Usefulness

Throughout his life, Franklin's biggest goal was to be useful. His scientific experiments, political prowess, and his writings are all meant to be ultimately useful somehow to his fellow man. The lightening rod is a prime example: what starts as a fascination of Franklin's with electricity turns out to be a worldwide phenomenon, with villages in France erecting lightening rods and performing experiments of their own. The lightening rod demystifies lightening, previously thought to be the divine hand of God, so in a subtle way the lightening rod is also a nod to Franklin's ambiguous form of deism. His writings are usually didactic. In other words, they seek to teach the reader some sort of lesson. Franklin likes to write anecdotes involving his favorite virtues, in hopes that it would help his readers become moral and virtuous people. He is more progressive than most of his contemporaries in...