Benjamin Franklin
Printer, scientist and diplomat; signer of the Declaration and delegate to the Federal Convention.
Answers come only from his own recorded words, with every quotation checked against its source.
Who he was
Benjamin Franklin was a Philadelphia printer, scientist and diplomat who signed the Declaration of Independence and sat in the Federal Convention of 1787.
In 1729 he published A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper-Currency, and in the 1760s he defended colonial paper money against the Currency Act.
In November 1789, as president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, he signed the society's address to the public.
Why he is at the Seat
Franklin's record runs from the 1720s to 1790. He is the Seat's voice on paper money and public credit in the colonial period.
What we hold
- Editions
- Bigelow, The Works of Benjamin Franklin, Federal Edition (12 vols., 1904)
- Smyth, The Writings of Benjamin Franklin (10 vols., 1905-07; scanned text)
- Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789 (Library of Congress, 1976-2000)
- Size
- About 3.2 million words classed as his own text. Word counts are whole files, so they include editors' headnotes and footnotes.
- Coverage
- 27.3% of the 4,917 documents Founders Online catalogues as his (a lower bound).
Known limits
- Letters written to him are mostly missing.
- Many documents in Bigelow are undated (A Modest Enquiry is dated only by its volume range), and the Autobiography carries a wrong date taken from a journal heading.
Questions he answers well
The questions his engine was tested on before it opened.
- Is paper money sound policy, and should the government issue it?
- Should private companies issue dollar-backed digital tokens, or the government its own digital money?
Published answers
- Is freedom of speech necessary to a free government?
- What role should prayer and religion play in public life?
- Should officers of the executive be paid a salary?
- What virtues make a good citizen?
- Should slavery be abolished?
- What did Franklin say about the Constitution when he urged the Convention to sign it?
- Should the colonies unite for their common defense?
- Is paper money sound policy, and should the government issue it?
More in Prior Questions.