WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.379 Welcome to the Deep Dive, where we take your 00:00:02.379 --> 00:00:05.160 complex sources, dismantle the information overload, 00:00:05.500 --> 00:00:08.400 and hand you the key insights you need. Today, 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:11.580 we have a magnificent stack of sources here, 00:00:11.699 --> 00:00:14.199 tracing a life that spanned nearly the entire 00:00:14.199 --> 00:00:16.679 18th century. And we're not just discussing a 00:00:16.679 --> 00:00:18.879 single founding father or, you know, just a famous 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:21.660 inventor. We are diving into a human operating 00:00:21.660 --> 00:00:24.780 system, a man whose life was a relentless pursuit 00:00:24.780 --> 00:00:28.039 of applied knowledge and civic improvement, setting 00:00:28.039 --> 00:00:30.539 the fundamental template for American ingenuity. 00:00:30.969 --> 00:00:33.469 We are talking, of course, about the quintessential 00:00:33.469 --> 00:00:36.289 polymath, the original first American, Benjamin 00:00:36.289 --> 00:00:38.329 Franklin. And the sources, I mean, they contain 00:00:38.329 --> 00:00:41.250 a staggering collection of biographical, scientific, 00:00:41.429 --> 00:00:44.070 political details. It really does feel like the 00:00:44.070 --> 00:00:45.710 accomplishments of three different people were 00:00:45.710 --> 00:00:48.210 packed into one career. That's the central mystery, 00:00:48.310 --> 00:00:50.289 isn't it? Our mission today is to try and figure 00:00:50.289 --> 00:00:53.469 out how. How did Franklin manage to define the 00:00:53.469 --> 00:00:56.469 American ethos and become, well, maybe the most 00:00:56.469 --> 00:00:58.710 accomplished and influential person of his age? 00:00:59.079 --> 00:01:01.939 Right. And we're going to focus on his intellectual 00:01:01.939 --> 00:01:05.079 agility and critically his unyielding commitment 00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:09.280 to immediately applying knowledge for practical 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:11.680 public good. To really get the scope, you have 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:13.219 to look at the documents. I mean, just think 00:01:13.219 --> 00:01:15.599 about the most foundational political texts in 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:18.319 American history. OK, so let's start there. Franklin 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:21.819 holds a status that, well, no other individual 00:01:21.819 --> 00:01:25.739 can claim. He is the only person to sign three 00:01:25.739 --> 00:01:29.120 absolute cornerstones of American history. Not 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:31.319 just any three. The Declaration of Independence. 00:01:31.719 --> 00:01:34.719 The Treaty of Paris in 1783, which formally ended 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:36.900 the war with Great Britain. And the U .S. Constitution. 00:01:37.140 --> 00:01:39.579 It's an unparalleled legacy. He was there at 00:01:39.579 --> 00:01:41.359 the beginning, the middle, and the end of the 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:44.180 founding moment. And his renown wasn't just domestic. 00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:47.739 It was instantaneous and global. We see this 00:01:47.739 --> 00:01:49.959 recognition immediately, especially from Europe. 00:01:50.060 --> 00:01:52.180 Absolutely. There's that famous acclamation from 00:01:52.180 --> 00:01:55.640 the French economist, It was just seven words, 00:01:55.700 --> 00:02:01.060 but it captured everything. He snatched lightning 00:02:01.060 --> 00:02:03.709 from the sky and the scepter from tyrants. That 00:02:03.709 --> 00:02:06.489 quote is just so powerful because it perfectly 00:02:06.489 --> 00:02:08.629 articulates his dual identity, doesn't it? It 00:02:08.629 --> 00:02:11.370 really does. The scientist who literally mastered 00:02:11.370 --> 00:02:14.270 natural forces and the statesman who mastered 00:02:14.270 --> 00:02:17.009 political ones. And that recognition cemented 00:02:17.009 --> 00:02:20.360 his title as the first American. It wasn't just 00:02:20.360 --> 00:02:22.439 an honor they gave him later. He earned it during 00:02:22.439 --> 00:02:25.379 his lifetime by campaigning for colonial unity 00:02:25.379 --> 00:02:27.960 long before independence was even a thought. 00:02:28.060 --> 00:02:30.560 Right. He spent decades laying the groundwork, 00:02:30.659 --> 00:02:33.780 establishing communication, organization, a shared 00:02:33.780 --> 00:02:36.240 moral language. So we're tracing this incredible 00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:38.879 journey. It starts with, you know, this self 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:41.360 -made success in media, moves into groundbreaking 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:44.080 scientific inquiry, then critical revolutionary 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:46.960 diplomacy. And it all culminates in this complex, 00:02:47.020 --> 00:02:49.659 evolving moral and political outlook. Precisely. 00:02:49.659 --> 00:02:51.439 Let's start with the narrative that really defined 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:54.740 him, the self -made man. Benjamin Franklin was 00:02:54.740 --> 00:02:58.539 born in Boston in 1706, and the sources all emphasize 00:02:58.539 --> 00:03:01.080 his incredibly humble origins, which is just 00:03:01.080 --> 00:03:03.819 so critical to the American ideal he came to 00:03:03.819 --> 00:03:06.939 represent. He was the 15th of 17 children. His 00:03:06.939 --> 00:03:09.460 father, Josiah, was a tallow chandler and soaper. 00:03:09.870 --> 00:03:12.870 15 of 17. Just imagine that. The financial pressure 00:03:12.870 --> 00:03:15.430 on that family must have been immense. Oh, absolutely. 00:03:15.729 --> 00:03:18.330 And that directly defined his access to formal 00:03:18.330 --> 00:03:21.229 education, which was, well, it was exceptionally 00:03:21.229 --> 00:03:24.270 brief. He only managed two years at Boston Latin 00:03:24.270 --> 00:03:26.909 School. His formal schooling ended at age 10. 00:03:27.030 --> 00:03:29.860 10 years old. It's astonishing when you consider 00:03:29.860 --> 00:03:32.080 the intellectual depth he later achieved. So 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:34.919 his real education wasn't formal at all. It was 00:03:34.919 --> 00:03:37.300 fueled by what the sources call voracious reading. 00:03:37.580 --> 00:03:40.939 And at 12, he was apprenticed to his half -brother 00:03:40.939 --> 00:03:43.740 James, who was a printer. And that turned out 00:03:43.740 --> 00:03:45.599 to be the most consequential move of his life. 00:03:45.740 --> 00:03:48.340 It was his entry point into the world of public 00:03:48.340 --> 00:03:50.599 influence. And he famously embraced that trade 00:03:50.599 --> 00:03:52.500 his whole life, didn't he? Even signing letters 00:03:52.500 --> 00:03:55.400 B. Franklin, printer, long after he was world 00:03:55.400 --> 00:03:58.259 famous. It spoke to his identity as a practical 00:03:58.259 --> 00:04:00.539 artisan. It was during this apprenticeship that 00:04:00.539 --> 00:04:02.379 he discovered the power of the pseudonym, which 00:04:02.379 --> 00:04:05.139 brings us to the famous tale of Silence Duguid. 00:04:05.449 --> 00:04:07.949 Right. So his brother, James, had started the 00:04:07.949 --> 00:04:09.949 New England Current. It was a pretty edgy paper 00:04:09.949 --> 00:04:12.310 for its time. And young Benjamin desperately 00:04:12.310 --> 00:04:14.569 wanted to contribute, but he knew James would 00:04:14.569 --> 00:04:16.610 never publish essays from his little brother. 00:04:16.829 --> 00:04:19.470 So what does a brilliant, ambitious teenager 00:04:19.470 --> 00:04:23.949 do? He creates a persona. Silence Duguid, a clever, 00:04:24.050 --> 00:04:26.589 middle -aged widow. He'd secretly slip her letters 00:04:26.589 --> 00:04:28.889 under the door of the print shop at night. And 00:04:28.889 --> 00:04:32.050 they were an instant hit. A sensation. The voice 00:04:32.050 --> 00:04:35.829 of Mrs. Duguid was witty, sophisticated. She 00:04:35.829 --> 00:04:38.689 was critiquing society, politics, education. 00:04:39.129 --> 00:04:41.829 And of course, no one had any idea the popular 00:04:41.829 --> 00:04:44.290 new correspondent was the 16 -year -old apprentice 00:04:44.290 --> 00:04:47.329 setting the type. A perfect early lesson in narrative 00:04:47.329 --> 00:04:50.410 control. But it quickly moved beyond social satire 00:04:50.410 --> 00:04:52.329 into some pretty serious political commentary, 00:04:52.529 --> 00:04:55.689 which led to a genuine crisis. Yes, in 1722, 00:04:56.089 --> 00:04:58.970 James, the brother, was actually jailed for publishing 00:04:58.970 --> 00:05:01.089 material that was unflattering to the governor. 00:05:01.500 --> 00:05:04.500 a direct attack on press freedom. So young Franklin 00:05:04.500 --> 00:05:07.019 takes over the paper. He does. And he immediately 00:05:07.019 --> 00:05:09.959 doubles down. He publishes that incredibly prescient 00:05:09.959 --> 00:05:12.100 quote through Mrs. Duguid, which was originally 00:05:12.100 --> 00:05:14.379 from Cato's letters. Without freedom of thought, 00:05:14.519 --> 00:05:17.180 there can be no such thing as wisdom and no such 00:05:17.180 --> 00:05:19.519 thing as public liberty without freedom of speech. 00:05:19.819 --> 00:05:21.300 That's the foundation of the First Amendment 00:05:21.300 --> 00:05:23.779 right there, articulated by a teenager running 00:05:23.779 --> 00:05:26.060 a newspaper. It's incredible. But when his brother 00:05:26.060 --> 00:05:28.680 was released and then found out the truth about 00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:32.860 Silence Duguid, things got... Poisoned is the 00:05:32.860 --> 00:05:37.360 word. James was furious. So at 17, Franklin fled 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:40.060 his apprenticeship. He ran away to Philadelphia, 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:42.439 which technically made him a fugitive from his 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:44.500 contract. He was willing to become a fugitive 00:05:44.500 --> 00:05:46.519 to escape that environment. That just shows you 00:05:46.519 --> 00:05:49.230 his drive for autonomy. And once he got to Philadelphia, 00:05:49.550 --> 00:05:51.730 he didn't just look for work. He immediately 00:05:51.730 --> 00:05:54.550 started organizing the community. This is where 00:05:54.550 --> 00:05:57.189 his legacy as a civic innovator really begins. 00:05:57.490 --> 00:06:02.149 At just 21 in 1727, he forms the Junto. The Junto. 00:06:02.350 --> 00:06:05.089 It was this discussion group modeled on English 00:06:05.089 --> 00:06:07.629 coffee houses. But it wasn't just for talking. 00:06:07.670 --> 00:06:10.189 It was aimed at concrete community betterment. 00:06:10.470 --> 00:06:13.589 The members were all aspiring artisans and tradesmen 00:06:13.589 --> 00:06:15.680 like him. They were systematically identifying 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:18.579 problems. They'd ask questions like, what new 00:06:18.579 --> 00:06:21.899 defect has been observed in the laws? Or, have 00:06:21.899 --> 00:06:24.360 you lately observed any encroachment on the just 00:06:24.360 --> 00:06:26.300 liberties of the people? And that systematic 00:06:26.300 --> 00:06:28.800 approach led directly to one of his most radical 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:32.660 innovations, the library company, in 1731. Right. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:35.220 The Yuntong members, they were ambitious, but 00:06:35.220 --> 00:06:37.959 they were poor. Books were a luxury. So Franklin 00:06:37.959 --> 00:06:40.019 came up with the idea of a subscription model. 00:06:40.410 --> 00:06:43.889 Instead of relying on a wealthy patron, the members 00:06:43.889 --> 00:06:46.490 would pool their money to buy books for everyone 00:06:46.490 --> 00:06:49.850 to share. It was a revolutionary concept, a self 00:06:49.850 --> 00:06:52.209 -sustaining, democratized resource for knowledge. 00:06:52.470 --> 00:06:55.589 And it became the model for libraries all across 00:06:55.589 --> 00:06:57.949 the colonies. And the list of institutions he 00:06:57.949 --> 00:07:00.500 created in Philadelphia is just staggering. He 00:07:00.500 --> 00:07:03.639 started the Union Fire Company in 1736. America's 00:07:03.639 --> 00:07:05.860 first volunteer fire department. Then the first 00:07:05.860 --> 00:07:09.120 homeowner's insurance company in 1752. And in 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:12.100 1751, he co -founded Pennsylvania Hospital. The 00:07:12.100 --> 00:07:13.980 very first hospital in the American colonies. 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:15.980 He was literally building the infrastructure 00:07:15.980 --> 00:07:18.839 of civil society from the ground up all through 00:07:18.839 --> 00:07:21.899 voluntary association. And the engine for all 00:07:21.899 --> 00:07:24.759 this was his dominance in print. He became publisher 00:07:24.759 --> 00:07:28.319 of the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1729, and he used 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:30.699 it as a platform for all these reforms. But his 00:07:30.699 --> 00:07:33.199 greatest fame in print, of course, came from 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:35.579 poor Richard's almanac. Which he wrote under 00:07:35.579 --> 00:07:38.379 another pseudonym, Richard Saunders. The almanac, 00:07:38.379 --> 00:07:41.259 starting in 1733, became a colonial institution. 00:07:41.930 --> 00:07:44.670 It was in nearly every home selling, you know, 00:07:44.670 --> 00:07:47.050 upwards of 10 ,000 copies a year. And it was 00:07:47.050 --> 00:07:49.569 so much more than just weather predictions. It 00:07:49.569 --> 00:07:52.329 was a Trojan horse for moral instruction. Exactly. 00:07:52.329 --> 00:07:54.850 It was the source of all those famous adages 00:07:54.850 --> 00:07:57.870 that really cemented the American cultural emphasis 00:07:57.870 --> 00:08:01.029 on thrift and industry. A penny saved is two 00:08:01.029 --> 00:08:03.680 pence dear. Early to bed and early to rise makes 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:06.319 a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. He was effectively 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:09.160 publishing a yearly self -help manual, shaping 00:08:09.160 --> 00:08:11.620 the virtues of the entire colonial middle class. 00:08:11.959 --> 00:08:14.180 And his printing business itself was a network. 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:18.019 He didn't just run one shop. No. He created America's 00:08:18.019 --> 00:08:20.860 first newspaper chain. He'd sponsor young printers, 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:22.939 set them up with equipment in other colonies 00:08:22.939 --> 00:08:25.980 in exchange for a share of the profits. By 1753, 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:29.560 he held partnerships in eight of the 15 English 00:08:29.560 --> 00:08:31.860 -language newspapers in the colonies, from the 00:08:31.860 --> 00:08:34.220 Carolinas all the way to New England. It's also 00:08:34.220 --> 00:08:36.580 crucial to mention figures like Elizabeth Timothy. 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:39.720 When her husband, Franklin's partner in Charleston, 00:08:39.740 --> 00:08:41.899 died, he worked with her to take over the South 00:08:41.899 --> 00:08:44.539 Carolina Gazette. She ran it successfully, becoming 00:08:44.539 --> 00:08:47.000 one of the first woman printers of the era. This 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:49.360 network was just a brilliant blend of business 00:08:49.360 --> 00:08:51.659 and influence, spreading his philosophy across 00:08:51.659 --> 00:08:54.539 the continent. And that success led him into 00:08:54.539 --> 00:08:57.360 politics. He served as chief clerk of the Pennsylvania 00:08:57.360 --> 00:08:59.840 Assembly. And then most crucially, he was appointed 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:02.620 deputy postmaster general of British North America 00:09:02.620 --> 00:09:06.419 in 1753. A notoriously inefficient and slow service 00:09:06.419 --> 00:09:08.820 at the time. Oh, a total mess. And Franklin just 00:09:08.820 --> 00:09:11.720 completely reorganized it. He took the job seriously. 00:09:12.019 --> 00:09:14.379 He physically surveyed the routes, traveling 00:09:14.379 --> 00:09:16.940 thousands of miles. He redid the entire accounting 00:09:16.940 --> 00:09:19.940 system. And he mandated regular scheduled mail 00:09:19.940 --> 00:09:22.159 service between the major cities. Exactly. He 00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:24.470 professionalized it. And the results were historic. 00:09:24.809 --> 00:09:27.649 By 1761, the colonial post office turned its 00:09:27.649 --> 00:09:31.190 first ever profit. So in effect, he created the 00:09:31.190 --> 00:09:34.129 first national communications network. He was 00:09:34.129 --> 00:09:36.649 literally connecting the colonies, which is a 00:09:36.649 --> 00:09:39.129 perfect bridge to the next part of his life. 00:09:39.289 --> 00:09:41.909 The part that earned him the first half of Turgot's 00:09:41.909 --> 00:09:44.250 famous, quote, snatching lightning from the sky. 00:09:44.509 --> 00:09:47.610 His breathtakingly practical scientific endeavors. 00:09:47.970 --> 00:09:50.110 What's so remarkable is that this was a conscious 00:09:50.110 --> 00:09:55.330 career change. In 1747, at age 41, he was already 00:09:55.330 --> 00:09:58.549 wealthy from his print network, so he just retired 00:09:58.549 --> 00:10:00.529 from the daily business to focus on science. 00:10:00.669 --> 00:10:03.690 And a crucial point about his ethics. He never 00:10:03.690 --> 00:10:06.639 patented a single one of his inventions. He wrote 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:09.259 that since we enjoy great advantages from the 00:10:09.259 --> 00:10:11.360 inventions of others, we should be glad of an 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:14.299 opportunity to serve others freely and generously. 00:10:14.740 --> 00:10:17.399 Knowledge was a public resource. And his contributions 00:10:17.399 --> 00:10:19.639 to electricity were fundamental. They really 00:10:19.639 --> 00:10:21.960 positioned him as a major figure in the American 00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:24.080 Enlightenment. I mean, his most lasting contribution 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:26.860 wasn't even an invention. It was a linguistic 00:10:26.860 --> 00:10:30.000 and theoretical clarification. At the time, physicists 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:32.600 talked about vitreous and resinous electricity, 00:10:32.940 --> 00:10:35.620 two different types of electrical fluid. Sounds 00:10:35.620 --> 00:10:38.600 incredibly confusing. It was chaos. Franklin 00:10:38.600 --> 00:10:41.440 simplified it. He argued it was a single fluid 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:43.440 and these different states were just an imbalance, 00:10:43.860 --> 00:10:47.580 an excess or a deficiency. He called them elegantly. 00:10:47.950 --> 00:10:50.129 positive and negative and that's the terminology 00:10:50.129 --> 00:10:52.470 we still use today it replaced the old models 00:10:52.470 --> 00:10:55.090 overnight and from that came the principle of 00:10:55.090 --> 00:10:57.250 the conservation of charge the idea that you 00:10:57.250 --> 00:11:00.149 can't create or destroy charge only move it around 00:11:00.149 --> 00:11:03.450 and in 1748 he built that electrical battery 00:11:03.450 --> 00:11:07.690 which was uh a multiple plate capacitor for storing 00:11:07.690 --> 00:11:10.210 charge. It was the ultimate application of systematic 00:11:10.210 --> 00:11:12.769 thinking, a printer's mind bringing order to 00:11:12.769 --> 00:11:14.769 the laws of nature. Speaking of application, 00:11:14.970 --> 00:11:16.950 we have to talk about the bizarre anecdote about 00:11:16.950 --> 00:11:20.490 the dinner party. Ah, the electric turkey. It's 00:11:20.490 --> 00:11:23.789 a remarkable, if slightly gruesome, story. Franklin 00:11:23.789 --> 00:11:25.850 proposed a dinner party where the turkey would 00:11:25.850 --> 00:11:28.710 be killed via electric shock and roasted on an 00:11:28.710 --> 00:11:31.090 electrical spit. Wait, he used electricity to 00:11:31.090 --> 00:11:34.029 tenderize the meat? That was the claim. He noted 00:11:34.029 --> 00:11:37.269 that... The birds killed in this manner eat uncommonly 00:11:37.269 --> 00:11:40.350 tender. It just shows he saw electricity not 00:11:40.350 --> 00:11:42.830 as some abstract force, but as something to be 00:11:42.830 --> 00:11:45.470 harnessed for, well, even culinary applications. 00:11:45.970 --> 00:11:48.649 He was a very hands -on experimenter. Which brings 00:11:48.649 --> 00:11:51.210 us to the most famous and maybe most dangerous 00:11:51.210 --> 00:11:54.009 experiment of the 18th century. The kite and 00:11:54.009 --> 00:11:56.909 the lightning rod. The kite experiment in 1752 00:11:56.909 --> 00:12:00.129 was monumental. He theorized that lightning was 00:12:00.129 --> 00:12:02.399 electrical and he needed to prove it. But the 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:04.480 way people imagine it, with a lightning bolt 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:07.379 hitting the kite, is totally wrong. Right. Completely. 00:12:07.419 --> 00:12:10.039 He would have been killed. He was incredibly 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:13.340 cautious. He stood on an insulator under a roof 00:12:13.340 --> 00:12:16.100 to stay dry. The kite wasn't meant to attract 00:12:16.100 --> 00:12:19.139 a bolt, just to fly high enough for the wet twine 00:12:19.139 --> 00:12:21.120 to collect the ambient electrical charge from 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:23.179 the storm cloud. And he touched a key to the 00:12:23.179 --> 00:12:26.320 twine and saw a spark. Exactly. That proved the 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:28.379 connection. And the practical outcome was the 00:12:28.379 --> 00:12:31.240 invention of the lightning rod. a sharp, pointed 00:12:31.240 --> 00:12:33.679 conductor designed to silently draw the electrical 00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:35.860 charge from the clouds and conduct it safely 00:12:35.860 --> 00:12:38.500 into the ground. For colonial cities full of 00:12:38.500 --> 00:12:40.860 wooden buildings, that must have been a revolution 00:12:40.860 --> 00:12:43.759 in safety. An immediate success. It was installed 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:46.000 on buildings like Independence Hall right away, 00:12:46.200 --> 00:12:48.360 and this is what earned him formal recognition. 00:12:48.940 --> 00:12:51.799 He was awarded the Royal Society's Copley Medal 00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:56.720 in 1753 and became a fellow in 1756. This is 00:12:56.720 --> 00:12:59.870 why he was often addressed as Dr. Franklin. And 00:12:59.870 --> 00:13:02.730 his systematic mind didn't stop there. He essentially 00:13:02.730 --> 00:13:05.389 pioneered American oceanography. Right. From 00:13:05.389 --> 00:13:07.850 his work as postmaster, he learned that the British 00:13:07.850 --> 00:13:10.710 mail ships took weeks longer to cross the Atlantic 00:13:10.710 --> 00:13:13.009 than merchant ships. And the British captains 00:13:13.009 --> 00:13:15.850 just chalked it up to bad luck. They did. But 00:13:15.850 --> 00:13:18.710 Franklin, being Franklin, had to solve the problem. 00:13:19.230 --> 00:13:21.649 He consulted his cousin, a Nantucket whaler, 00:13:21.769 --> 00:13:23.710 who told him the mail ships were sailing directly 00:13:23.710 --> 00:13:26.789 against a strong eastbound current. So Franklin 00:13:26.789 --> 00:13:29.450 mapped it. He charted and named it the Gulf Stream. 00:13:29.649 --> 00:13:31.990 He published the chart, but the British captains 00:13:31.990 --> 00:13:34.529 ignored it at first. It wasn't until the Revolution, 00:13:34.750 --> 00:13:36.789 when they desperately needed faster communication, 00:13:37.090 --> 00:13:39.889 that they finally adopted it. They cut two weeks 00:13:39.889 --> 00:13:42.899 off their sailing time. a massive strategic advantage, 00:13:43.240 --> 00:13:47.039 all from applying scientific rigor to local knowledge. 00:13:47.259 --> 00:13:49.360 He also did key work on cooling by evaporation 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:51.740 after noticing he stayed cooler in a wet shirt. 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:54.059 Right. He conducted sophisticated experiments 00:13:54.059 --> 00:13:56.779 with ether evaporation, chilling a thermometer 00:13:56.779 --> 00:13:59.799 down to seven degrees Fahrenheit. Which led him 00:13:59.799 --> 00:14:02.059 to that unsettling speculation about being able 00:14:02.059 --> 00:14:05.200 to. To freeze a man to death on a warm summer's 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:08.190 day. It wasn't a goal, just an illustration of 00:14:08.190 --> 00:14:10.750 the potential power of applied science. And he 00:14:10.750 --> 00:14:13.909 had so many other practical inventions. Bifocals, 00:14:13.970 --> 00:14:16.289 the flexible urinary catheter. And the glass 00:14:16.289 --> 00:14:19.009 harmonica, a musical instrument he engineered 00:14:19.009 --> 00:14:22.169 from spinning glass bowls. It became incredibly 00:14:22.169 --> 00:14:25.169 popular. Composers like Mozart and Beethoven 00:14:25.169 --> 00:14:27.669 actually wrote music for it. It just shows how 00:14:27.669 --> 00:14:29.870 he bridged rigorous science and high culture. 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:32.279 And before moving to his political life, we have 00:14:32.279 --> 00:14:34.559 to touch on his work in demography, which had 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:38.039 huge political repercussions. Yes. In 1751, he 00:14:38.039 --> 00:14:39.960 published observations concerning the increase 00:14:39.960 --> 00:14:43.620 of mankind. It was pure data analysis. He calculated 00:14:43.620 --> 00:14:45.919 that the American population was doubling every 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:48.309 20 years. Which was alarming to the British. 00:14:48.490 --> 00:14:50.929 Deeply alarming. He predicted that the American 00:14:50.929 --> 00:14:53.610 population would surpass England's within a century. 00:14:53.889 --> 00:14:56.690 It was a key data point that influenced thinkers 00:14:56.690 --> 00:14:59.850 like Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus. He was using 00:14:59.850 --> 00:15:02.070 demographics as a tool of political warning. 00:15:02.330 --> 00:15:04.789 And that moves us perfectly into the next phase 00:15:04.789 --> 00:15:08.529 of his life. The statesman. The narrative shifts 00:15:08.529 --> 00:15:12.090 dramatically in 1757 when he goes to London as 00:15:12.090 --> 00:15:14.809 a colonial agent. He starts as a loyalist and 00:15:14.809 --> 00:15:17.620 ends as a revolutionary. What happened? He spent 00:15:17.620 --> 00:15:20.240 nearly two decades trying to work within the 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:22.759 British system. His high point was testifying 00:15:22.759 --> 00:15:24.700 before the House of Commons during the repeal 00:15:24.700 --> 00:15:28.340 of the Stamp Act in 1766. He became a hero in 00:15:28.340 --> 00:15:30.480 the colonies, the leading spokesman for American 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:32.659 interests. He genuinely believed a deal could 00:15:32.659 --> 00:15:34.779 be worked out. He did, but the relationship was 00:15:34.779 --> 00:15:37.200 just fundamentally unequal. And the breaking 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:39.019 point was the affair of the Hutchinson letters 00:15:39.019 --> 00:15:42.200 in 1772. He obtained these private letters from 00:15:42.200 --> 00:15:44.840 the royal governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson. 00:15:45.259 --> 00:15:48.039 And they were devastating. They showed that these 00:15:48.039 --> 00:15:50.620 high ranking colonial officials were actively 00:15:50.620 --> 00:15:53.220 encouraging the British to crack down militarily 00:15:53.220 --> 00:15:56.259 and abolish colonial liberties. They were plotting 00:15:56.259 --> 00:15:58.639 against their own people. So he leaked them. 00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:02.279 He felt he had a moral duty to expose the duplicity. 00:16:02.279 --> 00:16:04.779 It was a massive political gamble and he knew 00:16:04.779 --> 00:16:06.740 the British government would retaliate. And they 00:16:06.740 --> 00:16:09.240 did with that incredibly dramatic public humiliation. 00:16:09.399 --> 00:16:13.580 Pure political theater. In January 1774, he was 00:16:13.580 --> 00:16:15.840 summoned before the Privy Council in the cockpit 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:18.620 at Whitehall. He was forced to stand silently 00:16:18.620 --> 00:16:21.320 for nearly an hour while the Solicitor General, 00:16:21.500 --> 00:16:23.860 Alexander Wedderburn, just verbally abused him. 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:26.659 Called him a thief, a spy. A man of letters, 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:29.419 indeed. The author of Sedition. Franklin just 00:16:29.419 --> 00:16:31.740 stood there motionless. He said later it was 00:16:31.740 --> 00:16:33.740 the greatest indignity that was ever offered 00:16:33.740 --> 00:16:35.960 to a gentleman. And that was it. That was the 00:16:35.960 --> 00:16:38.259 moment he became a revolutionary. That public 00:16:38.259 --> 00:16:41.259 shaming and his dismissal as postmaster general 00:16:41.259 --> 00:16:43.879 ended any hope of accommodation. He returned 00:16:43.879 --> 00:16:47.799 to Philadelphia in 1775, a changed man. He arrived 00:16:47.799 --> 00:16:50.679 just after Lexington and Concord and was immediately 00:16:50.679 --> 00:16:53.179 chosen as a delegate to the Second Continental 00:16:53.179 --> 00:16:56.080 Congress. And a year later, at 70 years old, 00:16:56.259 --> 00:16:58.440 he was on the committee of five that drafted 00:16:58.440 --> 00:17:00.759 the Declaration of Independence. And he made 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:03.600 that small but crucial change to Jefferson's 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:06.869 text? Yes. Jefferson had written, We hold these 00:17:06.869 --> 00:17:09.869 truths to be sacred and undeniable. Franklin, 00:17:10.190 --> 00:17:12.390 the man of the Enlightenment, sharpened it to 00:17:12.390 --> 00:17:15.069 the immortal. We hold these truths to be self 00:17:15.069 --> 00:17:18.470 -evident. A critical shift from religious dogma 00:17:18.470 --> 00:17:21.650 to secular reason. His political life culminated 00:17:21.650 --> 00:17:24.930 at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. He 00:17:24.930 --> 00:17:27.809 was 81, the oldest delegate. His presence alone 00:17:27.809 --> 00:17:30.509 lent immense authority to the proceedings. And 00:17:30.509 --> 00:17:33.539 of course, he gave us that famous cautious final 00:17:33.539 --> 00:17:35.319 pronouncement. When Elizabeth Willing Powell 00:17:35.319 --> 00:17:37.359 asked him what kind of government they had created. 00:17:37.579 --> 00:17:40.380 A republic, madam, if you can keep it. That warning, 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:42.900 that conditional promise just resonates through 00:17:42.900 --> 00:17:45.859 American history. Governance isn't a gift. It's 00:17:45.859 --> 00:17:48.740 a perpetual responsibility. But his most critical 00:17:48.740 --> 00:17:51.140 service to the revolution wasn't signing documents. 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:54.640 It was securing aid in Europe, the French mission. 00:17:55.039 --> 00:17:57.700 Absolutely vital. When he arrived in France in 00:17:57.700 --> 00:18:00.839 1776, the American cause was on the brink of 00:18:00.839 --> 00:18:03.599 collapse. His job was to convince a monarchy 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:06.119 to side with a democratic rebellion. And he did 00:18:06.119 --> 00:18:08.779 it by leveraging his celebrity. Precisely. He 00:18:08.779 --> 00:18:11.660 consciously cultivated an image. He wasn't a 00:18:11.660 --> 00:18:14.839 stiff diplomat. He was the wise homespun philosopher 00:18:14.839 --> 00:18:19.019 scientist. He wore a simple fur hat instead of 00:18:19.019 --> 00:18:21.220 a powdered wig. And Paris adored him for it. 00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:23.920 They did. He was a sensation. And he used that 00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:27.059 massive prestige to secure the critical military 00:18:27.059 --> 00:18:30.319 alliance in 1778, which ultimately guaranteed 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:33.819 American victory. He was effectively America's 00:18:33.819 --> 00:18:36.160 first and most successful ambassador. And while 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:38.319 he was there, he still found time for science. 00:18:38.579 --> 00:18:41.140 He served on that royal commission investigating 00:18:41.140 --> 00:18:44.690 Franz Mesmer. Mesmer's animal magnetism, a medical 00:18:44.690 --> 00:18:47.430 craze sweeping Europe. The French king tasked 00:18:47.430 --> 00:18:50.069 a commission, including Franklin, to investigate. 00:18:50.250 --> 00:18:52.109 And their methods were groundbreaking. They used 00:18:52.109 --> 00:18:54.569 rigorous, controlled, and for the first time, 00:18:54.569 --> 00:18:56.869 blinded testing. And they concluded that Mesmer's 00:18:56.869 --> 00:18:58.849 effects were not due to some mystical fluid, 00:18:58.950 --> 00:19:01.710 but due only to imagination and the power of 00:19:01.710 --> 00:19:04.369 suggestion. Which is the first major demonstration 00:19:04.369 --> 00:19:07.150 of what we now call the placebo effect. A defining 00:19:07.150 --> 00:19:09.670 moment of the Age of Enlightenment. And Franklin 00:19:09.670 --> 00:19:11.710 was right at the center of it. He returned home 00:19:11.710 --> 00:19:14.869 in 1785, second only to Washington in reputation, 00:19:15.230 --> 00:19:17.789 and was immediately elected president, the governor 00:19:17.789 --> 00:19:21.009 of Pennsylvania. He served three full terms right 00:19:21.009 --> 00:19:24.230 up until 1788. His final political years were 00:19:24.230 --> 00:19:26.490 spent ensuring Pennsylvania ratified the Constitution 00:19:26.490 --> 00:19:29.410 and working on his last great moral project. 00:19:29.690 --> 00:19:33.250 He died in Philadelphia on April 17, 1790, at 00:19:33.250 --> 00:19:36.630 age 84. and the turnout for his funeral was just 00:19:36.630 --> 00:19:39.690 immense. Something like 20 ,000 people attended, 00:19:39.890 --> 00:19:42.769 a massive number for the time. The entire city, 00:19:42.809 --> 00:19:45.109 and really the nation, mourned. Which brings 00:19:45.109 --> 00:19:47.309 us to the philosophical and ethical core of the 00:19:47.309 --> 00:19:49.630 man. How did he structure his personal life, 00:19:49.730 --> 00:19:51.950 and how did he grapple with the profound moral 00:19:51.950 --> 00:19:54.529 contradictions of his time, especially slavery? 00:19:54.970 --> 00:19:57.390 He was raised a Puritan, but as a young man he 00:19:57.390 --> 00:20:00.130 adopted deism. He still had a strong faith in 00:20:00.130 --> 00:20:02.089 God as a source of morality, but he believed 00:20:02.089 --> 00:20:04.470 truth was found through reason and nature, not 00:20:04.470 --> 00:20:07.890 dogma. He stressed practical morality. He famously 00:20:07.890 --> 00:20:10.869 admired the evangelical minister George Whitefield, 00:20:10.950 --> 00:20:13.750 not for his theology, but because Whitefield 00:20:13.750 --> 00:20:15.829 exhorted people to worship through good works. 00:20:16.009 --> 00:20:19.089 He was focused on the utilitarian outcome. Did 00:20:19.089 --> 00:20:21.690 it make people better citizens? And this practical 00:20:21.690 --> 00:20:23.990 approach is best illustrated by his plan for 00:20:23.990 --> 00:20:27.000 personal character development. The 13 Virtues. 00:20:27.099 --> 00:20:29.539 It was one of the most famous parts of his autobiography. 00:20:30.180 --> 00:20:33.480 At age 20, he created this system to cultivate 00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:36.460 his character, aiming for moral perfection. And 00:20:36.460 --> 00:20:38.519 it was a system. He created a weekly schedule 00:20:38.519 --> 00:20:42.119 focusing on mastering one virtue at a time. Temperance. 00:20:42.220 --> 00:20:44.400 Eat not to dullness. Drink not to elevation. 00:20:44.759 --> 00:20:47.019 Order. Let all your things have their places. 00:20:47.220 --> 00:20:50.289 And humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates. He 00:20:50.289 --> 00:20:52.089 argued that even if he constantly failed, the 00:20:52.089 --> 00:20:53.890 attempt itself made him a better man. And he 00:20:53.890 --> 00:20:56.089 applied that same systematic thought to his decision 00:20:56.089 --> 00:20:58.470 -making in a method we still use today. The pro 00:20:58.470 --> 00:21:00.589 and con list. The earliest known description 00:21:00.589 --> 00:21:02.950 of it. In a letter, he explained his method. 00:21:03.210 --> 00:21:05.450 He wouldn't just list pros and cons. He'd assign 00:21:05.450 --> 00:21:07.970 them relative weights and then cross out opposing 00:21:07.970 --> 00:21:10.269 motives of equal value until he could see where 00:21:10.269 --> 00:21:13.430 the balance lies. A mechanical attempt to eliminate 00:21:13.430 --> 00:21:16.230 emotion from moral calculus. Which brings us 00:21:16.230 --> 00:21:18.690 to the most difficult moral subject of his life. 00:21:19.400 --> 00:21:22.420 And this is a necessary part of the puzzle. In 00:21:22.420 --> 00:21:25.400 his early years as a businessman, he was absolutely 00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:29.319 complicit. He ran for sale ads for enslaved people 00:21:29.319 --> 00:21:31.960 in his paper. He owned at least seven enslaved 00:21:31.960 --> 00:21:34.359 individuals himself. He did. But the sources 00:21:34.359 --> 00:21:37.140 show a clear, powerful shift in his stance over 00:21:37.140 --> 00:21:40.420 time, starting around the late 1750s. His moral 00:21:40.420 --> 00:21:42.740 reasoning changed as he engaged with Enlightenment 00:21:42.740 --> 00:21:45.180 philosophy and Quaker abolitionists. And this 00:21:45.180 --> 00:21:47.400 shift accelerated dramatically after he came 00:21:47.400 --> 00:21:49.220 back from France for the last time. He became 00:21:49.220 --> 00:21:51.759 an active and vocal abolitionist. He freed his 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:55.299 own remaining slaves. And in 1787, at age 81, 00:21:55.559 --> 00:21:57.779 he became the president of the Pennsylvania Abolition 00:21:57.779 --> 00:22:00.779 Society, a role he held until his death. And 00:22:00.779 --> 00:22:03.299 his final political act was a petition. Just 00:22:03.299 --> 00:22:05.960 weeks before his death, he drafted and signed 00:22:05.960 --> 00:22:08.160 the first formal petition to the U .S. Congress 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:10.880 calling for the complete abolition of slavery. 00:22:11.690 --> 00:22:14.630 His writings from this time, like A Plan for 00:22:14.630 --> 00:22:17.430 Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks, argued 00:22:17.430 --> 00:22:19.990 for education and full integration. It's one 00:22:19.990 --> 00:22:23.009 of the most significant, if complex, parts of 00:22:23.009 --> 00:22:25.109 his legacy. He applied his commitment to self 00:22:25.109 --> 00:22:27.470 -improvement right to the very end, tackling 00:22:27.470 --> 00:22:29.930 the fundamental flaw of the New Republic. And 00:22:29.930 --> 00:22:31.869 that desire for long -term improvement extended 00:22:31.869 --> 00:22:34.869 even to his will. The famous bequests of a thousand 00:22:34.869 --> 00:22:37.460 pounds each to Boston and Philadelphia. placed 00:22:37.460 --> 00:22:39.460 on a trust designed to gather interest for 200 00:22:39.460 --> 00:22:42.240 years. And by the time the trust matured in 1990, 00:22:42.500 --> 00:22:45.180 that initial amount had grown to millions. Philadelphia 00:22:45.180 --> 00:22:48.420 used its $2 million for scholarships. Boston 00:22:48.420 --> 00:22:51.279 used its nearly $5 million to support the Franklin 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:54.039 Institute of Boston, a trade school, a perfect 00:22:54.039 --> 00:22:56.700 echo of his own artisan background. As we close 00:22:56.700 --> 00:22:58.920 this deep dive, we come back to the duality of 00:22:58.920 --> 00:23:01.539 the man. His grave is so unpretentious, just... 00:23:01.980 --> 00:23:04.200 Benjamin and Deborah Franklin. But his famous 00:23:04.200 --> 00:23:06.880 proposed epitaph is a work of intellectual art. 00:23:07.059 --> 00:23:10.079 He compared his body to the worn cover of a book, 00:23:10.180 --> 00:23:12.519 believing his work shall not be wholly lost, 00:23:12.759 --> 00:23:16.180 but appear once more in a new and more perfect 00:23:16.180 --> 00:23:18.960 edition, corrected and amended by the author. 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:21.039 It's the ultimate statement of Enlightenment 00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:23.799 optimism. Franklin was a man who synthesized 00:23:23.799 --> 00:23:27.079 everything, publishing and engineering, science 00:23:27.079 --> 00:23:30.549 and diplomacy. He saw knowledge not as an abstract 00:23:30.549 --> 00:23:33.710 concept, but as a practical tool for self -improvement 00:23:33.710 --> 00:23:35.710 and nation building. He never saw science as 00:23:35.710 --> 00:23:37.690 something to be confined to an academic tower. 00:23:38.210 --> 00:23:40.710 Everything he discovered, he sought to apply 00:23:40.710 --> 00:23:42.930 immediately to serve others. And that relentless 00:23:42.930 --> 00:23:45.529 focus on application makes his thoughts on the 00:23:45.529 --> 00:23:48.470 future so fascinating. He regretted being born 00:23:48.470 --> 00:23:50.849 so soon, wishing he could see what science would 00:23:50.849 --> 00:23:53.009 achieve. He speculated that we'd lengthen human 00:23:53.009 --> 00:23:55.930 lives and maybe even learn to deprive large masses 00:23:55.930 --> 00:23:59.039 of their gravity for easy transport. The 18th 00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:01.240 century printer was dreaming of anti -gravity. 00:24:01.259 --> 00:24:03.500 He was dreaming big, but his ethos was always 00:24:03.500 --> 00:24:07.059 clear. Inventions must serve others, freely and 00:24:07.059 --> 00:24:09.740 generously. So, given his unique combination 00:24:09.740 --> 00:24:13.200 of scientific mind and organizing genius, and 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:15.859 his relentless commitment to solving the world's 00:24:15.859 --> 00:24:19.420 problems, we have to ask you, the listener. What 00:24:19.420 --> 00:24:22.200 modern challenge would draw Benjamin Franklin's 00:24:22.200 --> 00:24:24.640 immediate and full attention today? Would it 00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:27.720 be climate change, the rapid spread of misinformation, 00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:30.359 which is a direct threat to the civic discourse 00:24:30.359 --> 00:24:32.779 he tried to build, or something like deep space 00:24:32.779 --> 00:24:34.900 exploration? And more importantly, how would 00:24:34.900 --> 00:24:37.140 his combination of scientific genius and civic 00:24:37.140 --> 00:24:39.579 organization be applied to tackle that problem 00:24:39.579 --> 00:24:42.299 in our time? What society -shaping institution, 00:24:42.680 --> 00:24:45.000 the modern equivalent of the Junto or the Library 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:47.700 Company, would he build next to ensure that knowledge 00:24:47.700 --> 00:24:50.700 serves? That's the challenge he leaves us with.