Franklin

I mentioned in a recent post that in reading the biography of Benjamin Franklin, I had decided to avoid idolization. Somehow, the knowledge of his flaws, his "human-ness", brought about a recognition of the fundamental humanity of everyone. It wasn't that I had thought Franklin was perfect, just extraordinary admirable and especially...motivated? True to his dreams? Something along those lines. In a sense I was right.

Benjamin Franklin was an extraordinary man who led an admirable life and likely had little to regret. Perhaps his most impressive traits were his tactful diplomacy and practical wisdom. These two traits were fundamental in his work in his later years negotiating with France to ensure the colonies independence and in his contributions to the drafting of the constitution in 1787. As he grew older (and presumably wiser) he turned his considerable aptitudes toward improving the "public good" - as opposed to a period in his twenties, where it seemed he was more focused on, well, financial success.

Richard Beeman recently wrote a book detailing the creation of the constitution: Plain, Honest Men. The Making of the American Constitution*. He discusses the compromises made by both sides to create it (including the compromise on slavery, which he presents disparagingly from my understanding). Franklin, 81 at the time, was a voice strongly in favor of compromise. His many years as a diplomat had taught him a lot about policy making. Statements like (paraphrased) "I have learned that men hotly expressing their viewpoints and their inability to change them rarely leads to a productive debate helped to put things in perspective for a number of men, who, like many I know, had their own flaws" really helped to nudge the political debate in a productive direction.

I won't be summing up his lifetime of achievements here (at least not in this post) - I just wanted to clarify is that Franklin led an exciting and productive life: I didn't mean to vilify him in my last post, he just happened to be the catalyst for one of my many personal revelations.

* This book review is by Walter Isaacson, the same author who wrote the book on Franklin that I, well, listened to. He also wrote the Einstein book! *