BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
If one wanted to name three men who are in a supreme degree representative of three leading American types, he would not go far astray if he named Franklin, Emerson, and Lincoln. Several years before the Revolution Hume described Franklin as “The First and indeed the first great Man of Letters in America”; and Dr. Johnson, in that most delightful exploitation of ignorance and eloquence, “Taxation No Tyranny,” described him as “a master of mischief.” Franklin was then one of the foremost representatives of the colonists, and one of the most ardent advocates of their claims. For thirty years Europe knew more about him than any other man in America, not excepting Washington. He was a Bostonian by birth, the son of a tallow chandler. He had a casual contact with the Boston Latin School; but his formal education was finished in his eleventh year, when he began to work as a general utility boy in his father’s shop. He was fond of reading, and was fortunate enough to possess Bunyan’s works, and a little later he was reading Robinson Crusoe and other works by Defoe, who undoubtedly had great influence on his style. His love of books inclined him to the printer’s trade, and his self-education went on rapidly. Another piece of good fortune was finding a volume of the Spectator. He has given a very interesting account of his use of this classic of sound, clear English prose, and has described its influence on his language and style. Then he read Xenophon’s “Memorabilia,” which gave him a clear idea of the Socratic method of discussion. At the age of fifteen he was already writing for the colonial press, contributing essays notable for their very sensible moralizing and their practical wisdom; for Franklin was, and still is, the representative of American practical sagacity and commonsense.