Benjamin Franklin is the only Founding Father to have signed, The Declaration of Independence, The Treaty of Paris and the Constitution. The Trifecta; The three most important documents at our country’s inception.
He was born in 1706 and died at the advanced age of 84 in 1790. So, his period of influence preceded the years of initial governance during which, Adams, Hamilton, Washington, Jefferson and Madison distinguished themselves.
Poor Richard’s Almanac
He came into prominence as the author and creator of Poor Richard’s Almanac. An annual publication that he published every year from 1732 to 1758. It included articles on subjects as varied as astrology, politics, weather and predictions of the future. Anticipated every year the annual printings of 10,000 units sold quickly and were widely circulated.
His pithy aphorisms of the Almanac are now so ubiquitous in American Culture we overlook their origin. They are a byproduct of the Founding Blogger. They include the following.
“Haste Makes Waste”
“Well done is better than well said.”
“The worst wheel of the cart makes the most noise.”
“Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy wealthy and wise.”
“Little Strokes fell Great Oaks”
“A penny saved is a penny earned.”
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
“Speak little, do much.”
“The only thing that is more expensive than education is ignorance.”
Founding Patriarch
Franklin was the patriarch of the Founding Generation. The oldest of the founders, his contributions to the Continental Congress that produced the Declaration of Independence are difficult to quantify. His quote at the signing of the document illustrates his sense of the importance of the moment.
“We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
At the end of the Constitutional Convention, he spoke of its promise with succinct practicality.
“The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”
Franklin Our First Postmaster General
In 1753 Franklin was appointed Postmaster General of the Colonies. He spent years in England studying their postal system and was instrumental in creating a robust postal system that was able to circulate newspapers (his own) and the pamphlets of the day. Many of these newspapers and pamphlets were instrumental in creating the political environment that led to the Declaration of Independence.
In 1774, Benjamin Franklin while studying the English Postal System was dismissed as joint Postmaster General for the Crown because he was judged too sympathetic to the colonies. He returned to America and on July 26, 1775, the Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin the first Postmaster General of the organization now known as the United States Postal Service.
The Foreign Negotiator
Perhaps his greatest contribution was his work as the envoy to the French Court. Through his guile and mastery of court protocol he conveyed the image of Rousseau’s natural man. He convinced the French to provide military support to the American Revolution. The arrival of the French Fleet at Yorktown in September of 1781 doomed the British Army led by Cornwallis and sealed the victory of this fledgling colony over the might of the British Empire.
He finished his foreign service by negotiating the Treaty with England that officially ended the Revolutionary War and acknowledged the independence of the American Nation.
True Three Centuries Ago: True Today
So many of his statements ring as true today as they did three centuries ago.
“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”
“There was never a bad peace or a good war.”
“Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools that don’t have brains enough to be honest.”
“I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such: because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no Form of Government but what may be a Blessing to the People if well-administred; and I believe farther that this is likely to be well administred for a Course of Years and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other.”
“Without Freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.”