 01:26:53,937
say we're British citizens,

1621
01:26:53,975 --> 01:26:56,206
they're not treating us
with full respect

1622
01:26:56,244 --> 01:26:58,611
that an Englishman deserves.

1623
01:26:58,647 --> 01:27:02,448
♪

1624
01:27:02,484 --> 01:27:05,420
Woman as Deborah Franklin:
I went to hear the Negro
children at Church.

1625
01:27:06,621 --> 01:27:10,786
There were 17 that answered
very prettily indeed,

1626
01:27:10,826 --> 01:27:16,788
and 5 or 6 that were too little,
but all behaved very decently.

1627
01:27:16,832 --> 01:27:20,701
It gave me a great deal of
Pleasure, and I shall send

1628
01:27:20,736 --> 01:27:22,261
Othello to the School.

1629
01:27:23,638 --> 01:27:26,437
Narrator: Deborah Franklin
had enrolled Othello,

1630
01:27:26,475 --> 01:27:29,001
an enslaved child
in the Franklin household,

1631
01:27:29,244 --> 01:27:31,736
in a new school in Philadelphia,

1632
01:27:31,780 --> 01:27:35,649
part of an effort to educate
Black children in North America

1633
01:27:35,684 --> 01:27:38,950
that Benjamin Franklin
had endorsed.

1634
01:27:38,987 --> 01:27:41,479
At Deborah's urging, her husband

1635
01:27:41,523 --> 01:27:44,789
made a personal visit
to the school.

1636
01:27:44,826 --> 01:27:47,625
Man as Franklin: I was
on the whole much pleas'd,

1637
01:27:47,662 --> 01:27:51,360
and from what I then saw, have
conceiv'd a higher Opinion

1638
01:27:51,399 --> 01:27:54,028
of the natural Capacities
of the black Race,

1639
01:27:54,269 --> 01:27:57,467
than I had
ever before entertained.

1640
01:27:57,506 --> 01:28:01,876
Their Apprehension seems as
quick, their Memory as strong,

1641
01:28:01,910 --> 01:28:04,311
and their Docility
in every Respect

1642
01:28:04,346 --> 01:28:07,282
equal to that of white Children.

1643
01:28:08,917 --> 01:28:12,820
You will wonder perhaps
that I should ever doubt it,

1644
01:28:12,854 --> 01:28:16,791
and I will not undertake
to justify all my Prejudices,

1645
01:28:16,825 --> 01:28:18,555
nor to account for them.

1646
01:28:19,895 --> 01:28:22,990
Cohn: I think a major
turning point in Franklin's life

1647
01:28:23,031 --> 01:28:27,867
was when he visited
that classroom.

1648
01:28:27,903 --> 01:28:31,931
He did not like Black people
when he was a young man.

1649
01:28:31,973 --> 01:28:33,464
There's no way of
getting around that.

1650
01:28:33,508 --> 01:28:37,878
It's very distasteful
to say, but it's true.

1651
01:28:37,913 --> 01:28:43,682
He had once written that the
hardest thing for a man to do

1652
01:28:43,718 --> 01:28:49,453
is to change long-standing
prejudices of belief.

1653
01:28:49,491 --> 01:28:54,020
But to succeed in doing it
is a test of one's humanity.

1654
01:28:59,100 --> 01:29:05,768
♪

1655
01:29:05,807 --> 01:29:08,641
Man as Franklin: If an Indian
injures me, does it follow

1656
01:29:08,677 --> 01:29:13,547
that I may revenge that
injury on all Indians?

1657
01:29:13,582 --> 01:29:17,383
These poor People have
been always our Friends.

1658
01:29:17,419 --> 01:29:20,082
Their Fathers received ours,
when Strangers here,

1659
01:29:20,121 --> 01:29:23,353
with Kindness and Hospitality.

1660
01:29:23,391 --> 01:29:25,986
Behold the Return
we have made them!

1661
01:29:27,596 --> 01:29:28,873
Narrator: Native Americans

1662
01:29:28,897 --> 01:29:30,763
had been completely left out

1663
01:29:30,799 --> 01:29:34,395
of the treaty negotiations
between France and Britain

1664
01:29:34,436 --> 01:29:36,928
that ended the Seven Years' War.

1665
01:29:36,972 --> 01:29:40,932
As white settlements continued
to push onto their homelands,

1666
01:29:40,976 --> 01:29:44,640
Indians from the Great Lakes
to Western Pennsylvania

1667
01:29:44,679 --> 01:29:46,409
fought back.

1668
01:29:46,448 --> 01:29:51,409
On December 14, 1763,
50 frontiersmen

1669
01:29:51,453 --> 01:29:54,150
from the town of
Paxton, Pennsylvania

1670
01:29:54,389 --> 01:29:57,416
swarmed into the small village
of Conestoga

1671
01:29:57,459 --> 01:29:59,519
and slaughtered the 6 unarmed

1672
01:29:59,561 --> 01:30:02,895
Susquehannock Indians
they found there.

1673
01:30:02,931 --> 01:30:06,663
The mob moved on to Lancaster,
where they murdered 14 more

1674
01:30:06,701 --> 01:30:10,138
defenseless men, women,
and children.

1675
01:30:11,706 --> 01:30:14,540
Though the Susquehannocks
were known to be friendly,

1676
01:30:14,576 --> 01:30:18,707
the so-called Paxton Boys
had killed them anyway.

1677
01:30:18,747 --> 01:30:21,876
Public opinion about
the massacre was split...

1678
01:30:21,917 --> 01:30:25,046
Between the Quakers, guided by
William Penn's advice

1679
01:30:25,086 --> 01:30:27,885
to be friends of the Indians,

1680
01:30:27,923 --> 01:30:29,653
and the newer immigrants, mostly

1681
01:30:29,691 --> 01:30:32,525
Scots-Irish and Germans
from the backcountry,

1682
01:30:32,560 --> 01:30:35,052
who accused
the Quaker-led assembly

1683
01:30:35,096 --> 01:30:38,157
of coddling native peoples.

1684
01:30:38,199 --> 01:30:40,896
Benjamin Franklin
called the perpetrators

1685
01:30:40,936 --> 01:30:42,564
"barbarous Men"

1686
01:30:42,604 --> 01:30:44,800
who had brought
"eternal disgrace"

1687
01:30:44,839 --> 01:30:46,933
to their race and religion.

1688
01:30:48,677 --> 01:30:51,442
The Paxton Boys then marched
on Philadelphia,

1689
01:30:51,479 --> 01:30:55,974
where more than 100 Indians had
been brought for their safety.

1690
01:30:56,017 --> 01:30:59,112
Franklin helped
raise a militia to stop them

1691
01:30:59,154 --> 01:31:02,591
and negotiated
an end to the crisis.

1692
01:31:02,624 --> 01:31:05,788
But his outspokenness
created a backlash,

1693
01:31:05,827 --> 01:31:08,820
especially among the settlers
of the backcountry,

1694
01:31:08,863 --> 01:31:11,958
which the Penn family exploited.

1695
01:31:12,000 --> 01:31:15,835
They slandered Franklin's
son William as illegitimate,

1696
01:31:15,870 --> 01:31:18,101
falsely claiming that
his birth mother

1697
01:31:18,139 --> 01:31:20,734
had starved to death,
and that Benjamin

1698
01:31:20,775 --> 01:31:24,507
had hidden her body
in an unmarked grave.

1699
01:31:26,247 --> 01:31:27,146
In all the controversy,

1700
01:31:27,182 --> 01:31:29,708
Franklin lost his Assembly seat.

1701
01:31:29,751 --> 01:31:32,812
But the legislature now
adopted his position

1702
01:31:32,854 --> 01:31:35,949
that Pennsylvania should be
a Crown colony

1703
01:31:35,991 --> 01:31:40,486
and reappointed him
as their agent in London.

1704
01:31:40,528 --> 01:31:43,692
After only two years
in Philadelphia,

1705
01:31:43,732 --> 01:31:46,497
Franklin was going back
to England.

1706
01:31:47,869 --> 01:31:50,839
Deborah had made it clear
she intended to stay;

1707
01:31:50,872 --> 01:31:54,673
they were building a new home
just off Market Street.

1708
01:31:54,709 --> 01:31:58,009
He promised
he wouldn't be gone long.

1709
01:32:00,548 --> 01:32:05,714
♪

1710
01:32:05,754 --> 01:32:07,264
Wood: Coming out of
the Seven Years' War,

1711
01:32:07,288 --> 01:32:10,884
Britain is on top of the world.

1712
01:32:10,925 --> 01:32:12,723
They had acquired a huge
amount of territory,

1713
01:32:12,761 --> 01:32:16,220
all the territory up to
the Mississippi River.

1714
01:32:16,264 --> 01:32:17,926
It was expensive to maintain

1715
01:32:17,966 --> 01:32:19,730
and, so, you needed to tax it.

1716
01:32:19,768 --> 01:32:21,794
Franklin certainly
went along with it.

1717
01:32:21,836 --> 01:32:24,169
And he said,
"Well, empires cost money."

1718
01:32:24,205 --> 01:32:26,174
And, much to his chagrin,

1719
01:32:26,207 --> 01:32:28,699
he found himself
going the wrong way,

1720
01:32:28,743 --> 01:32:31,178
out of touch with
American public opinion.

1721
01:32:31,212 --> 01:32:33,524
Narrator: The recent war
with France

1722
01:32:33,548 --> 01:32:38,248
had expanded England's empire,
but left its treasury depleted.

1723
01:32:39,554 --> 01:32:41,716
In the spring of 1765,

1724
01:32:41,756 --> 01:32:44,055
the king's ministers
and Parliament

1725
01:32:44,092 --> 01:32:46,584
came up with
a new way to raise more money

1726
01:32:46,628 --> 01:32:48,688
from the American colonies.

1727
01:32:50,999 --> 01:32:56,165
Now all legal documents,
newspapers, books, almanacs,

1728
01:32:56,204 --> 01:33:01,199
even decks of playing cards,
would need official stamps,

1729
01:33:01,242 --> 01:33:03,837
purchased from the government.

1730
01:33:03,878 --> 01:33:06,643
In Virginia, Patrick Henry
denounced the act

1731
01:33:06,681 --> 01:33:10,777
as taxation
without representation.

1732
01:33:10,819 --> 01:33:14,256
Riots broke out in New York;
New London, Connecticut;

1733
01:33:14,289 --> 01:33:16,849
Annapolis, Maryland.

1734
01:33:16,891 --> 01:33:20,828
In Boston, a group calling
themselves the Sons of Liberty

1735
01:33:20,862 --> 01:33:25,664
hanged and burned the stamp
commissioner in effigy.

1736
01:33:25,700 --> 01:33:27,692
Then the mob
destroyed the mansion

1737
01:33:27,735 --> 01:33:29,931
of Lieutenant Governor
Thomas Hutchinson,

1738
01:33:29,971 --> 01:33:34,375
who had worked with Franklin
back in 1754

1739
01:33:34,609 --> 01:33:37,773
to propose
the Albany Plan of Union.

1740
01:33:37,812 --> 01:33:41,044
The leaders of the protests
had appropriated the motto

1741
01:33:41,082 --> 01:33:43,108
Franklin had used at the time

1742
01:33:43,151 --> 01:33:48,886
to encourage the colonies to act
together: "join or die."

1743
01:33:48,923 --> 01:33:52,291
Franklin didn't like
the Stamp Act either,

1744
01:33:52,327 --> 01:33:55,195
but from London
advised Pennsylvanians

1745
01:33:55,230 --> 01:33:57,631
against over-reacting.

1746
01:34:00,101 --> 01:34:04,004
His political enemies back home
now spread false rumors

1747
01:34:04,038 --> 01:34:06,371
that he helped write
the Stamp Act

1748
01:34:06,407 --> 01:34:11,812
and had been bribed by promises
of a higher royal appointment.

1749
01:34:11,846 --> 01:34:13,747
When a mob threatened to attack

1750
01:34:13,781 --> 01:34:16,250
the Franklin home
in Philadelphia,

1751
01:34:16,284 --> 01:34:18,719
Deborah wouldn't budge.

1752
01:34:20,221 --> 01:34:21,365
Woman as Deborah Franklin:
I said when I was advised

1753
01:34:21,389 --> 01:34:23,688
to remove that I was very sure

1754
01:34:23,725 --> 01:34:26,251
you had done nothing
to hurt anybody,

1755
01:34:26,294 --> 01:34:30,823
and I had not given any offence
to any person at all.

1756
01:34:30,865 --> 01:34:35,803
I sent to ask my brother
to come and bring his gun.

1757
01:34:35,837 --> 01:34:38,329
If any one came to disturb me,

1758
01:34:38,373 --> 01:34:40,933
I would show
a proper resentment.

1759
01:34:42,443 --> 01:34:45,902
Narrator: Shocked at the reports
of mob violence in the colonies,

1760
01:34:45,947 --> 01:34:48,280
Franklin wrote William
that unless

1761
01:34:48,316 --> 01:34:50,308
some compromise could be found

1762
01:34:50,351 --> 01:34:52,047
to ease the tensions,

1763
01:34:52,086 --> 01:34:54,351
events were
"laying the Foundation

1764
01:34:54,389 --> 01:34:57,848
of a future total Separation."

1765
01:34:57,892 --> 01:35:00,418
He flooded London newspapers
with letters

1766
01:35:00,461 --> 01:35:03,761
arguing that the Stamp Act
was unfair,

1767
01:35:03,798 --> 01:35:05,994
that the recent riots
did not represent

1768
01:35:06,034 --> 01:35:09,903
the attitude of
a majority of the colonists.

1769
01:35:09,938 --> 01:35:13,375
He circulated a political
cartoon illustrating that,

1770
01:35:13,408 --> 01:35:15,434
if the crisis escalated,

1771
01:35:15,476 --> 01:35:19,174
the Empire would be dismembered.

1772
01:35:19,214 --> 01:35:25,051
On February 13, 1766, Franklin
appeared before Parliament,

1773
01:35:25,086 --> 01:35:29,490
patiently answering questions
posed by its members.

1774
01:35:29,724 --> 01:35:31,818
Could an army make
the colonists comply,

1775
01:35:31,859 --> 01:35:34,727
he was asked.

1776
01:35:34,762 --> 01:35:35,773
Man as Franklin:
Suppose a military force

1777
01:35:35,797 --> 01:35:38,164
is sent into America.

1778
01:35:38,199 --> 01:35:40,395
What are they then to do?

1779
01:35:40,435 --> 01:35:42,427
They cannot force a man
to take stamps

1780
01:35:42,470 --> 01:35:45,497
who chooses to do without them.

1781
01:35:45,740 --> 01:35:48,232
They will not find a rebellion;

1782
01:35:48,276 --> 01:35:50,404
they may indeed make one.

1783
01:35:52,213 --> 01:35:54,944
Narrator: The Stamp Act
was repealed.

1784
01:35:54,983 --> 01:35:57,953
But the Privy Council,
the King's top advisors,

1785
01:35:57,986 --> 01:36:00,922
had refused to act on
Franklin's petition

1786
01:36:00,955 --> 01:36:04,915
to make Pennsylvania
a Crown colony.

1787
01:36:04,959 --> 01:36:08,953
Franklin decided to remain
in England anyway.

1788
01:36:08,997 --> 01:36:11,933
There were hints that he might
be in line for a high post

1789
01:36:11,966 --> 01:36:16,802
in the ministry responsible
for the American provinces.

1790
01:36:16,838 --> 01:36:19,034
And he used his connections
to begin lobbying

1791
01:36:19,073 --> 01:36:22,771
on behalf of William
and a group of speculators

1792
01:36:22,810 --> 01:36:26,042
to acquire millions of acres
of Indian land

1793
01:36:26,080 --> 01:36:28,242
along the Ohio River,

1794
01:36:28,283 --> 01:36:33,187
then sell it in small parcels to
settlers for an immense profit...

1795
01:36:33,221 --> 01:36:35,315
And create a new colony.

1796
01:36:37,292 --> 01:36:40,387
Meanwhile, Franklin put his
scientific skills

1797
01:36:40,428 --> 01:36:42,556
to work for the empire.

1798
01:36:42,797 --> 01:36:44,425
He helped install lightning rods

1799
01:36:44,465 --> 01:36:46,991
on St. Paul's Cathedral;

1800
01:36:47,035 --> 01:36:49,504
came up with a hot-water
piping system

1801
01:36:49,537 --> 01:36:52,507
to keep
the House of Commons warm;

1802
01:36:52,540 --> 01:36:54,475
and, working with a cousin,

1803
01:36:54,509 --> 01:36:56,842
a whaling captain
from Nantucket,

1804
01:36:56,878 --> 01:36:58,938
he created the first chart

1805
01:36:58,980 --> 01:37:01,540
of what was called
the Gulph Stream,

1806
01:37:01,582 --> 01:37:06,020
which helped explain why ships
going from London to America

1807
01:37:06,054 --> 01:37:09,183
took longer than those
going the other way.

1808
01:37:12,393 --> 01:37:13,437
Woman as Deborah Franklin:
Yesterday I had the pleasure

1809
01:37:13,461 --> 01:37:15,521
to receive your letter.

1810
01:37:15,563 --> 01:37:17,555
I had not heard
one word about you

1811
01:37:17,598 --> 01:37:20,329
since the latter end of August,

1812
01:37:20,368 --> 01:37:23,600
which was near 5 months,

1813
01:37:23,838 --> 01:37:26,831
but I shall not dwell on that
at this time.

1814
01:37:29,177 --> 01:37:31,009
Narrator: Back in
Philadelphia, as she had

1815
01:37:31,045 --> 01:37:34,243
always done during
Benjamin's long absences,

1816
01:37:34,282 --> 01:37:37,878
Deborah Franklin took care
of everything.

1817
01:37:37,919 --> 01:37:41,083
She managed her husband's
many business enterprises

1818
01:37:41,122 --> 01:37:43,557
and supervised
the myriad details

1819
01:37:43,591 --> 01:37:46,186
of the new home
they were building.

1820
01:37:46,227 --> 01:37:49,629
All the while, she waited
for his promised return.

1821
01:37:51,999 --> 01:37:55,629
In the fall of 1767,
their daughter Sally married

1822
01:37:55,870 --> 01:37:59,034
a Philadelphia merchant,
Richard Bache,

1823
01:37:59,073 --> 01:38:03,204
and in 1769 she gave birth
to a baby boy,

1824
01:38:03,244 --> 01:38:06,510
whom she named
after his grandfather.

1825
01:38:06,547 --> 01:38:08,948
They called him Benny.

1826
01:38:11,085 --> 01:38:13,611
That same year,
Deborah suffered a stroke

1827
01:38:13,654 --> 01:38:17,091
that left her incapacitated
for months.

1828
01:38:17,125 --> 01:38:19,560
As she recovered,
she wrote her husband

1829
01:38:19,594 --> 01:38:21,961
that her worries about him

1830
01:38:21,996 --> 01:38:24,966
had been at least
partly responsible.

1831
01:38:26,968 --> 01:38:30,063
Woman as Deborah Franklin:
I often tell my friends
I was not sick,

1832
01:38:30,104 --> 01:38:33,006
it was only more
than I could bear.

1833
01:38:33,040 --> 01:38:37,535
And so I fell down
and could not get up again.

1834
01:38:37,578 --> 01:38:39,513
But I had taken up a resolution

1835
01:38:39,547 --> 01:38:41,539
never to make
any complaint to you

1836
01:38:41,582 --> 01:38:44,142
or give you any disquiet.

1837
01:38:44,185 --> 01:38:48,384
♪

1838
01:38:48,423 --> 01:38:50,619
Narrator: Even though the
Stamp Act had been repealed,

1839
01:38:50,658 --> 01:38:52,524
the colonies were still expected

1840
01:38:52,560 --> 01:38:55,553
to help pay off war debts;

1841
01:38:55,596 --> 01:38:58,088
Parliament now imposed
import duties

1842
01:38:58,132 --> 01:39:03,298
on glass and china,
paint and tea.

1843
01:39:03,337 --> 01:39:06,068
When the Massachusetts
Assembly passed a resolution

1844
01:39:06,107 --> 01:39:08,372
objecting to the new measures...

1845
01:39:08,409 --> 01:39:12,471
And called on other colonial
legislatures to do the same...

1846
01:39:12,513 --> 01:39:18,145
Britain sent 15 warships
and 1,000 troops to Boston.

1847
01:39:18,186 --> 01:39:20,417
Their presence,
Franklin wrote from London,

1848
01:39:20,455 --> 01:39:23,619
"seems like setting up
a blacksmith's forge

1849
01:39:23,658 --> 01:39:26,423
in a magazine of gunpowder."

1850
01:39:26,461 --> 01:39:30,023
He redoubled his efforts
to find a compromise between

1851
01:39:30,064 --> 01:39:34,331
the hard-liners on
both sides of the Atlantic.

1852
01:39:34,368 --> 01:39:38,499
Brown: He sees the issue
as one of respect.

1853
01:39:38,539 --> 01:39:43,978
What holds an empire together
is a sense of common feeling.

1854
01:39:44,011 --> 01:39:46,139
Right? Of common
economic interest,

1855
01:39:46,180 --> 01:39:50,140
of interdependence,
of identification.

1856
01:39:50,184 --> 01:39:52,278
The power doesn't reside
in the capacity

1857
01:39:52,320 --> 01:39:55,085
to make people do what
you want them to do.

1858
01:39:58,159 --> 01:39:59,670
Isaacson: Benjamin Franklin
keeps trying to hold

1859
01:39:59,694 --> 01:40:01,720
the British Empire together.

1860
01:40:01,762 --> 01:40:04,254
Trying to figure out
some middle ground

1861
01:40:04,298 --> 01:40:07,200
in which the Colonies
get to control themselves

1862
01:40:07,235 --> 01:40:10,262
through their own
assemblies and legislatures,

1863
01:40:10,304 --> 01:40:13,399
but still loyal to
the Crown of England.

1864
01:40:13,441 --> 01:40:16,172
And that was Franklin's hope,
that somehow

1865
01:40:16,210 --> 01:40:17,769
he could keep together
what he called

1866
01:40:18,012 --> 01:40:21,176
this "fragile, noble vase."

1867
01:40:21,215 --> 01:40:23,275
'Cause he said,
"Once it gets broken,

1868
01:40:23,317 --> 01:40:26,048
you're not going to put it
back together."

1869
01:40:26,087 --> 01:40:26,713
Man as Franklin:
Being born and bred

1870
01:40:26,754 --> 01:40:29,019
in one of the countries,

1871
01:40:29,056 --> 01:40:31,116
and having lived long
in the other,

1872
01:40:31,158 --> 01:40:34,287
I wish all prosperity to both.

1873
01:40:34,328 --> 01:40:36,422
But I do not find
that I have gained

1874
01:40:36,464 --> 01:40:39,024
any point in either country,

1875
01:40:39,066 --> 01:40:43,800
except that of rendering myself
suspected by my impartiality:

1876
01:40:44,038 --> 01:40:46,507
in England of being
too much an American,

1877
01:40:46,541 --> 01:40:50,774
and in America of being
too much an Englishman.

1878
01:40:52,513 --> 01:40:55,244
Narrator: As the political
crisis continued to build,

1879
01:40:55,283 --> 01:40:59,812
Franklin spent part of
the summer of 1771

1880
01:41:00,054 --> 01:41:02,546
at a friend's estate
southwest of London.

1881
01:41:04,292 --> 01:41:06,693
He was 65 years old
and decided to make

1882
01:41:06,727 --> 01:41:09,196
an accounting of his life,

1883
01:41:09,230 --> 01:41:13,099
something, he wrote,
"my posterity may like to know."

1884
01:41:14,402 --> 01:41:17,270
It was filled with stories
of how, in his words,

1885
01:41:17,305 --> 01:41:20,139
"I emerged from
the poverty and obscurity

1886
01:41:20,174 --> 01:41:22,336
"in which I was born and bred,

1887
01:41:22,376 --> 01:41:25,505
"to a state of affluence
and some degree

1888
01:41:25,546 --> 01:41:27,811
of reputation in the world."

1889
01:41:29,417 --> 01:41:31,386
It was the beginning
of what would become

1890
01:41:31,419 --> 01:41:33,854
one of the most-read
and influential

1891
01:41:34,088 --> 01:41:37,422
autobiographies ever written.

1892
01:41:37,458 --> 01:41:40,428
Isaacson: He begins with
two very interesting words:

1893
01:41:40,461 --> 01:41:43,363
"Dear Son."

1894
01:41:43,397 --> 01:41:45,332
And he's addressing it
to William, or at least

1895
01:41:45,366 --> 01:41:47,460
pretending he's
addressing it to William.

1896
01:41:47,501 --> 01:41:51,302
'Cause he's trying to say,
"Remember where we come from.

1897
01:41:51,339 --> 01:41:53,205
"We're working class
and middle class.

1898
01:41:53,240 --> 01:41:56,836
We're not trying
to be aristocratic."

1899
01:41:56,877 --> 01:41:59,676
Narrator: But he soon put
his memoir aside;

1900
01:41:59,714 --> 01:42:03,583
world affairs were overtaking
both Benjamin Franklin...

1901
01:42:03,618 --> 01:42:08,682
Now the agent representing
several colonies in England...

1902
01:42:08,723 --> 01:42:12,854
And William Franklin... the royal
governor of New Jersey.

1903
01:42:14,562 --> 01:42:15,872
Man as Franklin:
It is very uncertain what Turn

1904
01:42:15,896 --> 01:42:18,661
American Affairs will take here.

1905
01:42:18,699 --> 01:42:23,603
The Friends of both Countries
wish a reconciliation;

1906
01:42:23,638 --> 01:42:27,507
the Enemies of either,
endeavor to widen the Breach;

1907
01:42:27,541 --> 01:42:29,510
God knows how it will end.

1908
01:42:29,543 --> 01:42:35,813
♪

1909
01:42:35,850 --> 01:42:37,216
He was never thinking,

1910
01:42:37,251 --> 01:42:39,550
we need to be independent.

1911
01:42:39,587 --> 01:42:42,250
He was always thinking,
if we can just

1912
01:42:42,289 --> 01:42:44,383
work out a few
fundamental problems

1913
01:42:44,425 --> 01:42:46,826
between us
and the British Ministry,

1914
01:42:46,861 --> 01:42:48,557
that things are
going to be fine.

1915
01:42:48,596 --> 01:42:51,760
He probably could have been
won over to the British side

1916
01:42:51,799 --> 01:42:53,290
as a Loyalist, like his son,

1917
01:42:53,334 --> 01:42:56,463
if things had gone
slightly differently.

1918
01:42:56,504 --> 01:42:59,497
Narrator:
Tensions between England
and the colonies worsened,

1919
01:42:59,540 --> 01:43:02,601
especially after
British soldiers fired on

1920
01:43:02,643 --> 01:43:05,374
a Massachusetts mob in 1770,

1921
01:43:05,413 --> 01:43:09,407
killing 5 Americans...
The Boston Massacre.

1922
01:43:10,751 --> 01:43:14,745
Franklin's position was becoming
increasingly untenable.

1923
01:43:14,789 --> 01:43:17,691
He was trying to represent
the interests of Massachusetts,

1924
01:43:17,725 --> 01:43:22,629
New Jersey, and Georgia,
in addition to Pennsylvania.

1925
01:43:22,663 --> 01:43:27,328
In 1772, Franklin was shown
confidential letters

1926
01:43:27,368 --> 01:43:30,668
written by his old ally
Thomas Hutchinson,

1927
01:43:30,705 --> 01:43:33,402
now the governor
of Massachusetts.

1928
01:43:33,441 --> 01:43:36,240
The only way to quell
colonial unrest,

1929
01:43:36,277 --> 01:43:38,610
Hutchinson had advised London,

1930
01:43:38,646 --> 01:43:42,242
was through harsher measures,
including, he suggested,

1931
01:43:42,283 --> 01:43:45,481
"an abridgment of liberties."

1932
01:43:45,519 --> 01:43:48,512
Franklin surreptitiously
sent copies of the letters

1933
01:43:48,556 --> 01:43:51,924
to the leaders of
the Massachusetts Assembly.

1934
01:43:51,959 --> 01:43:54,485
He hoped that
the firebrands in Boston

1935
01:43:54,528 --> 01:43:57,692
would turn their anger from
Parliament to Hutchinson,

1936
01:43:57,732 --> 01:44:00,861
blaming his bad advice
for the crisis with Britain,

1937
01:44:00,901 --> 01:44:05,965
making room for cooler heads
to broker a reconciliation.

1938
01:44:06,006 --> 01:44:09,738
Instead, it only
inflamed passions.

1939
01:44:11,345 --> 01:44:13,610
The letters were leaked
to newspapers,

1940
01:44:13,647 --> 01:44:17,982
sparking an uproar
throughout the colonies.

1941
01:44:18,018 --> 01:44:19,680
The Massachusetts
Assembly drafted

1942
01:44:19,720 --> 01:44:21,916
an angry petition to the king,

1943
01:44:21,956 --> 01:44:25,484
demanding that Hutchinson
be removed.

1944
01:44:25,526 --> 01:44:28,655
As the Assembly's agent,
Franklin would have to be

1945
01:44:28,696 --> 01:44:30,756
the one to present that petition

1946
01:44:30,798 --> 01:44:33,358
before the King's Privy Council.

1947
01:44:33,400 --> 01:44:36,495
To make matters worse,
Franklin had felt

1948
01:44:36,537 --> 01:44:39,302
obligated to admit
that he was the one

1949
01:44:39,340 --> 01:44:43,505
who had originally shared
Hutchinson's letters.

1950
01:44:43,544 --> 01:44:46,013
And, so, Franklin was
seen as this person who

1951
01:44:46,046 --> 01:44:49,039
stole other people's mail,

1952
01:44:49,283 --> 01:44:51,912
which was quite
an egregious offense

1953
01:44:51,952 --> 01:44:54,353
for someone
who was a postmaster.

1954
01:44:55,890 --> 01:44:58,587
Narrator: Just a few days
before Franklin was scheduled

1955
01:44:58,626 --> 01:45:03,530
to appear before the Privy
Council in January of 1774,

1956
01:45:03,564 --> 01:45:07,365
news arrived from America
that changed everything.

1957
01:45:08,736 --> 01:45:11,331
The Sons of Liberty,
dressed as Indians,

1958
01:45:11,372 --> 01:45:14,433
had boarded 3 ships
in Boston Harbor

1959
01:45:14,475 --> 01:45:18,810
and dumped 46 tons...
342 crates...

1960
01:45:18,846 --> 01:45:21,372
Of English tea into the sea.

1961
01:45:22,616 --> 01:45:24,812
Officials in London
were still seething

1962
01:45:24,852 --> 01:45:26,650
at that act of defiance

1963
01:45:26,687 --> 01:45:30,419
when, on January 29,
Franklin entered

1964
01:45:30,457 --> 01:45:33,791
a meeting room at Whitehall
called the Cockpit,

1965
01:45:33,828 --> 01:45:38,493
where Henry VIII had once
staged cockfights.

1966
01:45:38,532 --> 01:45:41,434
To the Privy Council,
and the crowd of spectators

1967
01:45:41,468 --> 01:45:44,438
gathered there, Franklin was
now the face

1968
01:45:44,471 --> 01:45:47,373
of an insolent
American uprising,

1969
01:45:47,408 --> 01:45:50,537
although Franklin considered
the Boston Tea Party

1970
01:45:50,578 --> 01:45:53,742
an "act of violent injustice
on our part"...

1971
01:45:53,781 --> 01:45:58,344
The very kind of provocation
he had always counseled against.

1972
01:46:00,387 --> 01:46:02,754
Alexander Wedderburn,
the sharp-tongued

1973
01:46:02,790 --> 01:46:05,487
and politically ambitious
solicitor general,

1974
01:46:05,526 --> 01:46:08,985
who considered the recent
events in Boston treasonous,

1975
01:46:09,029 --> 01:46:11,555
made clear from the start
that the hearing

1976
01:46:11,599 --> 01:46:14,660
would be an attack
on Franklin's character.

1977
01:46:15,970 --> 01:46:17,881
Man as Wedderburn:
Your Lordships will not wonder

1978
01:46:17,905 --> 01:46:21,774
that I consider Dr. Franklin not
so much in the light of an agent

1979
01:46:21,809 --> 01:46:25,837
for the Assembly's purpose,
as in that of a first mover

1980
01:46:25,880 --> 01:46:29,612
and prime conductor of it
for his own as the actor...

1981
01:46:29,650 --> 01:46:31,744
Narrator: Wedderburn spoke
for a solid hour,

1982
01:46:31,785 --> 01:46:35,449
sometimes pounding on the table
as he berated Franklin

1983
01:46:35,489 --> 01:46:39,051
with one denunciation
after another,

1984
01:46:39,093 --> 01:46:41,858
sometimes using sarcasm
that prompted

1985
01:46:41,896 --> 01:46:44,491
the nobles and high
officials in the audience

1986
01:46:44,531 --> 01:46:48,559
to snicker and jeer
as they urged him on.

1987
01:46:48,602 --> 01:46:51,538
Throughout it all,
Franklin stood stock still,

1988
01:46:51,572 --> 01:46:53,768
refusing to show any emotion.

1989
01:46:53,807 --> 01:46:55,799
Man as Wedderburn:
answerable to the law.

1990
01:46:55,843 --> 01:46:57,988
The good men of Boston have
lately held their meetings...

1991
01:46:58,012 --> 01:47:00,174
Isaacson: They're accusing
Benjamin Franklin of

1992
01:47:00,414 --> 01:47:04,044
fomenting this Revolution

1993
01:47:04,084 --> 01:47:06,485
and he just stays there, silent,

1994
01:47:06,520 --> 01:47:09,649
and treats them
with silent contempt.

1995
01:47:09,690 --> 01:47:12,558
Narrator: When Wedderburn
finally finished his diatribe,

1996
01:47:12,593 --> 01:47:15,062
he asked if Franklin had
a statement to make

1997
01:47:15,095 --> 01:47:17,564
or would take questions.

1998
01:47:17,598 --> 01:47:19,794
Franklin refused.

1999
01:47:19,833 --> 01:47:21,768
The hearing was over.

2000
01:47:21,802 --> 01:47:29,005
♪

2001
01:47:29,043 --> 01:47:32,445
London newspapers now
referred to Franklin as

2002
01:47:32,479 --> 01:47:36,143
"old Doubleface,"
a "grand incendiary,"

2003
01:47:36,183 --> 01:47:39,745
and a "grey-headed traitor."

2004
01:47:39,787 --> 01:47:43,519
Americans, the essayist
Samuel Johnson wrote,

2005
01:47:43,557 --> 01:47:46,755
"have been taught by
some master of mischief

2006
01:47:46,794 --> 01:47:51,232
how to put in motion the engine
of political electricity."

2007
01:47:53,801 --> 01:47:56,771
Two days after his humiliation
in the Cockpit,

2008
01:47:56,804 --> 01:47:59,740
Franklin was informed
that he had been dismissed

2009
01:47:59,773 --> 01:48:03,869
as deputy postmaster
for North America.

2010
01:48:03,911 --> 01:48:07,871
Any hopes he had for
a higher post also evaporated,

2011
01:48:07,915 --> 01:48:13,218
as did his dreams for the vast
land scheme along the Ohio.

2012
01:48:13,253 --> 01:48:16,485
Franklin walked into
the Cockpit an Englishman

2013
01:48:16,523 --> 01:48:18,856
and walked out of the Cockpit
an American

2014
01:48:18,892 --> 01:48:21,885
because it became
very clear to Franklin

2015
01:48:21,929 --> 01:48:25,559
that he, as an American,
would never receive

2016
01:48:25,599 --> 01:48:28,933
the respect that
he believed he was due.

2017
01:48:28,969 --> 01:48:31,939
At that point, Franklin
realized there is no future

2018
01:48:31,972 --> 01:48:36,137
for me or for people like me
within the British Empire.

2019
01:48:39,747 --> 01:48:42,683
Narrator: On December 14, 1774,

2020
01:48:42,716 --> 01:48:45,584
Deborah Franklin
had another stroke,

2021
01:48:45,619 --> 01:48:49,112
more massive than
the one 5 years earlier.

2022
01:48:49,156 --> 01:48:51,250
She lingered on for a few days,

2023
01:48:51,291 --> 01:48:53,658
then died on the 19th,

2024
01:48:53,694 --> 01:48:55,754
still waiting for her husband,

2025
01:48:55,796 --> 01:48:59,733
who had been away for 15
of the last 17 years,

2026
01:48:59,767 --> 01:49:02,999
to return to her and the new
house on Market Street

2027
01:49:03,037 --> 01:49:05,131
he had never seen.

2028
01:49:06,540 --> 01:49:08,551
Schiff: He's away from Deborah
for the last
10 years of her life.

2029
01:49:08,575 --> 01:49:10,066
He knows she's ill.

2030
01:49:10,110 --> 01:49:12,602
And he doesn't come back.

2031
01:49:12,646 --> 01:49:14,157
If Franklin gets
failing grades in any subject,

2032
01:49:14,181 --> 01:49:17,151
it's the family relations,
both in terms of the marriage

2033
01:49:17,184 --> 01:49:19,153
and in terms of his son.

2034
01:49:21,989 --> 01:49:26,723
Man as William Franklin:
Philadelphia, December 24, 1774.

2035
01:49:26,760 --> 01:49:30,891
Honoured Father,
I came here on Thursday last

2036
01:49:30,931 --> 01:49:34,766
to attend the Funeral
of my poor old Mother.

2037
01:49:34,802 --> 01:49:36,828
I heartily wish you had
happened to have

2038
01:49:36,870 --> 01:49:38,600
come over in the Fall,

2039
01:49:38,639 --> 01:49:40,699
as I think her Disappointment
in that respect

2040
01:49:40,741 --> 01:49:43,677
preyed a good deal
on her Spirits.

2041
01:49:45,813 --> 01:49:47,873
I cannot help being
concerned to find that

2042
01:49:47,915 --> 01:49:51,352
you postpone your
Return to your Family.

2043
01:49:52,853 --> 01:49:55,118
You have had by this Time
pretty strong Proofs

2044
01:49:55,155 --> 01:49:58,319
that you are look'd upon with
an evil Eye in that Country.

2045
01:49:58,358 --> 01:50:00,327
You had certainly better return

2046
01:50:00,360 --> 01:50:02,989
to a Country where
the People revere you,

2047
01:50:03,030 --> 01:50:07,365
and are inclined to pay
a Deference to your Opinions.

2048
01:50:07,601 --> 01:50:13,165
I am ever, Honoured Sir,
Your dutiful Son William.

2049
01:50:15,075 --> 01:50:17,840
Narrator: For Franklin,
his breach with England

2050
01:50:17,878 --> 01:50:19,369
was complete.

2051
01:50:19,613 --> 01:50:22,310
Now a political rift
seemed to be growing

2052
01:50:22,349 --> 01:50:24,750
between him and his son.

2053
01:50:27,087 --> 01:50:31,616
In the coming year,
a revolution would begin,

2054
01:50:31,658 --> 01:50:34,321
unlikely alliances
would be forged,

2055
01:50:34,361 --> 01:50:36,796
loyalties would be tested,

2056
01:50:36,830 --> 01:50:40,028
families would be torn apart,

2057
01:50:40,067 --> 01:50:44,971
and Benjamin Franklin would be
in the middle of it all.

2058
01:50:45,005 --> 01:50:53,005
♪

2059
01:53:36,943 --> 01:53:38,639
Corporate Funding
for "Benjamin Franklin"

2060
01:53:38,679 --> 01:53:42,810
WAS PROVIDED BY BANK OF AMERICA.

2061
01:53:42,849 --> 01:53:43,873
Announcer: Major funding

2062
01:53:43,917 --> 01:53:45,249
for "Benjamin Franklin"

2063
01:53:45,285 --> 01:53:48,722
was provided by David
M. Rubinstein.

2064
01:53:48,755 --> 01:53:50,417
Investing in people
and institutions

2065
01:53:50,657 --> 01:53:51,955
that help us understand the past

2066
01:53:51,992 --> 01:53:53,688
and prepare us for the future.

2067
01:53:53,727 --> 01:53:55,696
By the Pew Charitable Trusts

2068
01:53:55,729 --> 01:53:57,994
and by The Better Angels Society

2069
01:53:58,031 --> 01:54:01,001
and its members,
Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine.

2070
01:54:01,034 --> 01:54:03,003
The University of Pennsylvania.

2071
01:54:03,036 --> 01:54:06,006
Impact through innovation
and inclusion.

2072
01:54:06,039 --> 01:54:08,008
Gilchrist and Amy Berg,

2073
01:54:08,041 --> 01:54:10,010
Perry and Donna Golkin,

2074
01:54:10,043 --> 01:54:11,705
and by these additional

2075
01:54:11,745 --> 01:54:13,179
contributors.

2076
01:54:13,213 --> 01:54:15,876
♪

2077
01:54:15,916 --> 01:54:18,715
By the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting

2078
01:54:18,752 --> 01:54:20,186
and by generous contributions

2079
01:54:20,220 --> 01:54:23,122
to your PBS station
from viewers like you.

2080
01:54:23,156 --> 01:54:26,126
Thank you.