Robert Middlekauff is an intriguing historian from UC Berkeley that shares a part of history with people via his writings and lectures. In the book Benjamin Franklin and His Enemies, Robert Middlekauff does a stunning job in introducing the hectic life Benjamin Franklin. Robert Middlekauff being an amazing researcher and historian, he leaves out no nuances about Benjamin Franklin, not even the emotions. Throughout the book, Robert Middlekauff sets the setting and location allowing the reader to form a detailed image while reading the book. Robert Middlekauff explains that Benjamin Franklin was a well-spirited man with a darker side. Throughout this book, the darker side of Benjamin Franklin is unveiled through the friends and enemies he makes. …show more content…
John Adams was quite fond of Benjamin Franklin. As time passed this friendship began to deteriorate because John Adams and Benjamin Franklin had not only different diplomatic styles, but also different lifestyles. Consequently, John Adams started to suspected Benjamin Franklin as being disloyal. This disloyalty resulted from Benjamin Franklin keeping information from John Adams about the mediation the Spanish took to end the war. John Adams was dramatically affected by Benjamin Franklin withholding this information because he was deeply passionate about this finding a solution to end the war. Angered by Benjamin Franklin’s actions, John Adams broke off any sort of communication with Benjamin Franklin by leaving Paris. The quarreling continued when John Adam arrived in Amsterdam, and Franklin confessed his disapproval for John Adams’s methods of dealing with foreign powers. The relationship between John Adams and Benjamin Franklin was not terrible because the day before the Preliminary treaty was signed Adams brought himself to praise Benjamin Franklin. Finally, On January 1783 the conflicts subsided with the signing of the Preliminary Articles of Peace. Britain, France, and Spain were finally at peace with one another. Life was great for John Adams until the death of Benjamin Franklin, which occurred in the year 1790. Robert Middlekauff reveals that he knew John Adams distrusted him, but what he did not know was the amount of hatred John Adams had towards
Although a very loyal man, Benjamin Franklin has been considered both a Loyalist and a Patriot, but he is marked very clearly as a founding father, and as thus, should have primarily been a Patriot during and after the war with England. In this paper I wish to address the following questions. To what extent did Benjamin Franklin convert to Patriotism in the Revolutionary war, and what part did he play in achieving American victory? Was his primary success as a diplomat to France, a member of the Continental Congress, or through his subterfuge and spy ring.
Since the Revolution Jefferson and Adams parted ways and became enemies. When Jefferson was President he sent a letter to Abigail Adams in which he forgave Adams for what he had done. Abigail was angered by this and the two sent each other letters back about why the other was wrong. Adams had his own thing going on during this time. He was angry that everyone else was getting more credit than they deserved.
He doesn't want the people to think he is of higher power and that he will ignore them if someone tried to talk to him. But he is a man, just a normal human being like everyone else, who you can turn to to talk about anything you want. He will listen to what you say and he will smile and be happy about it. "... " Ben Franklin, "...", seems made of flesh rather than of marble, addressable by nickname, and he turns to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind those newfangled spectacles. He speaks to us, through his letters and hoaxes and autobiography, "..." with a chattiness and clever irony that is very contemporary, "...
Benjamin Franklin was one of the largest known founding fathers of the United States. He was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents were Josiah Franklin and Abiah Folger. He was the fifteenth child of Josiah and one of ten by Abiah(Franklin Born). His father wanted him to be a clergy but could not afford to send him to school for that many years.
Benjamin Franklin was a man of many trades who had significant impact on the revolutionary war. He was incredibly talented with beautiful philosophy. “Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom - and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech”- (Benjamin Franklin). Benjamin Franklin and his involvement with the revolutionary war founded our country based on his background, virtues, education and inventions. From the start, Ben strived for greatness.
Benjamin Franklin and His Enemies Summary Robert Middlekauff starts off by introducing Benjamin Franklin as a well-mannered and civic-minded individual who is loved by everyone. Of course, Benjamin Franklin was a little bit reserved when it came to strangers, but that never stopped people from growing fond of him. His good heart and spirit lead him to amazing people like Margaret Stevenson (Polly), John Adams, William Strahan, and Thomas Jefferson to name a few. Besides from having a well-liked personality Robert Middlekauff also reveals that Benjamin Franklin was a curious man who came equipped with an outstanding resumé.
In 1776 Ben Franklin signed the declaration of independence. After wards he sailed to France where everyone loved him. He sailed there as an ambassador to the Court of Louis. He had to work actively for independence. Ben thought that his son William would agree with his thoughts and opinions but he didn’t and it caused a fall out with the father son relationship that they had with one another.
Instead of schooling him, his father sent him off to shadow his older brother at a printing shop. Benjamin Franklin absolutely loved to read, so he enjoyed printing, he had the gift to read the many writings that came through their newspaper. In this book, Franklin talks about many different phasing throughout his life that would have
Benjamin Franklin is known to be an “Archetypal American,” because of his beliefs on religion, self-improvement, hard work, and determination; but also his somewhat prideful spirit. Much of modern America is quite similar to Franklin in his actions throughout his lifetime. In his early years, Franklin’s father, Josiah, had a set plan for what he was supposed to do with his life, as a minister. Soon into his education, he found an interest in reading and writing, so he began pursuing a career in printing.
Benjamin Franklin was a scientist, politician, and he invents a bunch of cool things. Benjamin Franklin did not attend school until the age of ten. It took his father two years to pay for his son’s education. Franklin’s family household was large and he is the youngest out of his seventeen siblings. Benjamin Franklin grew up with an unfortunate lifestyle; in the fall of 1723, he went travelled to Philadelphia the city of Pennsylvania with a lack of budget and without support from anyone not even his close family.
Franklin’s childhood began when he was a young boy living with his father and siblings in Massachusetts. As a boy Franklin was apprenticed to his father, Josiah Franklin, making candle wicks and soap, and he hated every minute of it (Dash, p. 8). Franklin’s
Benjamin Franklin was a great man that had influences in many areas and because of that he had many enemies but because he understood human behavior he enabled himself to turn enemies into allies. To understand the Benjamin Franklin effect you need to know that the things you do often create the things you believe. An example is when “Franklin ran for his second term as a clerk, one of his colleagues delivered a long speech to the legislature lambasting Franklin. Franklin still won his second term, but this guy truly pissed him off. So he set out to turn his hater into a fan, but he wanted to do it without paying any servile respect to him.
Born in 1706 as the eighth of 17 children to a Massachusetts soap and candlestick maker, the chances Benjamin Franklin would go on to become a gentleman, scholar, scientist, statesman, musician, author, publisher and all-around general genius were astronomically low, yet he did just that. Franklin wrote in the Age of Enlightenment, an intellectual revolution in the 18th century. The ideals of the enlightenment are still thought of today, as they are a part of the United States’ Declaration of Independence and Constitution. When one remembers Benjamin Franklin very few people are aware of the fact that he worked as a printer until the age of 42. As a printer he had access to substantial amounts of literature.
As a result, Benjamin Franklin is a wise man, in order to create trusts from the members of the congress, he utilizes his ethos by accepting his fallibilities and willing to do good for the constitution to be
The importance of Ben Franklin has been told all throughout history, along with the famous $100 bill with his face on it. Drafting the Declaration of Independence, foudning universities and libraries, the post office, shaping policies in the U.S., publishing newspapers, making advances in science, and letting us use bifocals and using lighting for electricity. Even if this man never finished school, he did much reading and experiments that help us out today. The reason why I chose to write about Benjamin Franklin was because he was a very important Founding Father and it’s important for people to learn all about