Benjamin advanced pretty far on his own two feet given that his father, Josiah, was a candle maker among other things, and his mother, Abiah, was an indentured servant (bought by Benjamin’s father for 20 pounds). Benjamin seemed to be a bit unwise to me at first. Maybe it was his lack of experience in the “real world” but most of his plans fell through in the beginning. Benjamin is always portrayed as this brilliant guy when in fact he was a bit absent minded in some areas (such as preparing for his failures). Benjamin’s first job with Samuel Keimer was a dud because the two didn’t get along which pretty much set the standard for all of his successes to come-- starting his own business seemed to be inevitable. Benjamin and his son, William, were a lot closer than most history classes reveal to their students. I never read much about either of their personal lives until this book (Skemp reading). In chapter 3: Government men, Skemp states that Benjamin and William start to drift apart because of the Franklins’ English Sojourn. I did not really understand their drifting apart because throughout chapter 3 both men seem to still keep in close contact with one another, so the 3rd chapter kind of lost me.
In chapter 3: The Great Aristocratic Land Grab (Henretta), Charles II was considered to be an extravagant man who was always in dept which reminded me in many ways of the reading on Benjamin Franklin (with Benjamin constantly being in debt). Charles II ends up giving all his territory between the Delaware and Connecticut Rivers to his brother James, the duke of York, which also reminded me of Benjamin Franklin in the aspect of Benjamin’s close relationship with his son William. In the Skemp reading Benjamin and William share their success and in the Henretta reading Charles II and James share their territory (although they are not father and son but brothers). John Lock’s Two Treatises on Government was a confusing concept for me that was hard to get past in the reading but Lock later emphasized the impact of environment, experience, and reason on human behavior which let me get a closer look at Lock’s reasoning. Chapter 4 of the Henretta reading was focused a lot on the Puritan Ideology which states that men are head of the house and women basically have babies and clean the house (in so many words). As a female, I was thinking maybe the loss of property in one-half of all white men in the Middle Atlantic region in the 1760s had something to do with the men not helping out with all the women‘s chores. (just a thought).
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5 comments:
I understand what your saying about Benjamin. It seems the name is just associated with such greatness that all of his weaknesses and flaws are overlooked. In the book, they play it off that Benjamin wasn't the best father to William. It's interesting that they were as close as you say.
I also found it to be interesting of how close Ben and Will became from Will's teen years on until you say they drift apart (I haven't read that far yet). I was also suprised at how much Ben changed jobs and traveled back and forth, with everything falling through. I always had pictured him as a very intelligent man that made it big from the beginning, which is not the case at all.
I agree with your thought about how you didnt understand what the book says about them drifting apart. I didnt understand that either due to the fact that indeed they do seem to keep in close contact which is somewhat confusing. I felt that they were close for quite awhile.
Many successful business men are recurring failures. Sam Adams was a miserable failure at many ventures, including brewing, before his political success. Generally, business is a marathon not a sprint, and it's those that possess the ability to keep failing without being discouraged that eventually succeed. So, it was with Franklin.
i believe chapter three was implying the beginning of the franklin's seperation because of their new found love of england. this new found love drove them both to be avid supporters of the crown, but also led to benjamin staying for longer periods of time in london, which also led to his frustration with the culture. however, since william got his postion in the colonies he maintained his loyalty to the crown thru ignorance of how corrupt the whole thing was. so yes i do see it as the beginning of the end. it definitely was not illustrated in this chapter but it is in later chapters.
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