Franklin and Jefferson

Benjamin Franklin’s participation in so many different areas of life changed our world greatly. He was a politician, a scholar, an inventor, and a scientist. He also was a man who indulged in pranks, had chauvinist attitudes toward women and was found to be nasty at times. Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1706.

Although Franklin started off believing in slavery and having many slaves himself, his beliefs changed after visiting an African American school. He saw that the children were equally as smart as white children. At that point in his life he condemned the slave trade as “detestable commerce” (Portrait of America, Stephen B. Oats and Charles J. Errico Volume One Eighth Edition, page 72) and called slavery a crime against humanity. “He had an unflagging love for liberty and the natural rights for people” (Portrait of America, Stephen B. Oats and Charles J. Errico Volume One Eighth Edition, page 71).

With all of Franklin’s life experiences he was asked to be a part of forming the Articles of Confederation. Franklin was the only person to sign all four of the documents which helped to create the Declaration of Independence. He actually helped to write parts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. No other individual was more involved in the birth of our nation. Franklin’s famous speech of September 17 summed up his feelings as follows: “Mr. President, I confess that there are several parts of this constitution which I do not approve, but I am not sure that I will never approve them. For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being abliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise… I doubt too that any other convention we can optaain may be able to make a better constitution.. It therefore astonishes me, sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies… Thus I consent, sir, to this constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best” (Collier and Collier, Decision in Philadelphia, page 340).

Even though he didn’t agree with every written article in the constitution, he still signed it with all its faults because he believed a general government was very necessary in order to survive. His plea to other members of the convention was to overlook their doubts and to sign the Constitution as well.

George Washington spoke for a whole generation of Americans in a letter to Franklin in 1789: “If to be venerated for benevolence, if to be admired for talents, if to be esteemed for patriotism, if to be beloved for philanthropy, can gratify the human mind, you must have the pleasing consolation to know that you have not lived in vane” (World Book , 1966, page 416).

Franklin’s influences are very obvious in today’s times. He became president of America’s first antislavery society, The Pennsylvania Abolition Society. This helped influence the treatment of blacks in today's

society. Philidelphia has maintained its memory of its most famous citizen. The University of Pensilvania named its athletic field after him.

Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia. Jefferson practiced law and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. In 1774, he wrote A Summary View of the Rights of British America, which was intended as instructions for the Virginia delegates to a national congress. This material helped in the shaping of the constitution. The pamphlet was a powerful argument of American terms for a settlement with Britain. It helped speed the way to independence, and marked Jefferson as one of the most thoughtful patriot spokesmen. As he once said “All men are created equal. That all are endowed with the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that that they have a natural right to rebel when those rights are denied” (Portrait of America, Stephen B. Oats and Charles J. Errico Volume One Eighth Edition, page 101).

In September 1776, was elected to the new Virginia House of Delegates. During his term in the House, Jefferson set out to reform and update Virginia's system of laws to reflect its new status