Franklin's America

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is still considered a literary treasure, two hundred years after its publication, for a number of reasons. First, it provides a close view of eighteenth-century colonial America through the eyes of a man who was not only present for many critical events of the time, but who made several of those events happen. The Autobiography is especially prized because a large segment of the population at the time could not read or write, and many of the documents that were written did not survive long enough to be studied by historians. Franklin's descriptions of eighteenth-century life give an intimate view of the intellectual, scientific, political, and religious changes that took place. Specifically, The Autobiography reflects eighteenth-century idealism. Franklin's intellectualism and his devotion to scientific inquiry and political advancement reflect the values of the Age of Reason. This eighteenth-century movement focused on...