Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine both came from similar backgrounds and shared much commonality during their early years, however, each embarked on life paths from different perspectives. It seems Paine was more a revolutionary and anti-establishment, while Franklin was more a statesman and progressive.

Benjamin Franklin came from a modest family and at the age of thirteen began as an apprentice for his bother (Franklin pp). Franklin was well-read and established himself in the printing business as an author of political dissent against colonialism early in life, one article of which sent his brother to jail for a month (Franklin pp). He then left Boston for Philadelphia where, due to his gregarious nature, he acquired many friends, one of whom was the governor of Pennsylvania, Sir William Keith, who persuaded Franklin to go to London to finish his training and return to start his own printing establishment (Franklin pp). His personality and demeanor again won him recognition among many of the most distinguished figures in the literary and publishing world (Franklin pp). When Franklin returned he bought the Pennsylvania Gazette and married Deborah Read, a Philadelphia woman whom he had known before his trip to England (Franklin pp).

Franklin was a true renaissance man who was engaged in numerous research and public projects (Franklin pp). He founded the first public library in America, published the successful Poor Richard's Almanack, founded the American Philosophical Society dedicated to the promotion of science, and in 1744, invented the Franklin stove, which furnished more heat with less fuel consumption (Franklin pp). He was also clerk of the Pennsylvania General Assembly and was appointed deputy postmaster (Franklin pp). It was also during this time that Franklin organized the first fire company and introduced methods for the improvement of street paving and lighting (Franklin pp). Then of course there were the experiments with lightning and the lightning rod, for which he received honorary degrees from the University of Saint Andrews and the University of Oxford and became a fellow of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge and was awarded its Copley Medal (Franklin pp).

Moreover, his Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania led to the establishment of the Academy of Philadelphia which later became the University of Pennsylvania (Franklin pp). All of this was accomplished by the mid-1700's.

Franklin's political career covers 1750 until his death. His Albany Plan was in many ways prophetic of the 1787 U.S. Constitution, for it provided for local independence within a framework of colonial union and was chosen as a member of the Second Continental Congress and was appointed postmaster general (Franklin pp). He became one of the committee of five chosen to draft the Declaration of Independence and was also one of the signers (Franklin pp). And again due to his gracious manner and humor, he managed to obtain liberal grants and loans from France to help finance the Revolution and as a dignitary of one of the most distinguished Freemason lodges in France, he socialized with many of the philosophers and leading figures of the French Revolution (Franklin pp). Before his death, Franklin helped draw up the U.S. Constitution and petitioned the U.S. Congress to abolish slavery and slave trade (Franklin pp).

Benjamin Franklin was a natural statesman, possessing tact, poise, wit, charm, intellect, and diplomacy, and perhaps more than all, he was a natural public servant (Franklin pp). By all accounts, Franklin was a secure human in all areas of his life, private and public. Thomas Paine on the other hand, seems to have had a more troubled private life, widowed and then divorced, which may or may not have had some bearing on his public personality (Paine pp). After befriending Franklin in England, Paine became editor of the Pennsylvania Magazine and published anonymously several publications, including African Slavery in America, in which he condemned the practice (Paine pp). In 1776, he published his most famous work, a fifty page pamphlet called, Common Sense, advocating the colonies become independent from Great Britain (Paine pp). He served briefly under General Nathanael Greene and his series of pamphlets published between 1776-1783, called The American Crisis, was so inspiring that

George Washington ordered them read to his troops (Paine pp). Paine was appointed secretary of the Committee of Foreign Affairs by the Second Continental Congress, however some two years later he lost his post due to a political dispute and then became clerk of the Pennsylvania legislature (Paine pp). Despite his own lack of income, he established a fund to support needy soldiers, and although he himself applied to Congress for financial help, his plea was buried by his opponents (Paine pp). New York finally gave him in a farm in New Rochelle (Paine pp).