He also related how his small group of friends played tricks with their unwitting neighbors. His friends would set fire on alcohol, rekindled candles blown out, imitate lightning flashes or by touching or kissing and make an artificial spider move (Bellis). Using the Leyden jar, Benjamin made an electrical batter, roasted a fowl on a spit fired with electricity, ignited alcohol by electricity through water, fired gunpowder and shocked wine

Franklin, instead, was able to see the advantages in unfortunate situations, and to use them to his own benefit. He was able to admit that he was a marginal poet and go on to do other things rather than feel injured or insecure. Again, I feel that having been educated and a talented reader/writer was responsible for much of Franklin's genius, but the ability to be grateful for hardship, to

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

Benjamin Franklin -- Writer, Inventor, Founding Father, and First True American George Washington may be the father of his country, but Ben Franklin is the first true American. While George Washington was born a wealthy and propertied Virginia landowner in the European aristocratic tradition, and made his fame as a highborn and commanding military general for the crown during the French and Indian Wars, Benjamin Franklin was born to a poor

Isaacson, Walter. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. Simon & Schuster, 2000. It is George Washington who is usually referred to as the father of our American Nation. Benjamin Franklin, in contrast, more often than not takes on the status of the friendly and eccentric uncle, given his greater age, his propensity towards scientific experimentation and innovation as well as political action, and even his renowned fondness for making the turkey the

Self-Made Man and the Recipient of Divine Grace: Benjamin Franklin vs. Jonathan Edwards Despite the fact that both Benjamin Franklin and Jonathan Edwards are honored as two of the greatest authors of colonial America, they could not be more different in their ideological orientations. Edwards (1703-1758) is perhaps most famous for penning the image of the human soul as a spider in the hand of a merciful God, suspended above the