| A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain Contributor(s): Franklin, Benjamin (Author) |
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ISBN: 1494918846 ISBN-13: 9781494918842 Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform OUR PRICE: $7.83 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: January 2014 * Not available - Not in print at this time * |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Essays |
| Physical Information: 0.07" H x 5.06" W x 7.81" (0.09 lbs) 32 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain is an essay by Benjamin Franklin, a founder of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, a carriage odometer, and the glass 'armonica'. He facilitated many civic organizations, including a fire department and a university. Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity; as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies, then as the first United States Ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation. Franklin was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism both political and religious, with the scientific and tolerant values of the Enlightenment. In the words of historian Henry Steele Commager, "In a Franklin could be merged the virtues of Puritanism without its defects, the illumination of the Enlightenment without its heat." To Walter Isaacson, this makes Franklin "the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become." Franklin, always proud of his working class roots, became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies. He was also partners with William Goddard and Joseph Galloway the three of whom published the Pennsylvania Chronicle, a newspaper that was known for its revolutionary sentiments and criticisms of the British monarchy in the American colonies. He became wealthy publishing Poor Richard's Almanack and The Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin gained international renown as a scientist for his famous experiments in electricity and for his many inventions, especially the lightning rod. He played a major role in establishing the University of Pennsylvania and was elected the first president of the American Philosophical Society. Franklin became a national hero in America when he spearheaded the effort to have Parliament repeal the unpopular Stamp Act. An accomplished diplomat, he was widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris and was a major figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations. His efforts to secure support for the American revolution by shipments of crucial supply to the British Colony through associations with Marquis de Lafayette and other prominent French aristocrats of the time have made him a prominent figure, also as a strategist. |