Benjamin Franklin. Autobiography and Other Writings. Ed. Russell Nye. Cambridge MA: Riverside Press, 1958. Print.

Franklin’s Autobiography was not really written for publication, but for his grandson. He wrote it in fits and starts over a number of years. He had only gotten to the year 1757 when he died. Franklin was not only a printer, scientist, and politician, but he truly was a thinker and observer. Some of the things from Franklin’s autobiography are well known, like his tongue-in-cheek attempt at moral perfection or his version of a daily planner. Here are some other things from this autobiography worth thinking about.

While in his twenties, Franklin wrote an article speculating that, if Newtonian physics is exact, then everything is predetermined. This idea would be picked up later by Europeans such as Laplace and Hegel. It even becomes a topic of discussion in Stoppard’s Arcadia. Franklin also read Locke and became more and more persuaded that man needed government because he could not govern himself, but that too much government kept man from achieving his potential. This political tension is still very much with us today.

Though Franklin did dabble with determinism as mentioned above, he ultimately rejected it for typically scientific reasons. He could not observe it. If everything were determined then everything man did was morally good all the time. Franklin could easily see this was not the case. That moral sense had to come from somewhere. He ended up embracing Locke because he realized that the moral sense did, in fact, point to a moral creator.

While Franklin never was a member of any church, and he did have some doubts about some of the Bible’s history, he respected the Bible because its moral precepts worked. Indeed, the Autobiography gives credit to Biblical moral practices for his success in business. Franklin admitted that some of his things were not well written, but he learned from his mistakes. His writing ability and his admiration for Locke no doubt were factors on his being chosen to help draft the Declaration of Independence.

Franklin admired Pilgrim’s Progress. Critics have sometimes compared his Autobiography to that book. When Franklin was writing in the 1750s, the term novel was not widely used, but by his observation, Pilgrim’s Progress was the first novel, at least in English. It was prose (hence, not an epic) with narrative (unlike drama) and with a good deal of dialogue (unlike prose romances). It was indeed novel, something new.

From the autobiography, it is clear that Franklin was no deist. When he was in his early twenties, he found that philosophy somewhat appealing, as he had with determinism, but for reasons similar to why he rejected determinism, he rejected deism. He did attend church from time to time, and he did express in different places that he could see the hand of God in people’s lives. He believed that God had a significant hand in his own life. He could not see how he succeeded in business and others did not apart from Providence.

As Emerson mocked Coleridge for his belief in an objective God apart from His creation, so I recall some of my college professors mocking Franklin. I can see why. I thought at the time it was just that his daily planner made then nervous—though Franklin jokes about that—but it is really that Franklin used reason to argue against their pet theories and against amorality in general. This is the way the “establishment” works today, mockery and ad hominem. Let’s not bother to see whether the idea or observation makes sense, let’s attack, initiate lawsuits, and “demonize the opposition.”

Franklin had an interesting comment on religious doctrines. A friend who was a Dunker, a German Baptist group, complained that people were preaching and even publishing things about his sect that were untrue. Franklin suggested to his friend that they publish a statement of what they do believe. His friend demurred, saying that already they have learned that some things they used to believe they do not believe any more, and that such a statement might keep them from discovering God’s truth. It also might keep future generations from learning more because they might believe the elders had put it all together. Wise. Franklin thought so, too.

Franklin had a number of interesting things to say about the French and Indian War (a.k.a. the Seven Years’ War). Franklin’s Pennsylvania Militia supported and supplied some material for General Braddock. Braddock was convinced that the French fighters in inland America were ill-prepared and, like colonial militias, would be easily defeated by any professional army. Braddock’s pride, indeed, was his downfall. His attitude would continue among at least some of the British military leaders at the time of the Revolution.

Franklin also criticized General Lord Loudon, a bureaucrat who took no action and to Franklin was the man most responsible for English losses during the war. Franklin’s description of Loudon was reminiscent of history’s usual take on the dithering of General McClelland during the U. S. Civil War.

Franklin tells of a fascinating conversation (or lecture) from a Lord Granville who told him that colonial legislatures had to obey whatever their governors told them because “The King is legislator of the Colonies.” (Franklin wrote that in all capital letters!)

Franklin’s reply was, “This is new doctrine to me.”

This exchange does reflect a change in the British government’s view of the colonial constitutions. It certainly foreshadows the division that would come and the new country that would be formed.