(January 17, 1706–April 17, 1790), was an American printer, writer, scientist, philosopher and statesmen. Born to a poor candle-maker in Boston, Massachusetts, he was 15th of 17 children. Since his family could not afford to provide him with a formal education, he began apprenticing as a printer at the age of twelve. In 1723, he moved to Philadelphia and married Deborah Read, by whom he had two children. He initially gained literary acclaim through the annual publication of his book, Poor Richard’s Almanac (1732–57). At the age of forty-two he was successful enough to retire and devote himself to science, writing and public life. In 1743, he helped found the American Philosophical Society.
Benjamin Franklin, who had taught himself five languages, became known as “the Newton of his Age.” His experiments in electrostatics, 1750–51, led to the well-known kite experiment which proved that lightening was a form of electricity. His invention of the lightning rod earned him honorary degrees from Harvard and Yale, 1753, and the Royal Society’s Copley Medal. He is credited for having coined the terms “battery,” “condenser,” “conductor,” “positive and negative charges” and “electric shock.” He invented the Franklin stove, the rocking chair, bi-focal glasses, the glass harmonica, in addition to numerous scientific discoveries. He developed theories of heat absorption, meteorology and ocean currents.
Benjamin Franklin organized the first postal system in America, serving as the deputy postmaster general of the colonies, 1753–54. He established the first volunteer fire department, a circulating public library and the lighting of city streets. He helped found the University of Pennsylvania, a hospital, an insurance company, a city police force, a night watch and in 1747, the first militia. In 1754, he organized defenses in the French and Indian War.
Benjamin Franklin was Pennsylvania’s delegate to the Albany Congress and acted as its agent in London. He helped draft and signed the Declaration of Independence. In 1776, he served as a diplomat to France, and was largely responsible for France joining the Revolutionary War on the side of the Colonies. In 1785, he became the President (Governor) of Pennsylvania and signed the Treaty of Alliance, the Treaty of Peace, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution. He supported the abolition of slavery and in 1788, he was appointed the first president of the first anti-slavery society in America.
In Poor Richard’s Almanac (1732–57), Benjamin Franklin published proverbs such as:
God heals, and the doctor takes the fees.461
God helps them that help themselves. (June 1736)462
Work as if you were to live 100 years; pray as if you were to die tomorrow. (May 1757)463
Benjamin Franklin once remarked to his wife:
Debby, I wish the good Lord had seen fit to make each day just twice as long as it is. Perhaps then I could really accomplish something.464
In 1728, Benjamin Franklin wrote his Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion:
I believe there is One Supreme, most Perfect Being. …
It is that particular wise and good God, who is the Author and Owner of our system, that I propose for the Object of my praise and adoration.
For I conceive that He has in Himself some of those passions He has planted in us, and that, since He has given us reason whereby we are capable of observing His wisdom in the Creation, He is not above caring for us, being pleas’d with our praise, and offended when we slight Him, or neglect His Glory.
I conceive for many reasons that He is a good Being, and as I should be happy to have so wise, good and powerful a Being my Friend, let me consider in what Manner I shall make myself most acceptable to Him.
Next to the praise resulting from and due to His wisdom, I believe He is pleased and delights in the happiness of those he has created; and since without virtue man can have no happiness in this world, I firmly believe He delights to see me virtuous, because He is pleased when He sees me happy.
And since He has created many things which seem purely designed for the delight of man, I believe He is not offended when He sees his children solace themselves in any manner of pleasant exercises and innocent delights; and I think no pleasure innocent that is to man hurtful. I love Him therefore for His Goodness, and I adore Him for His wisdom.465
Regarding prayer, Benjamin Franklin wrote:
Being mindful that before I address the Deity my soul ought to be calm and serene, free from passion and perturbation, or otherwise elevated with rational joy and pleasure, I ought to use a countenance that expresses a filial respect, mixed with a kind of smiling that signifies inward joy and satisfaction and admiration.466
Let me not fail, then, to praise my God continually, for it is His due, and it is all I can return for His many favors and great goodness to me; and let me resolve to be virtuous, that I may be happy, that I may please Him, who is delighted to see me happy. Amen!467
O Creator, O Father, I believe that Thou are Good, and Thou art pleas’d with the pleasure of Thy children.
Praised be Thy Name forever.
By Thy Power hast thou made the glorious Sun, with his attending worlds; from the energy of Thy mighty Will they first received their prodigious motion, and by Thy Wisdom hast Thou prescribed the wondrous laws by which they move.
Praised be Thy Name forever.
By Thy Wisdom hast thou formed all things, Thou hast created man, bestowing life and reason, and plac’d him in dignity superior to Thy other earthly Creatures.
Praised be Thy Name forever.
Thy Wisdom, Thy Power, and Thy GOODNESS are every where clearly seen; in the air and in the water, in the heavens and on the earth; Thou providest for the various winged fowl, and the innumerable inhabitants of the water; Thou givest cold and heat, rain and sunshine in their season, and to the fruits of the earth increase.
Praised be Thy Name forever.
I believe Thou hast given life to Thy creatures that they might live, and art not delighted with violent death and bloody sacrifices.
Praised be Thy Name forever.
Thou abhorrest in Thy creatures treachery and deceit, malice, revenge, Intemperance and every other hurtful Vice; but Thou art a Lover of justice and sincerity, of friendship, benevolence and every virtue. Thou art my Friend, my Father, and my Benefactor.
Praised be Thy Name, O God, forever. Amen.468
That I may be preserved from atheism and infidelity, impiety and profaneness, and in my addresses to Thee carefully avoid irreverence and ostentation, formality and odious hypocrisy,
Help me, O Father.469
And forasmuch as ingratitude is one of the most odious of vices, let me not be unmindful gratefully to acknowledge the favours I receive from Heaven. … For all Thy innumerable benefits; For life and reason, and the use of speech, for health and joy and every pleasant hour, my Good God, I thank Thee.470
Benjamin Franklin wrote his own version of the Lord’s Prayer:
Heavenly Father, May all revere Thee, And become Thy dutiful children and faithful subjects. May thy Laws be obeyed on earth as perfectly as they are in Heaven. Provide for us this day as Thou hast hitherto daily done. Forgive us our trespasses, and enable us likewise to forgive those that offend us. Keep us out of temptation and deliver us from Evil.471
Benjamin Franklin listed topics and doctrines, which he considered of vital importance, to be shared and preached:
That there is one God Father of the Universe.
That He [is] infinitely good, powerful and wise.
That He is omnipresent.
That He ought to be worshipped, by adoration, prayer and thanksgiving both in publick and private.
That He loves such of His creatures as love and do good to others: and will reward them either in this world or hereafter.
That men’s minds do not die with their bodies, but are made more happy or miserable after this life according to their actions.
That virtuous men ought to league together to strengthen the interest of virtue, in the world: and so strengthen themselves in virtue.
That knowledge and learning is to be cultivated, and ignorance dissipated. That none but the virtuous are wise. That man’s perfection is in virtue.472
Benjamin Franklin stated:
A Bible and a newspaper in every house, a good school in every district—all studied and appreciated as they merit—are the principal support of virtue, morality, and civil liberty.473
A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.474
God grant that not only the Love of Liberty but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nation.475
In his Autobiography, published in complete form in 1868, Franklin mentions a small book which he carried with him, listing 13 virtues:
1) Temperance: … drink not to elevation.
2) Silence: … avoid trifling conversation.
3) Order: Let all your things have their places …
4) Resolution: … perform without fail what you resolve.
5) Frugality: … i.e. waste nothing.
6) Industry: Lose no time; be always employ’d …
7) Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently …
8) Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries …
9) Moderation: Avoid extremes; forbear resenting …
10) Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanliness in body …
11) Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles …
12) Chastity:
13) Humility: Imitate Jesus.476
Benjamin Franklin noted in his Autobiography that he began each day by praying:
O Powerful Goodness! Bountiful Father! Merciful Guide! Increase in me that wisdom which discovers my truest interest. Strengthen my resolution to perform what that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to Thy other children as the only return in my power for Thy continual favours to me.477
In his Autobiography, Benjamin Franklin stated:
I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian; and tho’ some of the dogmas of that persuasion, such as the eternal degrees of God, election, reprobation, etc., appeared to me unintelligible, others doubtful, and I early absented myself from the public assemblies of the sect, Sunday being my studying day, I never was without some religious principles.
I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity; that He made the world, and govern’d it by His Providence; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter.
These I esteem’d the essentials of every religion; and, being to be found in all the religions we had in our country, I respected them all, tho’ with different degrees of respect, as I found them more or less mix’d with other articles, which without any tendency to inspire, promote, or confirm morality, serv’d principally to divide us, and make us unfriendly to one another.
This respect of all, with an opinion that the worst had some good effects, induc’d me to avoid all discourse that might tend to lessen the good opinion another might have of his own religion; and as our province increas’d in people, and new places of worship were continually wanted, and generally erected by voluntary contribution, my mite for such purpose, whatever might be the sect, was never refused.
Though I seldom attended any public worship, I had still an opinion of its propriety, and of its utility when rightly conducted, and I regularly paid my annual subscription for the support of the only Presbyterian minister or meeting we had in Philadelphia. He used to visit me sometimes as a friend, and admonish me to attend his administration.478
Many of Benjamin Franklin’s axioms are contained in his Maxims and Morals:
Contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct.
Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.
Without virtue man can have no happiness.
Virtue alone is sufficient to make a man great, glorious and happy.
Self-denial is really the highest self-gratification.
Hope and faith may be more firmly grounded upon Charity than Charity upon hope and faith.
Beware of little expenses.
I never doubted the existence of the Deity, that he made the world, and governed it by His Providence.
The event God only knows.
Good wives and good plantations are made by good husbands.
Let the fair sex be assured that I shall always treat them and their affairs with the utmost decency and respect.
Virtue is not secure until its practice has become habitual.
Nothing is so likely to make a man’s fortune as virtue.
My father convinced me that nothing was useful which was not honest.
The pleasures of this world are rather from God’s goodness than our own merit.
Search others for their virtues, thy self for thy vices.
Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no ambition corrupt thee, no example sway thee, no persuasion move thee to do anything which thou knowest to be evil; so thou shalt live jollily, for a good conscience is a continual Christmas.
Remember Job suffered and was afterwards prosperous.
Keep your eyes open before marriage, half shut afterwards.479
In 1742, Benjamin Franklin stated:
Young Man, my advice to you is that you cultivate an acquaintance with, and a firm belief in, the Holy Scriptures. This is your certain interest.480
On July 28, 1743, Benjamin Franklin wrote to his sister, Jane Mecom:
You express yourself as if you thought I was against Worshipping of God, and believed Good Works would merit Heaven; which are both Fancies of your own, I think, without Foundation.—I am so far from thinking that God is not to be worshipped, that I have compos’d and wrote a whole Book of Devotions for my own Use: And I imagine there are few, if any, in the World, so weake as to imagine, that the little Good we can do here, can merit so vast a Reward hereafter.
There are some Things in your New England Doctrines and Worship, which I do not agree with, but I do not therefore condemn them, or desire to shake your Belief or Practice of them. … 481
In “The Speech of Polly Baker,” printed in the Gentleman’s Magazine, April 1747, Benjamin Franklin referred to:
[The] great command of Nature and Nature’s God.482
In 1748, as Pennsylvania’s Governor, Benjamin Franklin proposed Pennsylvania’s first Fast Day:
It is the duty of mankind on all suitable occasions to acknowledge their dependence on the Divine Being … [so that] Almighty God would mercifully interpose and still the rage of war among the nations … [that] He would take this province under His protection, confound the designs and defeat the attempts of its enemies, and unite our hearts and strengthen our hands in every undertaking that may be for the public good, and for our defence and security in this time of danger.483
In Philadelphia, 1749, Benjamin Franklin stated in his Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania:
History will also afford the frequent opportunities of showing the necessity of a public religion, from its usefulness to the public; the advantage of a religious character among private persons; the mischiefs of superstition, &c. and the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern.484
On August 23, 1750, from Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin wrote to Dr. Samuel Johnson (October 14, 1696–January 6, 1772), the first President of King’s College (now Columbia University) regarding education:
I think with you, that nothing is of more importance for the public weal, than to form and train up youth in wisdom and virtue. … I think also, general virtue is more probably to be expected and obtained from the education of youth, than from the exhortation of adult persons; bad habits and vices of the mind being, like diseases of the body, more easily prevented than cured.
I think, moreover, that talents for the education of youth are the gift of God; and that he on whom they are bestowed, whenever a way is opened for the use of them, is as strongly called as if he heard a voice from heaven.485
On June 6, 1753, Benjamin Franklin wrote from Philadelphia to Joseph Huey:
I can only show my gratitude for these mercies from God, by a readiness to help his other children and my brethren. For I do not think that thanks and compliments, though repeated weekly, can discharge our real obligations to each other, and much less those to our Creator.
You will see in this my notion of good works, that I am far from expecting to merit heaven by them. By heaven we understand a state of happiness, infinite in degree, and eternal in duration. I can do nothing to deserve such rewards. … Even the mixed, imperfect pleasures we enjoy in this world, are rather from God’s goodness than our merit; how much more such happiness of heaven!
For my part I have not the vanity to think I deserve it … but content myself in submitting to the will and disposal of that God who made me, who has hitherto preserved and blessed me, and in whose fatherly goodness I may well confide, that he will never make me miserable; and that even the afflictions I may at any time suffer shall tend to my benefit.
The faith you mention has certainly its use in the world. I do not desire to see it diminished, nor would I endeavor to lessen it in any man. But I wish it were more productive of good works, than I have generally seen it; I mean real good works; works of kindness, charity, mercy, and public spirit; not holiday-keeping, sermon-reading or hearing; performing church ceremonies, or making long prayers, filled with flatteries and compliments …
The worship of God is a duty; the hearing and reading of sermons may be useful; but, if men rest in hearing and praying, as too many do, it is as if a tree should value itself on being watered and putting forth leaves, though it never produce any fruit.486
In Some Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital from its first rise (1751), to the beginning of the fifth month, called May 1754, Benjamin Franklin stated:
It would be a neglect of that justice which is due to the physicians and surgeons of this hospital, not to acknowledge that their care and skill, and their punctual and regular attendance, under the Divine Blessing, has been a principal means of advancing this charity to the flourishing state in which we have now the pleasure to view it.
Relying on the continuance of the Favour of Heaven, upon the future endeavors of all who may be concerned in the management of the institution, for its further advancement, we close this account with the abstract of a sermon, preached before the Governors … 487
The Hospital cornerstone recorded text composed by Franklin:
In the year of Christ, 1755: … This building, by the bounty of the Government and of many private persons, was piously founded, for the relief of the sick and miserable. May the God of mercies bless the undertaking!488
In 1754, in a pamphlet entitled Information to Those Who Would Remove to America, Benjamin Franklin wrote to Europeans interested in immigrating or sending their youth to this land:
Hence bad examples to youth are more rare in America, which must be a comfortable consideration to parents. To this may be truly added, that serious religion, under its various denominations, is not only tolerated, but respected and practised.
Atheism is unknown there; Infidelity rare and secret; so that persons may live to a great age in that country without having their piety shocked by meeting with either an Atheist or an Infidel.
And the Divine Being seems to have manifested his approbation of the mutual forbearance and kindness with which the different sects treat each other; by the remarkable prosperity with which he has been pleased to favor the whole country.489
In 1757, in an essay entitled The Ways to Wealth, composed while sailing as a Colonial Agent to England, Benjamin Franklin wrote:
This doctrine, my friends, is reason and wisdom; but after all, do not depend too much upon your own industry, and frugality, and prudence, though excellent things, for they may all be blasted without the blessing of Heaven; and therefore, ask that blessing humbly, and be not uncharitable to those that at the present seem to want [lack] it, but comfort and help them. Remember, Job suffered, and was afterwards prosperous.490
On November 8, 1764, Benjamin Franklin wrote to his daughter, Sarah:
Go constantly to church, whoever preaches. The act of devotion in the Common Prayer Book is your principle business there, and if properly attended to, will do more towards amending the heart than sermons generally can do.
For they were composed by men of much greater piety and wisdom, than our common composers of sermons can pretend to be; and therefore I wish you would never miss the prayer days; yet I do not mean you should despise sermons, even of preachers you dislike, for the discourse is often much better than the man, as sweet and clear waters come through very dirty earth.
I am the more particular, on this head, as you seemed to express a little before I came away some inclination to leave our church, which I would not have you do.491
On January 1, 1769, Benjamin Franklin penned a letter to Lord James:
The moral character and happiness of mankind, are so interwoven with the operation of government, and the progress of the arts and sciences is so dependent on the nature of our political institutions, that it is essential to the advancement of civilized society to give ample discussion to these topics.492
Benjamin Franklin had become very close friends with George Whitefield, the renowned preacher of the Great Awakening. In his Autobiography, Franklin wrote of having attended the crusades of George Whitefield at the Philadelphia Courthouse steps. He noted over 30,000 people were present, and that Whitefield’s voice could be heard nearly a mile away. Benjamin Franklin became very appreciative of the preaching of George Whitefield, even to the extent of printing many of his sermons and journals.
So great was the response of the Colonies to Whitefield’s preaching of the Gospel, that the churches were not able to hold the people. Benjamin Franklin built a grand auditorium for the sole purpose of having his friend George Whitefield preach in it when he came to Pennsylvania. After the crusades, Franklin donated the auditorium to be the first building of the University of Pennsylvania. A bronze statue of George Whitefield still stands in front, commemorating the Great Awakening Revivals in the colonies prior to the Revolutionary War.
In 1739, noting the effects of George Whitefield’s ministry and the resulting Christian influence on city life, Benjamin Franklin later recorded in his Autobiography:
It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk thro’ the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street.493
In 1752, Benjamin Franklin received a letter from his friend George Whitefield, who wrote:
My Dear Doctor. … I find that you grow more and more famous in the learned world.494
In 1764, Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter George Whitefield, ending with the salutation:
Your frequently repeated Wishes and Prayers for my Eternal as well as temporal Happiness are very obliging. I can only thank you for them, and offer you mine in return.495
In 1769, George Whitefield wrote to Benjamin Franklin on the night before his last trip to America. In this last surviving letter, Whitefield shared his desire that both he and Franklin would:
Be in that happy number of those who, in the midst of the tremendous final blaze, shall cry Amen.496
In the last letter Benjamin Franklin wrote to George Whitefield, he expressed:
Life, like a dramatic piece, should … finish handsomely. Being now in the last act, I began to cast about for something fit to end with. …
I sometimes wish, that you and I were jointly employ’d by the Crown to settle a colony on the Ohio … to settle in that fine country a strong body of religious and industrious people! …
Might it not greatly facilitate the introduction of pure religion among the heathen, if we could, by such a colony, show them a better sample of Christians than they commonly see in our Indian traders?497
In July of 1776, Benjamin Franklin was appointed part of a committee to draft a seal for the newly united states which would characterize the spirit of this new nation. He proposed:
Moses lifting up his wand, and dividing the red sea, and pharaoh in his chariot overwhelmed with the waters. This motto: “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.”498
Benjamin Franklin is attributed to have stated in a letter to the French ministry, March 1778:
Whoever shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.499
Franklin was responsible for bringing France into the Revolutionary War on the side of the Colonies, which proved to be of vital importance to cause of independence. He also went to Paris in August 1781 to negotiate the Treaty of Paris, which ended the War with the British on September 3, 1783. The terms of this treaty were described as “so advantageous to the Colonies that it has been called the greatest achievement in the history of American diplomacy.”500
In the name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity. It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the hearts of the most serene and most potent Prince George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, … and of the United States of America, to forget all past misunderstandings and differences. … Done at Paris, this third day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three.
D. Hartley
John Adams
B. Franklin
John Jay.501
As an ambassador of the United States, Benjamin Franklin was at a dinner of foreign dignitaries in Versailles. The minister of Great Britain proposed a toast to King George III, likening him to the sun. The French minister, in like kind, proposed a toast to King Louis XVI, comparing him with the moon. Benjamin Franklin stood up and toasted:
George Washington, Commander of the American armies, who, like Joshua of old, commanded the sun and the moon to stand still, and they obeyed him.502
In 1784, to Robert R. Livingston, Benjamin Franklin wrote:
I am now entering on my 78th year. … If I live to see this peace concluded, I shall beg leave to remind the Congress of their promise, then to dismiss me. I shall be happy to sing with old Simeon, “Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.”503
In a letter dated April 17, 1787, Benjamin Franklin stated:
Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.504
On Thursday, June 28, 1787, Benjamin Franklin delivered a speech to the Constitutional Convention, which was embroiled in a debate over how each state was to be represented in the new government. The hostile feelings, created by the smaller states being pitted against the larger states, was so bitter that some delegates actually left the Convention.
Benjamin Franklin, being the President (Governor) of Pennsylvania, hosted the rest of the 55 delegates attending the Convention. Being the senior member of the convention at 81 years of age, he commanded the respect of all present, and, as recorded in James Madison’s detailed records, rose to speak in this moment of crisis:
Mr. President:
The small progress we have made after 4 or 5 weeks close attendance & continual reasonings with each other—our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many noes as ayes, is methinks a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the Human Understanding.
We indeed seem to feel our own want of political wisdom, since we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of Government, and examined the different forms of those Republics which, having been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution, now no longer exist. And we have viewed Modern States all round Europe, but find none of their Constitutions suitable to our circumstances.
In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understanding?
In the beginning of the Contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for Divine protection.—Our prayers, Sir, were heard, & they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a Superintending Providence in our favor.
To that kind Providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?
I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?
We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that “except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages.
And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.
I therefore beg leave to move—that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.505
The response of the convention to Dr. Benjamin Franklin’s speech was reported by General Jonathan Dayton, the delegate from New Jersey and later Speaker of the House of Representatives, to William Steele:
The Doctor sat down; and never did I behold a countenance at once so dignified and delighted as was that of Washington at the close of the address; nor were the members of the convention generally less affected. The words of the venerable Franklin fell upon our ears with a weight and authority, even greater that we may suppose an oracle to have had in a Roman senate!506
Following Franklin’s historical address, Roger Sherman of Connecticut seconded his motion.507 Edmund Jennings Randolph of Virginia moved:
That a sermon be preached at the request of the convention on the 4th of July, the anniversary of Independence; & thenceforward prayers be used in ye Convention every morning. [Dr. Franklin seconded this motion.]508
The clergy of the city responded to this request and effected a profound change in the convention, as noted by General Jonathan Dayton when they reconvened, July 2, 1787:
We assembled again; and … every unfriendly feeling had been expelled, and a spirit of conciliation had been cultivated.509
On July 4th, the entire Convention assembled in the Reformed Calvinistic Lutheran Church, according to the proposal by Edmund Jennings Randolph of Virginia, and heard a sermon by Rev. William Rogers. His prayer reflected the hearts of the delegates following Franklin’s admonition:
We fervently recommend to the fatherly notice … our federal convention … Favor them, from day to day, with thy inspiring presence; be their wisdom and strength; enable them to devise such measures as may prove happy instruments in healing all divisions and prove the good of the great whole; … that the United States of America may form one example of a free and virtuous government …
May we … continue, under the influence of republican virtue, to partake of all the blessings of cultivated and Christian society.510
The Reverend James Campbell exhorted the delegates to establish a:
Free and vigorous government.511
On September 19, 1787, after the Constitutional Convention endorsed the final form of the Constitution, Ben Franklin went outside the hall in Philadelphia and was asked by a Mrs. Powell: “Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin replied:
A republic, if you can keep it.512
In a speech he delivered in 1788, Benjamin Franklin stated:
There seems to me at present to be great occasion for raising a United Party for Virtue, by forming the virtuous and good men of all nations into a regular body, to be governed by suitable good and wise rules, which good and wise men may probably be more unanimous in their obedience to, than common people are to common laws. I at present think that whoever attempts this aright, and is well qualified, cannot fail of pleasing God and of meeting with success.513
On April 9, 1789, only nine days after the first Constitutional Congress convened with a quorum, the House of Representatives and the Senate approved having chaplains open every session with prayer, paying them a salary of $500 each.514
On March 9, 1790, Benjamin Franklin wrote to Ezra Stiles, President of Yale University:
Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshipped.
That the most acceptable service we render to Him is in doing good to His other Children. That the soul of Man is immortal, and will be treated with Justice in another Life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound Religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever Sect I meet with them.
As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, is the best the World ever saw, or is likely to see;
But I apprehend it has received various corrupting changes, and I have, with most of the present dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity; though it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed, if that belief has the good consequence, as probably it has, of making his doctrines more respected and more observed; especially as I do not perceive, that the Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the unbelievers in his government of the world with any peculiar marks of his displeasure.515
In closing his letter to Ezra Stiles, March 9, 1790, Benjamin Franklin mentioned his generosity to all denominations. Dying less than two months later, Franklin’s goodwill was evidenced by the entire membership of the clergy of Philadelphia leading his funeral procession as he was buried in the Old Christ Church cemetery. Benjamin Franklin concluded:
I shall only add, respecting myself, that having experienced the goodness of that Being in conducting me prosperously through a long life, I have no doubt of its continuance in the next, without the smallest conceit of meriting it. …
All sects here, and we have a great variety, have experienced my good will in assisting them with subscriptions for building their new places of worship; and, as I never opposed any of their doctrines, I hope to go out of the world in peace with them all.516
Benjamin Franklin wrote his own epitaph:
THE BODY
of
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Printer
Like the cover of an old book,
Its contents torn out,
And stripped of its lettering and gilding
Lies here, food for worms;
Yet the work itself shall not be lost,
For it will (as he believed) appear once more,
In a new,
And more beautiful edition,
Corrected and amended
By The AUTHOR517
On the pew in Christ Church belonging to Franklin’s family is written:
Here worshipped Benjamin Franklin, philosopher and patriot. … Member of the Committee which erected the Spire of the Church. Interred according to the terms of his will in this churchyard.518