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Course: The Aspen Institute > Unit 2
Lesson 2: Benjamin Franklin- An introduction to Benjamin Franklin
- Benjamin Franklin becomes a writer
- Benjamin Franklin and Poor Richard's Almanac
- Benjamin Franklin the civic leader
- Benjamin Franklin the inventor
- Benjamin Franklin as diplomat
- Takeaways from Benjamin Franklin's life
- Benjamin Franklin
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Benjamin Franklin as diplomat
In this video, Sal and Aspen Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson discuss Benjamin Franklin as a diplomat. Created by Aspen Institute.
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- how many boat trips did franklin take because there was no airplane?(8 votes)
- Ben Franklin crossed the Atlantic Ocean eight times (the first at age 18 and the last at age 79) and spent 27 years of his life overseas.(19 votes)
- What is the stamp act ?I didn't understand properly.(7 votes)
- The Stamp Act was a law that required all colonial residents to pay a stamp tax on virtually every printed paper including legal documents, bills of sale, contracts, wills, advertising, pamphlets, almanacs, and even playing cards and dice. The tax affected every resident especially lawyers who were increasingly in a position of power. The act was passed in May and was scheduled to take effect November 1st, 1765. Many colonists thought the tax was unfair and had almost a year to show their discontent through peaceful and violent protests. according to http://www.john-adams-heritage.com/what-was-the-stamp-act/ simplified it means there was a tax on all paper goods(11 votes)
- Did Benjamin Franklin played any part in French Revolution ? or was he, in any way affected by French Revolution ? considering he was in Paris during revolution(7 votes)
- I am sure he was affected somewhat by the French Revolution, as he had many friends in France, however, I do not think he was majorly invested in the outcome of the revolution. The famous American who was majorly invested was Thomas Paine. He fully supported the revolutionaries and beheading of the royalty, and was disowned by the clearer minded Founding Fathers.(6 votes)
- Whats a parisian(3 votes)
- A Parisian is someone from the city of Paris, the French capital.(7 votes)
- Why didn't the "Americans"(I say "Americans" because they weren't American yet, and they didn't consider themselves British) ask Spain for help since England kept stealing materials from Spain? Why did they ask France for help instead?(4 votes)
- Well, the colonists (the word you're looking for here) did get help from spain.
Check it out: https://www.citelighter.com/history/history/knowledgecards/spain-in-the-american-revolution(3 votes)
- What does taxation without representation means. How did the American colonists adapted this term and why did they adapted this term(1 vote)
- Basically, Britain imposed tax on the colonies, but didn't give the colonies representation in parliament. Britain was making the colonies pay for all kinds of things, because the colonies didn't have any say in them. These taxes (e.g. the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act) were very important in developing the American Revolution. As for the term itself, it originated in the 1750-60s, when the colonies were being taxed so unfairly by Britain. "No taxation without representation" was a sort of rallying cry in the Revolutionary War, for the colonies.
If you want to read more, go here:
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/tax_without_representation.asp
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h640.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_taxation_without_representation(6 votes)
- Did Anybody want to kill Benjamin Franklin(1 vote)
- Benjamin Franklin had enemies, but nothing (that I can find) indicates that he was a target for assassination.(3 votes)
- Who appointed the ambassadors?(2 votes)
- Britain during this time, as he says in the video(1 vote)
- In the 18th century society how did William Franklin, a common man, son of Benjamin who was suffering humiliations, raise up and manage to be well acquainted with the aristocracy to the point of being appointed Royal Governor of New Jersey? Or was Benjamin Franklin much more respected and well off than it sounds in the tape?(2 votes)
- How come Mr.Franklin didn't run for president?(1 vote)
- The answer to your question is actually in the first video of this series, 'An introduction to Benjamin Franklin'. At 0;27, the commentator asks that very question. the reply is that Franklin felt he was too old to be an effective president. I have also read a little bit about Benjamin Franklin, and from what I understand, even though he did not always agree with George Washington, they were friends. And Franklin felt that Washington would be the right man for the job at that time.(2 votes)
Video transcript
Voiceover: So we've talked
about Benjamin Franklin as a public leader, we've talked about him as a businessman, we've
talked about him as an inventor and scientist, now I think the last piece of the Benjamin Franklin puzzle is just him as, for lack of a better word, him as founding father. Voiceover: Yes, and as a
diplomat in particular, 'cause he was America's first diplomat. In about 1757, he becomes
the ambassador, or agent, of the Pennsylvania colony,
to represent Pennsylvania in London, with the
ministers, to try to make sure that the rights of the
assembly, and the people of Pennsylvania, were taken into account. And eventually, off and on over the next 17 or 18 years, he
becomes an agent for a lot of the colonies, and starts
representing the interests of the American colonies in London. Voiceover: And this is
a really important time in American history, because this is when tensions between the U.S.,
between the colonies, and Great Britain are
really coming to a head. You have the French and
Indian War really kind of part of a larger European
war, but that ends in 1763, the British want
the colonies to pay for it... Voiceover: Right, that's
the big deal, which is the British think that the American colonies have to pay because Britain helped protect them in the French and
Indian War, and they just start putting taxes
on the American colonies, and the American colonies
by this point are as sophisticated, and as strong
of an economy, as Britain. They don't feel that they
should be dictated to by the people in London. And they have their own
legislatures in each of the colonies, so they're saying, yeah, we know we have to have taxes, but our legislatures should do the taxes. We don't want taxation
without representation, as became the rallying
cry, and so it was up to Franklin to try to talk
the British Parliament out of things like the
Stamp Act, where every time you bought a piece
of paper or newspaper you had to pay a tax to
London, and to give the power to the colonial legislatures. Voiceover: So he was really,
you know when we read in the history books,
this whole time period of things coming, the
tensions rising, it was really Benjamin Franklin
that was trying to negotiate, communicate,
the anger, really... Voiceover: And he was
very close to a lot of the people in London then, it was part of the Enlightenment, there's a wonderful picture of him there in London, in
which there's Issac Newton looking over his shoulder,
and so he is part of that intellectual class of like Doctor Johnson, and all the people in
London, but unfortunately the government is still
run by a very aristocratic Tory elite, and Franklin
has trouble convincing them to give rights to
the American colonies. Voiceover: And this breaking up, it does kind of pain him, because as you mention, this is the Enlightenment. Benjamin Franklin is a,
kind of a key figure, Voiceover: And he obtained electricity, he was a great scientist, so this is this great man living in a
small house in London, right near the Parliament,
and he's very well respected by all the
intellectuals, but he gets treated very badly by the Parliament. At one point he's called
in front of what's called the Cockpit, which is
a part of Parliament, and he is humiliated,
because they make fun of him for trying to stop the
Parliament from taxing the colonies and that
enrages Benjamin Franklin, and that finally tips
him over to being closer to the side of, we may
have to have a revolution and just break away from England. Voiceover: And that actually leads to family problems, 'cause his son... Voiceover: Yeah, so he
brought his illegitimate son William over with him, and he's very close to William, but William
becomes quite aristocratic, despite the fact, or
maybe because of the fact that he was illegitimate
kid of a middle-class person, he starts hanging around with the dukes and the earls, and he ends up being appointed by the crown,
basically the government and the king, to be the royal governor of New Jersey, so William Franklin becomes a dedicated loyalist, to
the crown of England, just as his father Benjamin
Franklin is becoming a rebel, and siding with those
who want a revolution. Voiceover: And so everything eventually, we know how history went, the 1775, 1776, hostilities begin, 1775
Franklin goes back. Voiceover: Franklin
goes back, he goes back unsuccessful because he had tried to stop the hostilities. He gets back to Philadelphia once again, at Market Street he comes off the boat, and everybody in Philadelphia is kind of wondering, is he loyal
to the British empire and the crown, or has he
truly joined the cause of revolution, and he has
a meeting with his son, who's then the royal
governor of New Jersey, and he tells his son he's gonna become a revolutionary, his
son says I'm gonna stay loyal to the crown, they
basically barely speak to each other again for
the rest of their lives, this is a great break,
and Franklin announces to the people in Philadelphia,
that he is going to join the cause of American independence. And that's when he gets to work with Jefferson and Adams on the Declaration of Independence
in July of 1776. And right after that, in
order to make the Declaration a reality, they realize
we have to get France in on our side of the war. You mentioned that the
French and Indian War, that the British and the
French had been fighting for a century almost, off
and on, so in order for the U. S. to win its
independence in a war against Britain, it would help to
have the support of the French, who are naturally
willing to fight Britain, (chuckling) given any
opportunity, and were already part of a larger global war with Britain. So he becomes ambassador in Paris, in order to get the French in. Now if you look at
those two pictures, it's kind of cool, 'cause
there's Franklin in London, looking like quite a
gentleman in a velvet coat. When he gets to France, he
realizes that the French people have been reading
Jean Jacques Rousseau, maybe once too often,
about all the natural man and the forest, and how
the natural philosopher comes from the back woods. Franklin never lived in
the back woods, (chuckling) he lived in Boston,
Philadelphia, and London his whole life, but when he gets to Paris, he wears a coonskin cap, and sort of a backwoodsman coat, so that he can appear to the French as sort of this wilderness natural man philosopher from the forest, talking about independence and liberty. Voiceover: And that's what
he did, I mean he does eventually return, but
he's in Paris, he does convince the French... Voiceover: to get in on our
side of the war Voiceover:
to get on our side of the war And he spends a significant amount of time there, and becomes... Voiceover: Oh, he becomes a grand old man in Paris, first of all as a diplomat convincing the French
to come in on our side of the war, as a publicist, he makes a printing press in his house near Paris, a place called Passy, and he prints the Declaration of Independence,
and all the great documents coming out of America. Of course he's renowned as a scientist, 'cause the French had
been the first people to do his lightning rod experiments, so they love him in
France, and he's kind of, he has, you know, Deborah Read has died by this point, so even as he's in his 70s, he has two famous girlfriends, mistresses in Paris, and he writes wonderful poetry and bagatelles and stories to them. So he is a great bon vivant in Paris. Voiceover: So he's a bit of a Parisian. Voiceover: Very much of a Parisian, and drinks wonderful amounts of port. John Adams also has to come to Paris at a certain point. John Adams is very much the Puritan. And even though they
had worked together for many years, they didn't
really like each other. And John Adams was appalled at Franklin having two girlfriends,
and getting up late in the morning, and drinking a lot of port and brandy, but it is Franklin who is able to get the French in on our side, and then the triumph in Paris is
called the Treaty of Paris, when the war is winding
down, and Benjamin Franklin is able to negotiate
the treaty with Britain to end the American
Revolution and give the U. S. its independence,
and it ends the war, and Franklin is able to
do it working with the French, sometimes behind
the back of the French, a very wily diplomat,
and at that point they've kicked John Adams out because they know... Voiceover: They didn't like him. Voiceover: Ben Franklin's
the guy who can make this complicated piece happen. Voiceover: And they liked him more. Voiceover: Oh yeah,
(laughing) he was definitely, if you had to choose who are you gonna spend the evening with
in Paris, you'd pick Ben Franklin over John Adams, even though we have to give John
Adams [unintelligible] for being a very, very important patriot. Voiceover: And this is
the big picture, this is the one something that
was surprising to me, is that Benjamin Franklin,
who is one of our larger than life founding
fathers, his role was not to pick up a musket, his role was for the second half of his
life, he was in Europe, he was in London, he
was in Paris, and he was really there to represent
the country and to negotiate with both England, as kind of an adversary, or eventually an adversary, and with Paris, as an ally. Voiceover: And we would
not really have won the Revolution without his diplomacy, because it's the French who send most of the gunpowder we used,
most of the troops used, it's Vergennes, the French
foreign minister who helps send a navy, so that at Yorktown, when George Washington wins the battle, that pretty much ends the Revolution because the French navy is there supporting him. So all of these things work,
and finally, near the end, in 1885, I think, as he's just about to turn 80, he comes back
for the last few years of his life, gets involved in the Constitutional Convention, and becomes a great elder statesman. Voiceover: Fascinating.