Hello and welcome to How to Take Over the World. This is Ben Wilson. Today we are talking about Benjamin Franklin, the American inventor, writer, diplomat, entrepreneur, and statesman. Benjamin Franklin is an interesting character. I think he's often understood in kind of comic terms. He seems kind of ridiculous, and that's partially his own doing.

He didn't take himself too seriously. He is, as Walter Isaacson puts it, the founder who winks at us. I think there's an interesting contrast there with George Washington. I talked a lot in that episode about how he used seriousness to his advantage. He was a serious person. Well, I think Benjamin Franklin shows some of the advantages of not taking yourself too seriously.

But as a consequence, I think people don't fully appreciate the greatness of Benjamin Franklin. I think the best way to understand that is to take each of his accomplishments separately and consider them individually. So as a scientist, He was arguably the most important scientist of his generation, like genuinely a groundbreaking scientist who deserves to be Maybe not in the top tier, but just below figures like Isaac Newton, Einstein, Faraday.

If he hadn't accomplished everything else, if he hadn't accomplished everything else that he did, he would be highly regarded as a practical scientist and inventor.  As a writer, he was America's first great writer and by far the greatest popular writer of his day. And if he hadn't accomplished everything else he did, he would be regarded as one of the great American writers on the same level as Mark Twain or Thoreau or Hemingway.

He was America's greatest diplomat. If he hadn't accomplished everything else, he would be rightly regarded as like the American Metternich.

And of course he was a founding father. And as I've argued previously, was one of the three, I think indispensable was one of the three, I think indispensable men of the American revolution, along with George Washington and Alexander Hamilton. And so in this weird way, Benjamin Franklin's accomplishments.

Cancel each other out, I think.

And so in a weird way, I think sometimes Benjamin Franklin's accomplishments like cancel each other out because people don't know what category to put them in because he accomplished so many different things.  When you take it all together, he's one of the great geniuses of all time  and especially of his time.  He also happens to be the father of the self help industry. He had this very systematic approach to self improvement that helped to create these extraordinary outcomes. And so there's a ton to learn from him because he left us this great legacy of not just what he did, but how he did it.

He's the ultimate self made man. You know, when we use that phrase, self made man, we usually mean it as someone who didn't get their fortune from their parents, right? They didn't use any great financial support from others to gain their name or their fortune. But with Benjamin Franklin, he was a self made man.

But with Benjamin Franklin, he was a self made man in the literal sense in that he made himself like every aspect of his character, like every aspect of his character was analyzed, molded, and improved to create just the type of man that he wanted to be. And that is,

and so because of that, it's, it's really easy to analyze. And so, because of that, we have this great record to analyze of how he improved himself, how he accomplished so much. So there is a ton to learn. I hope you have, so there's a ton to learn. I hope you enjoy this episode. I hope you learn as much by.

Studying the life of Benjamin Franklin as I did. My sources are the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, which is extraordinary I highly recommend it. It's great reading. And then also Benjamin Franklin and American life By Walter Isaacson, also a great book. So without further ado, this is the life of Benjamin Franklin.

But first this episode is brought to you by Legacy. From Picasso to Cleopatra, the podcast Legacy looks at the lives of some of the most famous people to have ever lived and asks if they have the reputation they deserve. This season, they look at J. Edgar Hoover. He was the director of the FBI for half a century, an immensely powerful political figure.

He was said to know everything about everyone. There will definitely be a J. Edgar Hoover episode of How to Take Over the World eventually. But in the meantime, this can tide you over. He held the ear of eight presidents and terrified them all. When asked why he didn't fire Hoover, JFK replied, You don't fire God.

So from chasing gangsters to pursuing communists to relentlessly persecuting Dr. Martin Luther King and civil rights activists, Hoover's dirty tricks and tactics have been endlessly echoed in the years since his death and his political playbook still shapes American politics today. So follow Legacy wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can discover more to the story with Wondry's other top history podcasts, including American Scandal, Black History for Real, and even The Royals. 📍  

Okay, Benjamin Franklin was born, okay,   okay, Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17th, 1706. And note, that is quite early. He would be 70 years old when American independence was declared. He was the only elderly founding father. Okay. So this is a generation before George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams.

He was born in Boston. Ben was the 15th of his father's 17 children. So obviously that was across two marriages. Josiah Franklin,  Josiah Franklin was his father and his first wife died after giving birth to their seventh child. And then he remarried. Originally, young Benjamin Franklin was marked out to be a minister, a member of the clergy.

Josiah considered this his tithe. Okay, so I've got ten sons, one of them should serve the church, should serve God.  And it made sense because,  and it made sense specifically for Benjamin, because he was clearly very clever and an excellent reader. Uh, he had a kind of a literary mind, so it seemed like great, this, this guy will be a great minister.

Unfortunately, he was also a born skeptic. One story is told that as a young child, he found the prayers before dinner to be very tedious. And so at the beginning of the winter one year, he asked his father, Hey, can we just pray over the barrels of salted provisions once and call it good for the rest of the season?

So that's kind of where his mind went, right? Naturally kind of inquiring and skeptical.  Franklin had a very adventurous, exciting, carefree childhood. His autobiography is really great. Again, I can't recommend it enough, and it reads as very Mark Twain.

So Franklin was an avid swimmer, he spent a lot of time in the Charles River, and he spent a lot of time making mischief with his friends where he was the ringleader.

He grew up in a middle class household, his, he grew up in an upper middle class household, his father was a candle maker, and that was enough to provide plenty of money for a good upbringing, although it wasn't enough to send Benjamin to Harvard. So if he wanted to be a clergy, it was expected that he would go to Boston Latin School, For his primary education and then to the one college in Massachusetts, which was Harvard.

But supposedly there wasn't enough money, and so Ben Franklin was taken outta school at age 10. He worked for his father for a couple of years. During that time, he self-educate, reading everything he can get outta his hand.  During that time, he self-educate. He reads everything he can get his hands on, including Plutarch's Lives is one of his favorites.

And he ends up instead apprenticing for his brother who was a printer. He takes an interest in every aspect of the printing business.  And  And he takes an interest in every aspect of the printing business, from the technical details and mechanics of printing presses to the business aspects, to the content, the writing.

He wants to make his own contributions. And I think the way he learns to write is really fascinating and something that should be used more often for people who want to learn to write well. So I never did this exercise growing up, but I think it'd be a really great war. So I never did exercises like this growing up, but I think it'd be a really great way to learn to write well, here's what he did.

So he would find a copy of the spectator, big newspaper, and then he would take a persuasive article that he thought was well written and copy out the bullet points of the main arguments. Okay. So he's copying out for himself, like a little summary of the main points of an article.  And then he'd put it aside for a few days, come back, and then he would look at the bullet points , and then try and write the same article.

So he's kind of recreating, he's like, okay, here's what I'm trying to argue, how would I write this? Okay, how would I most persuasively construct this article? And then he says, quote, then I compared my spectator with the original, discovered some of my faults, and corrected them.  Okay, so I think that's really cool and you can do it with any style, right?

If you want to be a novelist. You can go read a great novel and then kind of  not that and then note down the major plot points and try and rewrite the novel. If you want to be, um, if you want to be a podcaster, you could go listen to a Malcolm Gladwell podcast, write down his main points, and then script out your own episode of the same ideas that Malcolm Gladwell is saying.

So, uh, I think that's something that should be used in schools, frankly. I think it's a really effective way to learn to write.

So he gets an opportunity to try his hand at writing. Um, in just a couple of years. So I said, he's apprenticing for his brother. Who's a printer. Well, at first he's not printing his own stuff. He's, he's printing for other people, but then when Benjamin Franklin is 15, his brother, James starts his own newspaper.

And so just a year later, Franklin decides he wants to try and write something for this new newspaper. And he realizes that his brother,  like he looks at him a certain way, right? You're my little brother.  And so he probably was not going to take kindly to him trying to submit an essay. And so he writes an article under a pseudonym and leaves it on the front step of the print shop.

And the next day to his delight, some of the employees pick it up, read it and say, wow, this is great. You know, this is excellent. And so they print it in the paper the next day.  The pseudonym is silence do good Benjamin Franklin invents this entire persona, uh, of this woman, silence, do good.

And he's a very natural humorist. He he's naturally funny. His writing is, is hysterical, frankly. And so he's able to throw out these perfect little details. So for example, Mrs. Do good says of herself, quote. I could easily

So for example, Mrs. Duguid, she's this old widow, and she's describing herself, and she says, quote, I could easily be persuaded to marry again. I am courteous and affable, good humored, unless I'm first provoked, and handsome, and sometimes witty.  And the use of the term sometimes witty is just a perfect detail.

Like,  you immediately know and understand what kind of old woman would describe herself as sometimes witty.  It just creates this character who is earnest and endearing, but also ridiculous.  So anyway, um, this first essay does well. He continues to write more silenced do good essays. Eventually James discovers this and is very unhappy about it.

And James was pretty tough on his younger brother. He always wanted him under his thumb. Uh, he was very jealous. He didn't want to be outshined.  And so this really rubbed Ben Franklin the wrong way. through lines of his life was that he hated arbitrary authority. He hated big government tyrannies.

He also hated small, petty, personal tyrannies. And so, uh, he hates this situation. He can't stand working for his brother who wants to keep him under his authority. And, uh, so he decides to run away and he's apprenticed to his brother. And so the laws of the time mean.  Um, it's like a form of bondage. He, he technically can't leave legally, but forget that he wants to get outta Dodge and so he sneaks out on a ship.

Uh, reading now from his autobiography, he says, quote, my friend Collins, therefore undertook to manage my escape for me. He agreed with the captain of a New York sloop for my passage under the notion of my being a young acquaintance of his that had got a naughty girl with child whose friends would compel me to marry her, and therefore I could not appear or come away publicly.

Okay, so they concoct this story that he had knocked up a girl and so he's got to get away. And so this New York captain thinks they're not breaking any laws. And so he sneaks away Benjamin Franklin. So he goes first to New York where he meets with a printer. The printer is really impressed with him and can tell he's a smart kid.

And he says, I don't have a job for you, but go talk to my son in Philadelphia. He's just set up a press and he needs a junior printer. And so Franklin continues his journey to Philadelphia.  I'll read from Franklin's autobiography about his arrival for the first time in Philadelphia. It's one of the great scenes in American history.

So here's what he says. I have been the more particular in this description of my journey and shall be so of my first entry into that city that you may, in your mind, compare such unlikely beginnings with the figure I have since made there. I was in my working dress, my best clothes being to come round by sea.

I was dirty from my journey, my pockets were stuffed out with shirts and stockings, and I knew no soul nor where to look for lodging. I was fatigued with traveling, rowing, and want of rest. I was very hungry, and my whole stock of cash consisted of a Dutch dollar and about a shilling in copper. The latter I gave the people of the boat for my passage, who at first refused it on account of my rowing, but I insisted on their taking it.

A man being sometimes more generous when he has but a little money.  A man being sometimes more generous when he has but little money than when he has plenty, perhaps through fear of being thought to have but little.  So, he pays the people who helped get him there, and then with the little other money he has, he buys three rolls of bread, and walks down the streets of Philadelphia with these rolls, and, and walks down the streets of Philadelphia with these rolls, and he's looking around, and he sees that everyone, is walking in the same direction.

So he just starts walking with the crowd. And then here's what happened next.  And then here's what happened next. He says, I joined them and thereby was led into the great meeting house of the Quakers near the market. I sat down among them and after looking around a while and hearing nothing said being very drowsy,

I joined them and thereby was led into the great meeting house of the Quakers near the market. I sat down among them and after looking around a while and hearing nothing said.  Being very drowsy through labor and want of rest the preceding night I fell fast asleep and continue and continue so till the meeting broke up when one was kind enough to rouse me This was therefore the first house I was in or slept in in Philadelphia  Okay.  Okay.

So again, like very Mark Twain, right? Just shows up in the city. Doesn't know what to do is this kind of charmed young boy who's feckless, but everything kind of works out for him that he just follows the crowd ends up in a Quaker church. The Quakers have these funny meetings that are, you know, they're led by the spirit.

So there's no official minister. Anyone can get up to speak. Which means for long times, um, just no one will speak. And so he doesn't know what's going on. He's never seen a Quaker meeting. Just goes into this meeting house. No one's talking. So he just falls asleep on a bench until someone wakes him up.

And that's the first rest he has in the city of Philadelphia.  Uh, he was not a Quaker himself, obviously. Um, his family was partial to Presbyterianism. As mentioned, he settled on deism quite early. He was a skeptic. He actually came into it by reading an anti deist pamphlet. That responded point by point to deist arguments.

But when he read this pamphlet, he found the deist arguments more convincing than the rebuttals. And so deism is the belief in a distant and impersonal God who created the universe and put it into motion, but who does not interfere in the affairs of men. Here's how Franklin described his religious beliefs.

He said, I never was without some religious principles. I never doubted for instance, the existence of the deity that he made the world and governed it by his providence. That the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man, that our souls, that our souls are immortal and that all crime will be punished and virtue rewarded either here or hereafter.

Okay. And actually these kind of amorphous beliefs would be very advantageous to them. In Philadelphia, because he made friends with everyone and he supported everyone. You know, he would donate money later in life to churches of all kinds, um, including all sorts of Christian denominations, Quakers, Presbyterians, Baptists, and even to, um, the Jewish community there as well for a synagogue.

And so, being Benjamin Franklin, of course, he quickly lands on his feet, he gets a job in the printing business, and he quickly makes friends. He says, I began now to have some acquaintance among the young people of the town that were lovers of reading, with whom I spent my evenings very pleasantly. And gaining money by my industry and frugality.

I lived very agreeably.

Okay. So he's, he's a very charming, very charismatic person. And so he immediately starts making friends. And one of the friendships, one of the acquaintances he makes is the governor of Pennsylvania, his name's William Keith and Keith meets Franklin and immediately says, Hey, like, I like you, you're a smart kid.

And Philadelphia needs a high quality newspaper. Why don't you start one? And I'll support you.  And Franklin says, whoa, you know, the governor of Pennsylvania needs me. I'll do it. I'll be your top guy, governor Keith. So the first thing that he needs to do. You know, in talking with Keith, he says, you need to go to London and get some equipment, get a printing press and  get a printing press and type and all that.

So, uh, Governor Keith agrees to give Franklin a letter of credit to buy all this stuff in London.  And when Franklin asks for the letter of credit, he says, don't worry, I'll get it to you later. And he keeps blowing him off until finally it's the day he's supposed to leave for London. And Benjamin Franklin goes to Governor Keith and says, Hey, Like, I really need that letter of credit.

And he says, once again, oh yeah, no problem. Just go ahead, get on the ship, and I'll send the letter. Someone will catch up with it, and it'll be on board. Check the mail on board, and there you'll find your letter of credit.  So Franklin hops on board a boat bound for London. And after a few days at sea, he tells the crew that he needs to see the mail.

Explains the situation. And they laugh at him, they say, You can check the mail, but I guarantee you, there's no letter , And his friend tells him what's going on, quoting again from the autobiography, he says, He let me in to Keith's character, told me there was not the least probability that he had written any letters for me.

That no one who knew him had the smallest dependence on him. And he laughed at the notion of the governor's giving me a letter of credit, having, as he said, no credit to give. On my expressing some concern about what I should do, he advised me to endeavor getting some employment in the way of my business.

Among the printers here, said he, you will improve yourself. And when you return to America, you will set up to greater advantage.

So in the middle of, of this,  so, so in the middle of this journey to London, he's like, All right,  new plan, I guess. Like, I guess I'll get a job when I show up in London. Uh, he doesn't have money for a return voyage, so that's the plan.  Um, on the voyage to London, some other interesting things happened. One is that  he had become something of a vegetarian, um, in part for moral reasons, but in part to save money so that he could buy more books.

And, um, yeah. And he comments on his kind of breaking down and no longer being vegetarian on this journey. Here's what he writes, he said, But I had formerly been a great lover of fish, and when this came hot out of the frying pan, it smelt admirably well. I balanced some time between principle and inclination, till I recollected that, when the fish were opened, I saw smaller fish taken out of their stomachs.

Then thought I, if you eat one another, I don't see why I shouldn't eat you.  So, uh, So I dined upon cod very heartily and continued to eat with other people, returning only now and then occasionally to a vegetable diet. And then Franklin is very self aware of the sort of self serving nature of this decision.

He says, So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.

Okay, so Franklin would flirt with vegetarianism. For the rest of his life, but, um, was never very consistent with it. So great. Franklin arrives. He's now in London with no contacts. So great. Franklin arrives. He's now in London with no contacts, no money to complete his mission. He's just there to find a job.

He does the same thing he did in Philadelphia. He quickly is able to find a job at a printing press and he quickly makes friends, especially in literary circles.

As an employee, he's very industrious. He quickly rises, and one way he does that is that everyone in the printing business just guzzles beer. So they'll have a couple of pints of beer before lunch, and then a few more after. And they think that this is nutritious, and is the way to go, and and he only drinks water, which they think is odd.

And so the fact that everyone else is going around mildly drunk all the time, And he's clear headed, allows him to A, like be more physically vigorous because he has wits about him and make better decisions and be smarter. And so it makes him a very valuable employee.

He's also just a strong person. Uh, part of that is he was naturally robust. And then the other thing is he was very physically active. You know, a lot of these people grew up in the slums of London,  uh, in, in,  in those very cramped, crowded conditions, poorly nourished, whereas he had grown up.  With fresh air, he was swimming, running, was fed well.

So he's robust, and that's a big part of what he's doing. Like, this is not just a email job like I have. Like, it is a physical job. He's carrying around the type. He has to press things and carry things and lift things. So his strength is another big asset to him in this employment. So he's in London for about a year and a half.

before someone finally offers him a loan to go back to Philadelphia. So he goes back to the U. S., and it's sort of an 18 month misadventure in London, but it does serve him well because he has the opportunity to learn printing. From the heart of the industry, right? The world's best newspapers were in London.

And so it's like doing an internship at Apple or Facebook. This is a world class printer. And now he knows what a world class operation should look like.  So Franklin is coming home with some experience and a feather in his cap. He summarizes it.  He summarizes this stint in London thusly in his biography, he says, Thus I spent about eighteen months in London.

Most part of the time I worked hard at my business, and spent but little upon myself except in seeing plays and in books. 📍

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 Okay, so on his journey from London to Philadelphia, and especially once he gets back, uh, this is the time when Benjamin Franklin starts to get serious about self improvement. Becomes a self improver, uh, in his autobiography, he writes, it was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection.

I wish to live without committing any fault at any time. I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew or thought I knew what was right or wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other,

okay, so like a, a very bold project, right? To avoid at moral perfection, to always make the right choice. Okay, so he writes out 13 virtues. He kind of goes through the various creeds, the various sects, the various religions.

And he says, basically all of them arrive at  these 13 virtues. So this is what I need to perfect in order to always make the right decision. So here they are. And he gives a brief definition of each of the 13 virtues. Number one,

number one, temperance,

number one, temperance.  Number one, temperance. Eat not to dullness, drink not to elevation. Number two, silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation.  Number three, order. Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time. Number four, resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought.

without fail what you resolve. Number five, frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself, i. e. waste nothing. Number six, industry. Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions. Number seven, sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit. Think innocently, think innocently and justly, and if you speak, speak accordingly.

Number eight, justice. Wrong none by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty. Number nine, moderation. Avoid extremes. Forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve. Number ten, cleanliness. Tolerate known cleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation. Number eleven, tranquility.

Be not disturbed at trifles or at accidents common or unavoidable. Number 12.  Number 12, chastity, rarely use venery, but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation. And then number 13, humility. He says, simply imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Okay. So 13 different virtues. How are you going to accomplish all of that at once? And he considered that, here's what he said, quote, My intention being to acquire the habitude of all these virtues, I judged it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time, and why I should be master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on, till I should have gone through the thirteen.

And as the previous acquisition of some might facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I arranged them with that view, as they stated above. As they stand above.

Okay, so he's going to tackle them one at a time, And kind of build as he goes. And he makes a notebook to help him with this. Here's how he makes the notebook. He says, quote, I made a little book in which I allotted a page for each of the virtues. I ruled each page with red ink so as to have seven columns, one for each day of the week, making each column with a letter for the day.

I crossed these columns with 13 red lines, marking the beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the virtues, on which line, and in its proper column, I might mark, by a little black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been committed respecting that virtue upon that day.  I determined to give a week's strict attention to each of the virtues successively.

Thus, in the first week, my great guard was to avoid every,

my great guard was to avoid every offense against temperance, leaving the other virtues to their ordinary chance, only by, only marking every evening the faults of the day,  only marking every evening the faults of the day.  Thus, in the first week, I could keep my first line, marked T, clear of spots. I suppose the habit of that virtue so much strengthened and its opposite weakened, that I might venture extending my attention to include the next and the following week keep both lines clear of spots.

Okay, so in other words, for one week, he's just focused on temperance. The next week, considering, you know, I've mastered temperance, been temperate for seven days, the next week he's primarily focused on silence, okay? The keeping temperance. Going the third week. Okay. I've mastered temperance and silence.

Now I'm focused on order and so on and so forth until by the 13th week, he has mastered  13 virtues, okay. 13 weeks to moral perfection. Would you look at that?

Okay, to give you the whole process, because, um, I imagine some of you, like myself, will be interested in trying to copy this. He also gave a prayer every morning. He had two variations of it that he used daily to help him focus on these virtues. So the first prayer is this, O powerful goodness, bountiful father, Merciful guide.

Increase in me that wisdom which discovers my truest interest. Strengthen my resolutions to perform what that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other children as the only return in my power for thy continual favors to me.  All right, and then the other one. Father of light and life, thou good supreme, O teach me what is good.

Teach me thyself. Save me from folly, vanity, and vice, from every low pursuit. And fill my soul with knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure, sacred, substantial, never fading bliss.

Okay, and then the last element of this moral perfection is this schedule that he creates. So, he wrote it out, and here it is. From 5am to 8am, rise, wash, and address powerful goodness. Okay, he always has all these euphemisms for God, because he didn't really believe in, like, the Christian God, per se  so you heard some of those in his prayer, right here. He's calling it powerful goodness. Okay. So rise, wash and address powerful goodness, contrive day's business and take the resolution of the day, prosecute the present study and breakfast. Okay. So kind of rise and shine, plan out the day,  um, and, and do any studies necessary from 5 AM to 8 AM.

Okay, from 8 a. m. to 12 p. m., work. From 12 p. m. to 2 p. m., read or overlook my accounts and dine.  And then from 2 p. m. to 6 p. m., work again. Then from 6 p. m. to 10 p. m., put things in their places, supper, music or diversion or conversation, examination of the day. Okay, so that's kind of the last thing he does. Um, is  And something, so that's the last thing he does is exam.

And how did the day go mark his little virtues. And then from 10 PM to 5 AM, he has sleep.

Now take all this with a giant grain of salt because even Benjamin Franklin admits that he actually didn't keep the schedule that much ended up being too constraining on him and also, you know, Uh, he says my scheme of order gave me the most trouble. And I found that though it might be practical where a man's business was such as to leave him the disposition of his own time, that of a journeyman printer, for instance, it was not possible to be exactly observed by a master who must mix with the world and often receive people of business at their own hours.

All right. So, uh, like  you've probably done this before you schedule out your whole day. And then someone's like, Hey, I need to meet at 2 PM. Ah, there goes my whole schedule. So.  You know, I think it was probably a good exercise to try at, um, but he, he couldn't keep that consistent of a schedule. And he admits that.

And also like the whole endeavor  is a little bit foolhardy, which again, he admits, he says, but on the whole, though, I never arrived at the perfection. I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell fall, but fell far short of it. Yet I was by the endeavor, a better and happier man than I otherwise should have been.

If I had not attempted it. As those who aim at perfect writing by imitating the engraved copies, though they never reach the wished for excellence of those copies, their hand is mended by the endeavor, and is tolerable while it continues fair and legible.

Okay, at the time that he is trying self improvement, he's also trying mutual improvement. So he gets together this group that he calls the junto. I actually, I was trying to look it up how they pronounced it. I think Franklin pronounced it the yunto or the junto. Anyway,  I'll call it the junto, um, J U N T O.

So he gets this together, this junto, which is a bunch of young guys like himself who are ambitious, who are curious, and who are going places. And, uh, he tells us exactly how he set it up. He says,

the rules that I drew up required that every member in his turn should produce one or more queries on any point of morals, politics, or natural philosophy to be discussed by the company, and once in three months produce and read an essay of his own writing on any subject he pleased. Our debates were to be under the direction of a president and to be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth.

Without fondness for dispute or desire of victory and to prevent warmth all expressions of positiveness in opinions or direct Contradiction were after some time made contraband and prohibited under small pecuniary penalties

Okay, so it's basically like hey, this isn't a debating club. It's not about sports Like who's getting, scoring the most points, you know, who's looking the best. It's about actual inquiry and improvement. And so, uh, we try not to agree with each other too much Or criticize like we're just trying to get at the truth.

And this Junto lasts for upwards of 40 years. So it's really successful. And it actually inspires some imitation groups and some other clubs form. But I talked last episode about the power of peer groups. I think it is probably the most important lesson of this episode.

There is something incredibly powerful about meeting as a group. With a deliberate focus on improvement or progress.

He also has wider plans for this Junto. He wants to turn it into a religion. He calls it a sect. Uh, maybe a better comparison is a fraternal order. And I actually get asked all the time about founding a religion. And that's because if you're interested in a podcast called how to take over the world, you're interested in power and influence, right?

And it's hard to ignore that some of the most influential people in history have been religious founders. So Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha,  you know, St. Paul, Martin Luther,

all of these people had immense impact.

And Benjamin Franklin never executed on his plan to turn his principles and the Junto into a religion. But he says he thinks it's a good plan and it could work. So if you want to try it. You know, this is something you're interested in. It's kind of a crazy idea, but here's the plan. It revolves around his 13 virtues.

Uh, that's kind of the heart of his doctrine. And here's what he says about it.  My ideas at the time were, that the sect should be begun and spread at first among young and single men only. That each person to be initiated should not only declare his assent to such creed, but should have exercised himself with a 13 weeks examination and practice of the virtues.

As in the before mentioned model that the existence of such a society should be kept a secret till it was become considerable. To prevent solicitations for the admission of improper persons, but that the members should each of them search among his acquaintance for ingenious, well disposed youths, to whom, with prudent caution, the scheme should be gradually communicated, that the members should engage to afford their advice, assistance, and support to each other in promoting one another's interests, business, and advancement in life, that for distinction, we should be called the society of the free and easy.

And then he goes on to say that he's of the opinion that it was a practicable scheme and might have been very useful, but that he didn't have the time to carry it out. Okay, so, I think it's interesting, again, most people listening are not going to try and start a religion, hopefully, ,

but I think there's some interesting principles there, especially around the idea of secrecy, and how actually, like, Keeping something exclusive can make it grow faster than something that you're shouting from the rooftops and actively trying to advertise. Uh, so that's one thing that I took away from his, his religion building ideas.

Okay. So this is kind of all how Benjamin Franklin is trying to improve himself and others in 17, in 1729, he starts his own newspaper and printing shop. His newspaper quickly becomes the best paper in Philadelphia. He's not the sole writer, but he's the best writer and the most prolific for the newspaper.

Sometimes he writes under his own name, more often he writes under these various pen names that he contrives. So, uh, you know, previously he had silence do good, but he's got all these other, this big cast of whimsical, funny characters into whose mouths he can put incisive and often irreverent thoughts.

Hey, the, the,  and look like he was not very precious about his anonymity. Like he didn't try very hard to conceal his identity. It was more of a,

it was more of like a literary technique than it was an actual effort to protect his identity.

So that's 1729. He starts his newspaper and printing shop. 1730, he gets married. I think his recounting of his marriage gives a really good peek at what it was like. He says, I took her to wife September 1st, 1730. She proved a good and faithful helpmate, assisted me much by attending the shop. We drove together and have ever mutually endeavored to make each other happy.

Okay. So like that is what it was like. It was a happy, sensible, practical marriage. Although as you might have gotten from that passage,  He was not a particularly passionate marriage.

Um, things are going well for him. Uh, when things really turned for him is in 1732, he publishes his first edition of Poor Richard's Almanac. So an almanac is a listing. So an almanac is a useful listing. So an almanac is a listing of useful information for farmers. It has, uh, you can turn through all the dates in a year and has information on sunrise, sunset, average temperatures, moon phases, precipitation, like all the information.

And  of course, Franklin invents a fake persona to be the supposed publisher of this almanac, a man named Richard Saunders. So the almanac does two things differently than other almanacs. The first is that it is very funny. He writes this foreword from Richard Saunders every year. And in this foreword, he carries on a fake feud with a man who writes into him.

So Richard predicts the  So in the first edition, Richard predicts the death of Richard Saunders. of a man named Titan Leeds. This is not a real person, this is just another character in Benjamin Franklin's mind. And so the next year, Titan Leeds writes in with a nasty letter saying that Richard is a fraud.

That he had falsely predicted his death and says, I'm still alive.  And Franklin has Richard respond that Titan Leeds must indeed be dead. And that this man is a fraud who's writing in because he's so mean and his writing is so bad that quote, Titan leads when living would never have used me. So,  okay. So like, it's, it's so great because it is genuinely hysterical comedy combined with this like useful everyday thing that people have to read anyway.

And the comedy, when you read through this stuff, it genuinely holds up two and a half centuries later. Franklin, he's such a remarkable writer. He also puts into the almanac,  he also puts into the almanac a number of funny and inspirational quotes, pithy wisdom. A lot of it is well known now to the point of cliché.

And much of it was cliché at the time. So a lot of these old saying, So a lot of these quotes were not original to Benjamin Franklin. They were old sayings that had been around for years. But what Franklin was very good at was reworking them to make them even more memorable. So the most famous is probably, uh, one you've heard.

It's early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. You've also got, um, three may keep a secret if two of them are dead. Another lost time is never found again. Love your enemies for they tell you your faults and fish and visitors.  And then an, and also fish and visitors stink in three days.

Okay. So it's just some of those are legitimately supposed to be helpful pieces of advice. Some are just kind of funny observations, but he scatters these throughout the Almanac and they're very popular.

So before the publication of this, you know, his publishing business had been doing well. It was increasingly profitable. Um, he had a lot of contracts publishing for others. His newspaper was doing well, but poor Richard's almanac makes him rich. He sells over 10, 000 copies per year. It's a huge phenomenon.

It's the first great literary success in American history. And so,

and so it makes Benjamin Franklin rich, like genuinely rich, like not one of the richest people in America rich, but like, I don't ever have to work again if I don't want to rich.

Around this same time, as he's becoming wealthy, he gets more involved in civic affairs. Um, so he creates the first subscription library in the United States. One interesting thing about that is he goes around and he says, Hey, I want to start a subscription library, you know, so that we all have this access to all these great books, it's going to be great, more people are gonna get more access to higher levels of literature, it's going to raise the general level of education in the city.

It's going to be great for all of us. And people aren't really donating. So he changes his approach and here's what he says about that. He says the objections and reluctances I met with in soliciting the subscriptions made me soon feel the impropriety of presenting oneself as the prosperer, feel the impropriety of presenting oneself as the proposer of any useful project that might be supposed to raise one's reputation in the smallest degree above that of one's neighbors.

When one has need of their assistance to accomplish that project, I therefore put myself as much as I could out of sight and stated it is a. and stated it as a scheme of a number of friends who had requested me to go out and propose it to such as they thought lovers of reading. In this way, my affair went on more smoothly, and I ever after practiced it on such occasions, and for my frequent successes can heartily recommend it.

The present little sacrifice of your vanity will afterwards be amply repaid.

Okay. So I just think that's such a smart approach, right? He's going around people saying, Hey, I want to start a subscription library. And people are kind of like, Ooh,  I just rubs people the wrong way of like, Oh, that's a good idea. But man, it's gonna make Ben Franklin look so good. And they get a little jealous.

Whereas when he starts going around saying, Hey, so a few of us were thinking, and then he pitches it, people are like, Oh, great. I want to buy in. It creates a sense of momentum. Right. That more people are bought into it than just one. And it creates a sense that, Oh, this is raising all of us rather than just raising you whose idea it is.

And he uses this a number of times. Okay. So in the creation of the first subscription library in the U S but he also founds the university of Philadelphia.   But he also founds the University of Pennsylvania, okay, Ivy League school, one of the great universities in the United States.

He founds the first hospital in Philadelphia, the first, um, uh, fire brigade, right, System for preventing and putting out fires in Philadelphia. So he uses his approach to start all of these civic projects, which do extremely well and, and outlive him by, by hundreds of years in many circumstances.

Now, so he's embarking on more civic pursuits. He also makes kind of another turn in his life at this point. He realizes, all right, I don't have to work, so I don't want to. So he basically turns over his business to someone else. Um,  so he basically turns over his business to someone else and decides to dedicate his life to science.

You know, he had always been curious, he'd always made useful little observations, he'd been the first American to cast typesets, so he was always a tinkerer, but now he wants to dedicate a significant part of his life to scientific inquiry and inventing. 📍    📍  📍  Okay, but first, this episode is brought to you by ExpressVPN.

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 📍 Okay, so as Franklin tinkers and invents, he reminds me a lot of Leonardo da Vinci. Both were obsessed with following their curiosity.  And, and there are a lot of other similarities to, I mean, they were both great artists, you know, Da Vinci as a painter and Franklin as a writer. Both had eccentric religious views, both loved swimming and the water.

Both were great doodlers who like to sketch out geometric, who like to sketch out geometric patterns. Both of them made a number of eclectic scientific discoveries based on curiosity rather than careful academic analysis. Both of them flirted with vegetarianism in their life. Like it's weird. They were kind of the same type of person.

And so Franklin made discoveries in much the same way that da Vinci did, which was not this very sort of academic, careful analysis, but rather just through these interesting observations, following his curiosity, just notices all this stuff. And then he looks into it and makes these cool discoveries. So he makes breakthroughs in the spread of disease, in ocean currents, in the direction of Northeastern storms, lead poisoning.

He developed the first catheter. Uh, he does some discoveries in heat and refrigeration, like just a bunch of random stuff,  but his two most important contributions were first the Franklin stove, which was a more efficient way to heat homes. And then by far his most important discoveries were around lightning and electricity.

And so his inquiries into electricity start because he sees some electrical demonstrations. And these are basically like carnival sideshows, right? The men doing them are scientifically minded. Yes. But the approach is not.

So the men doing them are scientifically minded. Yes, but the approach is not like,  what can we learn from this? It's more of like, isn't this cool? Look what I can do with these sparks and these electrical currents and look at this. Okay. And that is what gets Franklin interested. And he always believed that following your curiosity was the best approach for scientific discovery.

Someone asked him once about, it was a different field, I think it was hot air balloons. And, uh, they say, what's the use of any of this? And here's how Franklin responded. He said, What is the use of a newborn baby? It does not seem to me a good reason to decline prosecuting a new experiment, which apparently increases the power of man over matter, until we can see to what use that power may be applied.

When we have learned to manage it, we may hope sometime or other to find uses for it, as men have done for magnetism and electricity, of which the first experiments were mere matters of amusement.

Okay, so I think that's really interesting, right? Like,  who cares what use it's going to be? I'm following my curiosity, it's amusing, I like it, and guess what,  it's all gonna end up important in the end. I'm sure that we will find practical uses for it eventually.  So he's experimenting with electricity, and he notices some similarities between electricity and lightning.

And he suggested that they might be one in the same, that lightning might be made out of electricity. Now, he was not the first person to notice these similarities, but he was the first person to confirm it through experimentation.

So he does a number of experiments, the most famous of which is he flies a kite with a key to attract lightning strikes. It kind of shows, okay, like lightning is attracted to metal, then maybe it's like electricity. So he also develops the lightning rod. Which is what it sounds like, right? It's a metal rod that attracts lightning and discharges it into the ground So that a house will not be struck and catch on fire

And I think the lightning rod is today probably one of the most underrated inventions of all time So to us living in 2024,  lightning is so mundane It's so non threatening that it's difficult to put yourself He had the mindset of someone for whom every lightning storm was a very serious threat. Many people would die every year from lightning strikes, and much more dangerous than the lightning itself were the fires that they would cause.

The Walter Isaacson biography has a statistic that in the mid 1700s in Germany alone, More than 10 churches per year were burned down from lightning strikes.  And it was often churches that were struck because they were the tallest building in the town and they had a giant metal bell, right? A church bell at the top.

And so a number of these fires would spread and burn down entire towns and cities.

And like, this was a permanent feature of life.  Lightning strike. Lightning storm comes, you huddle up indoors and hope for the best, but like, it might hit your house and set the whole thing on fire and kill you and your family. And even if it doesn't hit your house, it might catch the entire town on fire and burn down your entire town.

People lived in constant fear of this. Happened all the time.

So when Benjamin Franklin invents the lightning rod,  it saves thousands of lives per year, and makes Franklin a huge celebrity all over the United States and the entire world.

And nowhere was this more true than in France. So the French, I talked about this on the Wright Brothers episode, they're very good at taking the innovations of others and championing them, celebrating them, and then cultivating and improving on them. And that is what happens here. French scientists reproduce Franklin's results, often going even further and making more discoveries about lightning and electricity.

And the French people, including the French king, are ecstatic. And really love and celebrate Benjamin Franklin. One of the Franklin's friends from London reported to him that the king had issued an order, quote,  One of Franklin's friends from London reported to him that the king had issued an order, saying, quote, The Grand Monarch of France strictly commands that his scientists convey compliments in an express manner to Mr.

Franklin of Philadelphia for the useful discoveries in electricity and application of the pointed rods to prevent the terrible effects of thunderstorms.  Okay, back in the United States, Harvard and Yale give him honorary degrees in 1753. The London Royal Society makes him the first person outside of Britain to receive the prestigious Gold Copley Medal.

Okay, and the thing most Okay, and the thing people are most excited about is the Okay, and the thing that people are most excited about is, of course, the lightning rod. And he was primarily a practical scientist. He was more focused on inventions and experimentation than theory. And yet, his studies did advance the theory of electricity significantly.

As one scientist put it, he found electricity a curiosity and left it a science. From the Walter Isaacson biography, quote, he also came up with the distinction between insulators and conductors, the idea of electrical grounding, and the concepts of capacitors and batteries. And in fact, a lot of the terminology that we use around electricity, things like positive and negative charges.

were invented by Benjamin Franklin. So again, like I said, was he a Newton or a Galileo or a Copernicus? No, but I would say that he still One of the great scientists of history.

All right. So let's transition a little bit and talk about his political life. I'm treating them separately, but it's not like he was a scientist and then became a politician. A lot of this stuff was happening simultaneously, but it just made sense to talk about them separately. So with the success of his paper and the success of poor Richard's almanac, and then the success of his scientific discoveries, he rises up the ranks of political life until he eventually becomes Pennsylvania's leading man, and then in the American colonies, basically the preeminent man in, in all of the American colonies.

He gets elected to Pennsylvania's legislature where he becomes an extremely influential voice. , and he is a voice in favor of democracy of the people, but he's moderate. Okay. He has some more right wing tendencies, such as he's opposed to welfare because he thinks it encourages dependency, but overall he favors middle class interests and democratic government.

So in this kind of, uh, democratic stance, he opposes a group called the proprietors. Uh, these are the people who support the pens. So it's called Pennsylvania and that is named after a specific family and they owned most of Pennsylvania as their personal property.

They're mostly absentee landlords who lived in England, who would often live and rule  who lived in England. And they had been granted Pennsylvania as a Royal charter. Uh, a few generations back. And the Penns and Franklin disagreed about a lot, but the big thing is that even though the Penns were the wealthiest family in Pennsylvania, and they owned all this land, they were never taxed.

They paid zero taxes. Every bill passing a new tax would exempt the Penn estates, which understandably drove people like Franklin crazy.  So all the people on his side, and that's the majority in the Pennsylvania legislature, they're upset about this. They're upset about this. And so eventually Benjamin Franklin is sent to London as an agent on behalf of the legislature of Pennsylvania to lobby, to represent some of their grievances to the government in London.

And so he ends up living in London for five years from 1757  to 1762.  So this is when he is 49 until he's about 54. He only comes home briefly in 1762 until he goes back to England as an agent once again in 1765. He's once again a representative of Pennsylvania, but while there, um, that's when things are starting to kind of heat up with independence back in the colonies.

And so more and more states vote him power to be their representative as well until he's basically representing the United States. All the colonies as representative.

And so as this breakdown is happening, Franklin is the one who represents to the British government, why their policies are so grievous to the Americans.

One mistake he does make though, is he's kind of a moderate, right? So when the stamp act is passed, Benjamin Franklin takes a look at it. And he's like, actually. That's not unreasonable.  Um, like your taxes are too high, but stamp act, it's all right.  And he misreads the situation. He doesn't know that back home in the colonies in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, people are furious about the stamp act.

And so he puts forward one of his friends to be the tax collector. Of the Stamp Act, and this gets people really upset. So people back in the colonies are like, uh, well hang on a second.  You know, we, uh, appointed you to be our representative to, to the United Kingdom, to Great Britain. And you're saying the stamp Act is okay, and people view him as a traitor. They get really mad, and in fact, there's a big riot. in Philadelphia, and it becomes pretty dangerous for Franklin's family.

Listen to this account from Isaacson. He says, quote,

Deborah, that's Franklin's wife, dispatched their daughter to New Jersey for safety. But ever the homebound stalwart, she refused to flee. Her cousin, Josiah Davenport, arrived with more than 20 friends to help defend her.

Her account of that night, while harrowing is also a testament to her strength, she described it in a letter to her husband toward night. I said he cousin Davenport should fetch a gun or two as we had none. I sent to ask my brother to come and bring his gun. Also, we made one room, the magazine. I ordered some sort of defense upstairs as I could manage myself.

I said, I was very sure you had done nothing to hurt anybody nor had not given any offense to any person at all. Nor would I be made uneasy by anybody, nor would I stir.  Franklin's house and his wife were saved when a group of supporters, dubbed the White Oak Boys, gathered a force to confront them up.

If Franklin's house was destroyed, they declared, so too would the beat. If Franklin's house was destroyed, they declared, so too would be the homes of anyone involved. Finally, the mob dispersed. I honor much the spirit and courage you showed, he wrote Deborah after hearing of her ordeal. The woman deserves a good house that is determined to defend it.

Okay, so that gives you an idea of how hard people have turned on Benjamin Franklin. There are literally mobs outside his house in Philadelphia threatening to burn the place down, even with his wife inside of it. And they're only dispersed by, like, a counter mob that's on his side. So this goes on actually for a while, that he's very unpopular.

Uh, it kind of turns around. When he is called to testify in front of parliament about the stamp act. And he,  and he gives a very popular speech  and he defends colonial interests. He explains why they don't like the stamp act, why it's unfair and why it's unpopular.

During the questioning, he answered it during the questioning. He answers very prophetically, um, in a certain time, here's what it says. Uh, the questioner says, would America submit to a compromise? 'No, said Franklin. 'It was a matter of principle. 'So only military force could compel them to pay the Stamp Act?

'It was a matter of principle. 'So only military force could compel them to pay the Stamp Tax? 'I do not see how a military force could be applied to that purpose, Franklin answered. Questioned. 'Why may it not?  Franklin. 'Suppose a military force is sent into America.

'They will find nobody in arms. 'What are they then to do? They cannot force a man to take stamps who chooses to do without them. They will not find a rebellion. They may indeed make one. So this testimony, um,  So this testimony changes the mind of Parliament. I think in the American perspective we only hear about, uh, the British as the, Tyrants who are holding us down.

Um, actually, as you read these stories, like  frankly, British parliament was pretty reasonable through much of the process. Anyway, um, the stamp acts are repealed. And so Franklin becomes an even bigger celebrity back home. All of that drama, all that hatred towards him gets turned around. And, uh, and he's the hero once again,

although of course the British, they keep pushing it. Right. They just want to assert that, Hey, we have the authority here.  And one of the things that Franklin had said was, look, we're willing to submit to external taxes.

We acknowledge your authority over import duties and things like that. It's just internal taxation that we have this problem with. And so Townsend decides to put, push him on it. And so they pass some acts called the Townsend acts that impose these really heavy external duties. Like, Oh, okay. We can impose external taxes.

Here we go. And of course they're, they're very heavy external taxes. And so people get upset once again and things devolve. And in 1775, it's becoming clear that war is probably going to happen. And so Franklin can't do much more as a, as a representative there, and he returns home.

When he comes home, he's promptly elected a Pennsylvania delegate to the Continental Congress, where he was elected the Postmaster General of the Colonies and helped to edit the Declaration of Independence.   His greatest contribution to the Declaration of Independence, which is totally Jefferson's document, Franklin is just one of a few people  edits,  but his greatest edit was Jefferson had written, we hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable.

And Franklin changes it to, we hold these truths to be self evident. He made another, he made a number of other very small edits as well. Uh, mostly kind of grammatical edits,  but he is the elder statesman of the continental Congress. It was primarily a body made up of young men, but he, uh,  it's primarily a body of young men, right?

Young, ambitious men. But he and George Washington did a lot to bring respectability and and steadiness because George Washington was middle aged and respectable and he was older and respectable. 📍

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I love Chris.  To give you an idea of who he is, I told him I was thinking about getting Asana. And he said, Oh, do you want to see my sauna spreadsheet? I was like, okay. And I was not prepared for what was coming. He had put together a list of hundreds of saunas,  anything that was even possible to buy in the United States.

He had profiled in this document and he had their costs, their size, how hot they could get drawbacks advantages. And he was telling me about saunas that weren't even out yet that were coming soon to the market. And that is Chris's personality. When he wants to learn something, he learns. Everything about it.

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He has a great episode on starting a podcast. He actually did it with Tim Ferriss. Um, and I told Tim everything there is to know about podcasting.  So all the hacks is just a really great resource. If you want to upgrade and optimize your life. So check it out. That is all the hacks and you can find it wherever you get your podcasts. 📍    Okay, so he's not serving in the Second Continental Congress long before he's called to carry out, called

Okay, so he's not serving in the Second Continental Congress very long before he is Okay, so he's not serving in the Second Continental Congress very long before he is assigned to carry out a mission that he was uniquely qualified for, to be the American ambassador to France.  Now you have to realize, Benjamin Franklin was the only international celebrity in America.

The only celebrity in America's history. And he was a legitimate star when he gets to France. Uh, people line the streets of Paris just to catch a glimpse of him when he arrives. Everything he does becomes a fad. Uh, he's very smart about the image he projects. He wears relatively plain clothes, and he wears his bifocals and a raccoon skin hat.

He had invented the bifocals, so they were a sign of American intelligence and ingenuity, while the fur cap was a sign of American simplicity. And so it's this brilliant combination that played on Voltaire's ideas about man in the state of nature. Um, it projects,

it projects, uh, this sort of noble, republican, virtuous,  virtuous brilliance of the frontier.  And,  So the French people eat it up. Everything he does, he'll do the littlest things and they become a fad. So like the raccoon skin cap, you know, becomes a big fad in France.

And all of a sudden, all the fashionable people are wearing them around Paris. And he does this over and over. And I don't think people understand how important Franklin missions And I don't think people understand how important Franklin's mission was. Isaacson writes, I think he puts it into good perspective, he says, Into his hands, almost as much as those of Washington and others, had been placed the fate of the revolution.

Isaacson writes, Into his hands, almost as much as those of Washington, had been placed the fate of the revolution. Unless he could secure the support of France, its aid, its recognition, its navy.  I

mean, you have to consider what he ends up pulling off, all right? So, most of you know the story of the Revolutionary War, especially if you've listened to my Washington and Hamilton episodes. But he secures a military alliance with France, who gain basically nothing from the war. Other than embarrassing England.

And, he secures so much money in loans from France that it ends up bankrupting them, and their lack of funds is one of the reasons for the French Revolution. So he gets tons of money and military support with basically no reciprocal obligations.

And then, at the end of the war, he ends up back channeling with England and secures a very favorable peace that, once again, does not a lot for France. So he gets everything as a diplomat.

So how does he do it? What is the secret to his genius as a diplomat? Well, once again, you can't overlook his celebrity. Which he does an excellent job of cultivating through his dress and his conversation, everything. One of the other very clever things that he does is he has a spy in his staff.  And he knows there's a spy, but he doesn't know who it is.

It actually wouldn't be discovered for a hundred years when the British released some secret documents. So, so he had no idea. But rather than becoming paranoid and letting his But rather than becoming paranoid and obsessed of finding out who this spy is, letting it knock him off his game, he uses it to his advantage.

He just operates with the understanding that everything he says to the French is going to be leaked to the British. And so knowing that he's able to play them off each other.

And so, for example, towards the end of the war, when everyone can see that it's probably tending towards independence and peace, he uses French negotiations to pressure the British to hurry to the negotiating table. And that is just so clever to me. Like, okay, I can't ferret out this spy. I'll just use that spy instead to my advantage.

And so I think that is something we're thinking about. If you have an obstacle or disadvantage, maybe try asking yourself, what would it look like if this were an advantage instead, can you use those disadvantages? As advantages rather than obstacles.

Okay. Well, with French support, the war ends, the Americans are victorious. Franklin is able to secure, uh, this very,  Franklin is able to secure this very advantageous piece with both England and France, he actually lingers in France for quite a while. He has built up this salon in this social circle in France that he quite enjoys, but eventually his health was getting so bad he's now in his seventies and he suffered from gout.

He's now in his seventies and he suffered from gout that he decides it's time to come back home. So he goes back home to Philadelphia where he is elected president of Pennsylvania, which was their equivalent of governor. And he's eventually nominated to the constitutional convention to try to help hammer out a new constitution for these new United States.

He was 81 years old. So twice the age of the average member and the oldest member of the convention by 15 years.

So there are two titans that are going to be attending this constitutional Congress. So there are two Titans that are going to be attending this constitutional convention and it's he and Washington. So there's a little controversy around, all right, who's going to preside here. And, uh, Franklin graciously says, I'd like to nominate George Washington.

He actually, he's so sick, he can't make it for the beginning. So he has someone else nominate him in his place, but it avoids any controversy and starts the proceedings off on the right foot that, okay, we're not going to start with bickering. We're going to start on the same page.  Franklin's ideas that he suggests for the constitution are somewhat idiosyncratic.

They're not really considered. His biggest role was not as an idea generator, uh, or as a real statesman who's hammering out what's going to go into the constitution, but his biggest role is as a conciliator. He brings men into his garden at his house, which is not far from where they were meeting, and talks with them in the shade of his trees.

He calms people down and encourages them to compromise. The

biggest controversy of the convention was over whether the new entity would be truly a united nation or a collection of mostly independent states. And Franklin strongly favored a strong central government, a United States, like Washington and Hamilton. And in fact, he wanted a unicameral legislature that only represented the country based on population.

Okay. So that was a very strong version. of a federal government.  Well, the eventual compromise that emerged was,  well, the eventual compromise that emerged was the one that the U. S. has today, with an upper chamber, the Senate, that represents the states equally, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives, that represents the nation based on population.

Now, this wasn't Franklin's idea. The idea for this compromise originated with some representatives from Connecticut, but it was Franklin who pulled everyone together, Convinced them that this was worth compromising on, even though it left everyone a little unsatisfied. And it was ultimately Franklin who made the proposal for the state based Senate and the population based house.

At one point when things were becoming very contentious over this issue, Franklin made a very unexpected move. Here's what Isaacson writes. He says, once again, it was time for Franklin to try to restore equanimity and this time he did. So in an unexpected way, in a speech on June 28th, he suggested that they open each session with a prayer.

With the convention groping as it were in the dark to find political truth. He said, how has it happened that we have not hither two once thought to humbly  with the convention groping as it were in the dark to find political truth? He said, how has it happened that we have not hither two once thought of humbly applying to the father of lights to illuminate our understandings?

Then he added in a passage destined to become famous. The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?  So they actually can't find a chaplain and they don't end up having the prayers, but even calling for it and talking about it kind of slows everything down.

It makes everything seem more human and personal and encourages a spirit of cooperation. While Franklin didn't really.

And it gets everyone in a spirit of compromise.  At the end of the process, the constitution was a total compromise and it did not reflect the exact desired government of anyone. And so a lot of people who were at the constitutional convention were skeptical.  They're like, you know,  they're like, you know, do I really like this thing?

Do I really want to support it? And Franklin gives this last speech that pushes many people over the edge. To vote for it anyway. It's very folksy and wise. He starts out by acknowledging the constitution is far from what he would consider perfect, but then he says, maybe I don't know what perfect is.

Here's what he says. I confess that I do not entirely approve this constitution at present, but sir, I am not sure. I shall never approve it for having lived long. I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information or fuller consideration to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise.

It is, therefore, that the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment and pay more respect to the judgment of others.

Most men, indeed as well as most sects and religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and that wherever others differ from them, it is so far error. Steele, a Protestant, in a dedication, tells the Pope that the only difference between our two churches in their opinions on the certainty of their doctrine

Steele, a Protestant, in a dedication, tells the Pope that the only difference between our two churches in their opinions on the certainty of their doctrine is The Romish church is infallible, and the Church of England is never in the wrong. But, though many private persons think almost as highly of their own infallibility as of that,  as of that of their sect, few express it so naturally as a certain French lady, who, in a little dispute with her sister, said, I don't know how it happened, sister, but I meet with nobody but myself that is always in the right.

In these sentiments, sir, I agree to this constitution with all its faults. If they are such, because I think a general government necessary for us, I doubt too whether any other convention we can obtain may be able to make a better constitution. For, when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views.

From such an assembly, can a perfect production be expected?  It therefore astonishes me, sir, to find the system approaching so near to perfection as it does, and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded like those of the builders of Babel, and that our states are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another's throats.

Thus I consent, sir, to this constitution, because I expect no better. Because I am not sure that it is not the best.  Okay, that is how he ends. I am not sure that it is not the best. It's not exactly the type of line that will get thunderous applause. But that wasn't what he was going for. He was trying to get people to hold their noses and sign the dang thing.

And that's exactly what he got. It was a masterful performance and the final public act of Franklin's life.  As the delegates signed the Constitution, Franklin pointed to the sun carved into the back of George Washington's chair.

As the delegates signed the Constitution, Franklin pointed to the sun carved into the back of George Washington's chair and said, I have, often in the course of this session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at the behind,  the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now, at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.

In his closing years, Franklin continued writing his autobiography. He also became an outspoken abolitionist. We'll talk about this more next episode. But he had owned some slaves earlier in his life. But by this point, he had rejected slavery and was active in anti slavery causes. His  health steadily deteriorated over the next few years, and it soon became clear to him that he wasn't long for this world, which didn't seem to bother him too much.

He was in a lot of pain, and he was ready to go. There's one story I like from the very end of his life that shows his good humor and his peace with the life he had lived. From Isaacson, quote, Only once during that period was he able to rise briefly. And he asked that his bed be made up, so that he could die in a decent manner.

His daughter Sally expressed hope that he was recovering. That he might ha  His daughter Sally expressed hope that he was recovering. that he might live many years longer. He calmly replied, I hope not.  He died on April 17th, 1790. His funeral  He died on April 17th, 1790, and his funeral was attended by more than 20, 000 Philadelphians.

So, I'll get into my full list of takeaways next episode, but for now, let me just say that

So, I'll get into my full list of takeaways next episode, but for now, let me just say that my two big things I'm taking away from this He's that ability to craft yourself through careful planning and diligent work. His system for writing down virtues and then checking them off.

I'll get into my full list of takeaways next episode, but for now let me just say two things. That I am taking away one. The first is that ability to craft yourself through careful planning and diligent work. So his system for writing down virtues and then checking them off one at a time,  I don't know just how effective that is or how reasonable it is.

Although to be honest, I do plan on at least trying it out over the coming weeks, but the idea that you can improve yourself more than that, that you can. Really make yourself, like create yourself along the lines of the virtues that you most admire is one of those ideas that is going to stick with me.

And then also the idea that you have to make room for your curiosity and for fun in your life, for enthusiasm and passion. The most productive people aren't just focused on productivity. Okay. Remember that quote from, from Franklin, what is the use of a newborn baby? It does not seem to me a good reason to decline prosecuting a new experiment, which apparently increases the power of man over matter until we can see to what use that power may be applied.

When we have learned to manage it, we may hope sometime or other to find uses for it as men have done for magnetism and electricity. Okay. So again, like similarly in your life, you don't know everything that's going to be useful to you. Okay. But if you stay curious, then some of those things that you love and you just, then some of those things that you just fall in love with and you're just attracted to are going to be useful to you in ways that you can't predict down the line.

diligent, work hard, and work on yourself, but stay curious and fun loving. That combination is ultimately what allowed Franklin to become the man that he was.  Okay,  uh, the Franklin Guide to Taking Over the World will be coming soon. Until then, thank you for listening to How to Take Over the World. 📍

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