Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography was a significant model of the “American dream.” Franklin shared his life during the younger years of America, which went on to have a profound and indelible mark on society and the country as we know it today. Benjamin Franklin created this foundation, and it later became a roadmap for the “American dream” through his actions of upward socioeconomic mobility, and desire to improve the common good.
Using his own life as a model, Franklin proved that, in America, people had the ability to build themselves up through hard work. Benjamin Franklin grew up in a meager house in Boston with his 16 older siblings. At the age of 16, Franklin decided to venture to Philadelphia to find work. Philadelphia was the ground from which Benjamin Franklin grew. In his autobiography, Franklin said, “my first Entry into that City, that you may in your Mind compare such unlikely Beginning with the Figure I have since made there” (28). This quote embodied the vision of America in that it showed that Franklin believed that a person could become successful regardless of where they came from. Franklin’s learned and eager reputation soon started to gradually spread in this new city. Franklin proved himself to be a more devoted worker than his colleagues, a devotion which fed into his reputable reputation. Character, curiosity and passion were only some of the attributes that allowed Franklin to climb the socioeconomic
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America was not only a place where you could create yourself, but it was a place where you could better your surroundings. Franklin believed that “vicious Actions are not hurtful because they are forbidden, but forbidden because they are hurtful” (87). This belief showed his heavily instilled utilitarian outlook on life by conveying that man is good and makes rules to benefit society, not to harm