Value of Time

                Families, communities, and nations are strengthened by people who understand the value of time.  Each life consists of many increments of time – seconds, minutes, days, weeks, months, and years, and people who understand the value of time learn to use it wisely. 

Benjamin Franklin knew the value of time and explained its value well:  “Dost thou love life?  Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.”

                In another instance Franklin taught that time is money.  “`What is the price of that book?’ at length asked a man who had been dawdling for an hour in the front store of Benjamin Franklin’s newspaper establishment.  `One dollar,’ replied the clerk.  `One dollar,’ echoed the lounger; `can’t you take less than that?’  `One dollar is the price,’ was the answer.

                “The would–be purchaser looked over the books on sale awhile longer, and then inquired:  `Is Mr. Franklin in?’  `Yes,’ said the clerk.  `He is very busy in the press-room.’  `Well, I want to see him,’ persisted the man.  The proprietor was called, and the stranger asked:  `What is the lowest price, Mr. Franklin, that you can take for that book?’  `One dollar and a quarter,’ was the prompt rejoinder.  `One dollar and a quarter!  Why, your clerk asked me only a dollar, just now.’  `True,’ said Franklin, `and I could have better afforded to take a dollar than to leave my work.’

                “The man seemed surprised; but, wishing to end a parley of his own seeking, he demanded:  `Well, come now, tell me your lowest price for this book.’  `One dollar and a half,’ replied Franklin.  `One dollar and a half!  Why, you offered it yourself for a dollar and a quarter.’  `Yes,’ said Franklin coolly, `and I could better have taken that price then than a dollar and half now.’

                “The man silently laid the money on the counter, took his book, and left the store, having received a salutary lesson from a master in the art of transmuting time, at will, into either wealth or wisdom.”  (Author Orison Marden) 

                People who know the value of time and use it wisely can accomplish much by using minutes that would ordinarily be wasted.  Many of us look at the clock and think, “There are only a few minutes before I must be such a place or do such a thing;” wise people put those few minutes to good use.  In less than ten minutes one could clean out and organize a kitchen drawer or iron a shirt or read a page in a book.  Some people have learned new languages by using small amounts of time wisely.  Others have written books, just one page at a time.  Longfellow translated the Inferno by snatches of ten minutes each day while he waited for his beverage to boil.  A person could study any subject for one hour a day and become an expert in that subject in just a few years.

                I purchased an extra kitchen timer in order to have one to carry around the house.  I often set the timer for fifteen minutes in order to see how far I can get on a needed project.  A room can be picked up and tidied in fifteen minutes.  A talent can be developed with fifteen minutes of piano practice each day.  Fifteen minutes of scripture study can develop a scriptorian.  Fifteen minutes of exercise can develop a healthy body.  Fifteen minutes spent with a child will make a happy child. 

                Benjamin Franklin used his time wisely and became a famous statesman, a respected scientist, a printer, and an inventor.  We can make our lives more productive and successful by using our time wisely and thus strengthen our families, communities, and nations.

Benjamin Franklin

                Benjamin Franklin, one of the most famous of our Founding Fathers and a signer of the United States Constitution, was born January 17, 1706, on Milk Street in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Benjamin’s father, Josiah Franklin, was born at Ecton, Northamptonshire, England, on December 23, 1657, the son of Jane White and Thomas Franklin, a blacksmith-farmer.  Benjamin’s mother, Abiah Folger, was born on August 15, 1667, in Nantucket, Massachusetts, the daughter of Peter Folger, a miller and schoolteacher, and his wife Mary Morrill, a former indentured servant.

Josiah Franklin had a large family of seventeen children.  He married Anne Child, in about 1677 in Ecton and immigrated with her to Boston in 1683 with their three children; they had four children after arriving in America.  After Anne’s death, Josiah married Abiah Folger on July 9, 1689, in the Old South Meeting House by Samuel Willard.  Benjamin was the eighth child of Abiah and Josiah; however, he was Josiah’s fifteenth child and tenth and last son.

Abiah Folger Franklin was born into one of the Puritan families that fled from England when King Charles I began persecuting Puritans.  They immigrated to Massachusetts in 1635 in order to establish a purified Congregationalist Christianity there.  Abiah’s father was “the sort of rebel destined to transform colonial America.” He was clerk of the court when he was jailed for defending middle-class shopkeepers and artisans who were in conflict with wealthy landowners and disobeying the local magistrate in doing so.  Benjamin Franklin followed in his grandfather’s footsteps while battling the wealthy Penn family that owned the Pennsylvania Colony. 

Benjamin was never ashamed of his roots in the working class and became famous due to his willingness to work and try new things.  He became a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman and diplomat.  Franklin 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.”

Benjamin Franklin is known as “The First American” for his early and tireless campaign for colonial unity and as an author and spokesman for several colonies while in London.  While serving 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.’”

As the British postmaster in the colonies for many years, Franklin set up the first national communications network.  He was also active in affairs and politics on the community, colonial, state, national, and international levels.  He served as Governor of Pennsylvania from 1785 to 1788.  He became “one of the most prominent abolitionists” when he freed his slaves toward the end of his life.

Franklin is “one of America’s most influential Founding Fathers” because of his colorful life as well as his legacy of scientific and political achievement.  He is honored on coinage, money, warships, names of many towns, counties, educational institutions, namesakes, and companies.  Even two centuries after his death, he is honored in countless cultural references.

               Benjamin Franklin married Deborah Read, and the couple was blessed with three children (William Franklin, Francis Folger Franklin, and Sarah Franklin Bache.

Dependence on Government

                    The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is the fact that dependence on government destroys economic independence and also has moral and cultural consequences.  Dependence in and of itself is not a bad thing because it is a natural part of life.  As individuals look to family, friends, neighbors and churches for support, we tend to strengthen relationships and build character as we work together for the good of all.  Dependence on government handouts has the opposite effect; being government dependents weakens individuals, families, communities, and nations.

                    Dependence on the government grew by 8.1 percent in 2011 while the taxpaying population is shrinking.  Approximately fifty percent of U.S. households do not pay any income taxes while seventy percent of our annual national budget goes for entitlement programs.  Our nation is now facing historic budget deficits, which are causing a lower rate of economic growth.  This increase on government subsidies is threatening our civil society as the gap between rich and poor increases and more problems divide our communities.  Our nation is not only staring bankruptcy in the face, but we are facing social collapse as well.

                    Bill Beach, director of the Center for Data Analysis at The Heritage Foundation, stated, "With government dependence, a person goes to a bureaucrat and is given aid without any expectation of anything in return.  As a consequence, people don't have an incentive to get off of that aid, and they're not building personal strength or community bonds.  The only thing expanding is the power of the state" (Heritage Member News, Spring 2012).

                    The same publication included a good explanation for the difference between the effects generated by private support activities and government subsidies.   Representative Allen West (R-FL) explained this difference very well when he wrote the following in a guest post on The Foundry, Heritage's blog.  "The social safety net - in conjunction with generosity from neighborhood groups, churches, charities, and private companies - can help lift Americans out of poverty and toward the path of self-reliance and individual prosperity.  However, that `net' should never turn into a `hammock.'"

                    Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney received a lot of bad publicity when he stated that he was "not concerned about the very poor.  We have a safety net there…."  Even though Romney could have phrased the situation better, he was entirely correct in his statement.

                    Robert Rector of The Heritage Foundation wrote an article about the safety net for the poor.   Rector included this statement in his article:  "The federal government operates more than 70 means-tested welfare or anti-poverty programs, among them Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), the earned income credit, Supplemental Security Income, Food Stamps, the Women Infants and Children (WIC) food program, Medicaid, public housing, low-income energy assistance and the Social Service Block Grant.  These programs provide cash, food, housing, medical care and targeted services to poor and near-poor Americans.

                    "In fiscal year 2011, federal and state government spent $910 billion on these programs. (This sum does not include Social Security, Medicare or Unemployment Insurance.)  How much is $910 billion?  Well, that comes to around $9,000 for each lower-income American.

                    "Federal means-tested welfare spending has jumped 40 percent since President Obama took office.  Of course, it is not unreasonable for welfare spending to rise during a recession.  But the big secret is that, under Obama's budget plans, this spending will not go back down when the recession ends….

                    "Discussions about welfare and poverty in America often are confused by a lack of understanding about what it means to be `poor' in the U.S."

                    None of us wish to see starving children roaming our streets, but we must use common sense.  We must bring fiscal security to our government and nation, and we must do so in a way that increases personal responsibility in every American where possible.

                    The "nanny state" vision of liberals/progressives does nothing more than destroy personal initiative and self-reliance and keep Americans in the "hammock" described by Representative Allen West.  The Left believes that government entitlement programs are compassionate, but they are wrong except maybe in the cases of truly needy people.  Government subsidies enslave people and destroy their capabilities to meet their own needs.  Every wise parent - including Heavenly Father - knows that children of all ages must accept responsibility to meet his/her own needs before asking or expecting someone else to do so.  I had my own experiences of giving my children too much assistance and seeing them sit back and let me do their work.  These experiences plus experiences outside my family have taught me that we do not help people by assisting them without requiring them to work for what they receive.      

          

The Heritage Foundation issued The 2012 Indexof Dependence on Government, written by William Beach and Patrick Tyrrell, under the date of February 8, 2012.  The Index begins "The great and calamitous fiscal trends of our time - dependence on government by an increasing portion of the American population, and soaring debt that threatens the financial integrity of the economy - worsened yet again in 2010 and 2011.  The United States has long reached the point at which it must reverse the direction of both trends or face economic and social collapse.  Yet policymakers made little progress on either front since the 2010 Index of Dependence on Government was published.  Today, more people than ever before - 67.3 million Americans, from college students to retirees to welfare beneficiaries - depend on the federal government for housing, food, income, student aid, or other assistance once considered to be the responsibility of individuals, families, neighborhoods, churches, and other civil society institutions.  The United States reached another milestone in 2010:  For the first time in history, half the population pays no federal income taxes. Related to these disturbing trends, publicly held debt continued its amazing ascent without any plan by the government to pay it back.  As if those circumstances were not dire enough, the country is about to witness the largest generational retirement in world history by a population that will depend on currently bankrupted pension and health programs.

                    "The 2012 Index of Dependence on Government highlights the gathering fiscal storm clouds.  Unsustainable increases in dependent populations predate the recent recession - and continuing economic morass - and have continued to rise since the economy collapsed in 2008 and 2009.  There is one silver lining to those clouds:  A few policymakers and independent public policy groups have advanced plans for restoring fiscal balance in Washington.  Among them is The Heritage Foundation.  Heritage calls its fiscal plan Saving the American Dream.  The Heritage plan reforms and funds those government programs that matter most to people who need the government's help, and it frees the private sector to create the millions of jobs that will dramatically reduce the growth of dependence on government.

                    "Virtually no issue so dominates the current public policy debate as the future financial health of the U.S. government.  Americans are haunted by the specter of enormously growing mountains of debt that suck the economic and social vitality out of this country.  Only the intrepidly stagnant and jobless economic recovery garners more attention, and many are beginning to believe that even that sluggishness is tied to the nation's growing burden of publicly held debt."

                    This is the tenth year that The Heritage Foundation has issued this report, warning us about our growing dependence on government programs.  The index was first measured in 1962 and is now 15 times the original amount.  The Index has some wonderful charts showing the stark situation our nation is in with one in five Americans dependent on government - that figure does not include government employees - and our national income shrinking due to fewer taxpayers.

                    Bill Beach and Bill O'Reilly discuss the findings of the experts at The Heritage Fountain in this video.   


                    I like Benjamin Franklin's idea on how to help the poor:  "I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means.  I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.  In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer.  And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."  ("Management of the Poor" [1766] as quoted by Patriot Post) 

Attacks on Religious Freedom

                    The Obama Administration is attacking our First Amendment right of Freedom of Religion.  In some cases, it is just nibbling away, but in other cases, it is biting off huge chunks.  Some of the worst dangers to our freedoms come under the framework of ObamaCare.  Freedom of Religion is just the first casualty of ObamaCare, and more will follow.

                    Historian David Barton claims that President Obama is anti-Biblical, and he has compiled a list of all the ways the Obama Administration has shown hostility to Christians and Jews.  His article begins:  "When one observes President Obama's unwillingness to accommodate America's four-century long religious conscience protection through his attempts to require Catholics to go against their own doctrines and beliefs, one is tempted to say that he is anti-Catholic.  But that characterization would not be correct. Although he has recently singled out Catholics, he has equally targeted traditional Protestant beliefs over the past four years.  So since he has attacked Catholics and Protestants, one is tempted to say that he is anti-Christian.  But that, too, would be inaccurate.  He has been equally disrespectful in his appalling treatment of religious Jews in general and Israel in particular.  So perhaps the most accurate description of his antipathy toward Catholics, Protestants, religious Jews, and the Jewish nation would be to characterize him as anti-Biblical. And then when his hostility toward Biblical people of faith is contrasted with his preferential treatment of Muslims and Muslim nations, it further strengthens the accuracy of the anti-Biblical descriptor.  In fact, there have been numerous clearly documented times when his pro-Islam positions have been the cause of his anti-Biblical actions."

                    Barton compiled his list in the following chronological order:  "(1) numerous records of his attacks on Biblical persons or organizations; (2) examples of the hostility toward Biblical faith that have become evident in the past three years in the Obama-led military; (3) a listing of his open attacks on Biblical values; and finally (4) a listing of numerous incidents of his preferential deference for Islam's activities and positions, including letting his Islamic advisors guide and influence his hostility toward people of Biblical faith."

We live in very perilous times, much like those the Apostle Paul said would come in the latter-days (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

"For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boaster, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy.

"Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers [slanderers], incontinent [without self-control], fierce, despisers of those that are good,

"Traitors, heady [rash, reckless], highminded [puffed up, conceited], lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:  from such turn away."

We must stand in defense of our religious freedom or lose our nation as we know it.  President John Adams made two different statements that should illuminate how bad our situation really is.  The first statement is interesting due to the fact that so many people in the world are fighting and dying for "democracy".  Adams said, "Democracy … while it lasts is more bloody than either [aristocracy or monarchy].  Remember, democracy never lasts long.  It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.  There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide."  We should be very grateful to our Founders for setting up a Republic for us and giving us the Constitution in order to safeguard it.

The Founders were very concerned about our ability to keep our Republic as reflected in Benjamin Franklin's reply when a woman asked:  "Well, Doctor, what have we got - a Republic or a Monarchy?"  He replied, "A Republic, if you can keep it."  

   The second statement by President Adams applies directly to the importance of keeping religion and morality in our nation:  "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."  This site has an excellent essay on this particular statement.  

President Calvin Coolidge was apparently as concerned as the Founders were about Americans' ability to remain religious and moral.  He made the following two statements about the importance of religion in the United States, and I believe his statements reflect Truth - eternal truths that never change. 

"The government of a country never gets ahead of the religion of a country.  There is no way by which we can substitute the authority of law for the virtue of man.  Of course we endeavor to restrain the vicious, and furnish a fair degree of security and protection by legislation and police control, but the real reform which society in these days is seeking will come as a result of our religious convictions, or they will not come at all.  Peace, justice, humanity, charity - these cannot be legislated into being.  They are the result of divine grace."

President Coolidge also said:  "Our government rests upon religion.  It is from that source that we derive our reverence for truth and justice, for equality and liberality, and for the rights of mankind.  Unless the people believe in these principles they cannot believe in our government.  There are only two main theories of government in our world.  One rests on righteousness and the other on force.  One appeals to reason, and the other appeals to the sword.  One is exemplified in the republic, the other is represented by despotism."

Other quotes of President Coolidge can be found at this site or this one.  

Like John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Calvin Coolidge, many people today are very concerned about American freedom, particularly freedom of religion and the necessity for Americans to remain religious and moral.  The Obama Administration is aggressively working to destroy our freedom of religion, and many Americans are unaware of these dangers because our lame stream media is working hand-in-glove with the administration.

One such organization is The Heritage Foundation, who is actively working to get this information out to the general public.  Mike Brownfield of Heritage wrote an article on the attack on religionon March 1, 2012. 

"Since 1791, when the Bill of Rights was formally adopted, America has enjoyed the legal protection of religious freedom, enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.  Today, 221 years later, centuries of progress in the protection of religious and other liberties is at risk of being rolled back in one fell swoop.  The culprit:  Obamacare.

"As we all know, President Obama's health care law will mandate that religious hospitals, charities, and schools abandon the tenets of their faiths and provide their employees insurance coverage of abortion-inducing drugs, contraception and sterilization.  This anti-conscience mandate is but the latest assault on liberty Obamacare has ushered in.  Its shock waves are reverberating across the country, waking Americans to the fact that our first freedom - religious liberty - will be the first to fall now that the federal government has unfettered control over the country's health care system."

A week later Brownfield wrote another article about this subject and began it with this statement:  "Call it what you want - a circus, a sideshow, or just plain old political rhetoric - but for the past week America has watched the media elite and some in Washington bend over backward to turn attention away from an issue that is fundamental to the future of this country:  ObamaCare attack on individual liberty.  While those who favor its mandates may think they have changed the debate and quelled opposition, they are sorely mistaken.

"It all stems from a decision by the Obama Administration to mandate that religious employers, including schools, hospitals, and charities, provide health care coverage for abortion-inducing drugs and contraception despite the fact that such coverage is in total contradiction of many of these groups' core religious beliefs.  Some have attempted to make this a debate about other issues, but despite their efforts, the core complaint about this anti-conscience mandate remains.  The President's policy is an unprecedented attack on all Americans' rights as protected by the First Amendment.  And those who prize religious liberty aren't backing down."

No President of the United States has shown such contempt for the rule of law and particularly the Constitution, the Supreme Law of our nation, as has Obama.   We can expect more of this kind of treatment if Obama gets re-elected.  We know this by the very fact that the Obama Administration has declared war on the Catholic Church while at the same time campaigning for re-election.  I think it is fair to say that any person who casts a vote to re-elect Obama also chooses to destroy more freedom.  This President and his minions do not believe in obeying laws, only in doing what they desire - with or without legal means.  A wonderful essay on this subject can befound here.  

The following two statements by President Calvin Coolidge seem to be appropriate for this essay because they relate to the importance of religion and morality as well as the fight between good and evil.

"The only way I know to drive out evil from the country is by the constructive method of filling it with good."

"It is hard to see how a great man can be an atheist.  Without the sustaining influence of faith in a divine power we could have little faith in ourselves.  We need to feel that behind us is intelligence and love.  Doubters do not achieve; skeptics do not contribute; cynics do not create.  Faith is the great motive power, and no man realizes his full possibilities unless he has the deep conviction that life is eternally important, and that his work, well done, is a part of an unending plan."

We must keep our faith in a Divine Being.  Religion and morality are important if we are to maintain our Republic.  We know that our Constitution works only when we the people have good morals and live by religious principles.  Our very liberties are at stake as the Obama Administration is painstakingly taking apart our Constitution and the rights it was meant to protect.  Now is the time for all freedom-loving Americans to come to the aid of this nation or risk losing life as we now know it.  If this nation falls to socialism/communism, there is no hope for the world because America really is the last great hope of mankind!

Sarah Franklin Bache

Sarah Franklin, daughter of Benjamin Franklin and Deborah Read Franklin, was born in 1774, and she was "carefully educated by her father." She was apparently plain in looks but had a delightful sense of humor and wit; these qualities along with her "good nature and kindliness" made her one of the most popular women in Philadelphia.

There is little written about her childhood and youth. She was 20 years old when Benjamin was sent to England to represent the Province of Pennsylvania. Some people from Pennsylvania disagreed about Benjamin's appointment and apparently made some statements about him in Christ Church, which the Franklin family attended. Sarah "was indignant and made no attempt to hide here feelings at this `outrage against decency and the feelings of her family,' and threatened to leave the church and the congregation.

Her father was on his way to England and wrote to her from Reedy Island in November 1764: "Go constantly to the church, whoever preaches. The act of devotion in the common prayer book is your principal business there; and if properly attended to will do more toward amending the heart than sermons can do; for they were composed by men of much greater piety and wisdom than our common composers of sermons pretend to be; and therefore I prefer you would never miss the prayer days. Yet I do not mean that you should despise sermons, even of preachers you dislike, for the discourse is often much sweeter than the man, as sweet and clear waters come through very dirty earth. I am more particular on this head, as you seemed to express, a little before I left, some inclination to leave our church, which I would not have you do."

There was a "delightful yet respectful affection and intimacy" between Sarah Franklin and her father. She wrote many letters to him while he served his country in England and later in France.

Sarah - or Sally as she referred to herself - married Richard Bache, a merchant in Philadelphia, in October 1767. Bache moved from Yorkshire, England, to the Colony several years before the wedding. Sarah and Richard lived with her mother until Mrs. Franklin's death. Sarah and Richard were parents of eight children, one of which died in childhood.

When Benjamin Franklin was appointed as Minister to France in October 1775, he took his eldest grandson, Temple Bache, to France with him to begin his education. Sarah wrote to her father on February 23, 1777, "We have been impatiently waiting to hear of your arrival for some time. It was seventeen weeks yesterday since you left us - a day I shall never forget. How happy we shall all be to hear you are all safe arrived and well…."

Soon after Benjamin and Temple left Philadelphia, the Bache family had to leave town because the British army had marched through New Jersey and was approaching Philadelphia. The family were able to move back home a short time after she wrote to her father but had to leave town again later. She wrote to her father on July 14, 1778, "Once more I have the happiness of addressing you from this dearly loved city, after having been kept out of it more than nine months. … I found your house and furniture in much better order than I had reason to expect from such a rapacious crew…." Major Andre' was quartered in Franklin's home during the British occupation of the city and apparently took a number of items when he left.

Depreciation in Continental currency was prevalent. Sarah wrote to her father in a "spirit of amused levity" that "she has to send her servant to market `with two baskets, one to hold her purchases and the other to carry the money with which to pay for them.'"

Sarah belong to a "movement of the patriotic ladies of Philadelphia in 1780" who furnished "food and clothing for destitute soldiers." They would collect contributions and then distribute the funds. They considered the idea of giving each soldier "a hard dollar," but General George Washington suggested that the men needed clothing, particularly shirts, more than money. The women used the money to buy fabric from which they made 2200 shirts. The shirts were cut out at Sarah's home.

A M. de Marbois wrote to Dr. Franklin the next year to share his feelings about Sarah: "If there are in Europe any women who need a model of attachment to domestic duties and love for their country, Mrs. Bache may be pointed out to them as such. She passed a part of last year in exertions to rouse the zeal of the Pennsylvania ladies, and she made on the occasion such a happy use of the eloquence which, you know, she possesses, that a large part of the American army was provided with shirts bought with their money or made by their hands. In her application for this purpose, she showed the most indefatigable zeal, the most unwearied perseverance, and a courage in asking, which surpassed even the obstinate reluctance of the Quakers in refusing."

After an absence of seven years, Benjamin returned from the Court of France in September 1785. He spent his remaining years with Sarah and her family. Sarah and her husband traveled to England in 1792 for about a year. Two years later, Richard retired from his business and bought a farm located on the Delaware River about 16 miles from Philadelphia. They lived on their farm for about 13 years before moving back to Philadelphia to obtain better medical care for Sarah. She was diagnosed as having cancer, and she passed away in October 1808 at age 64.

Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers: The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp.179-192.

Deborah Read Franklin

Deborah Read married Benjamin Franklin - a great patriot and signer of the Declaration of Independence - on September 1, 1730. Deborah was a twenty-five year old native of Philadelphia at the time of her marriage - a few months older than Benjamin.

Benjamin wrote about their first meeting on a Sunday morning in October 1723 in his Autobiography. Franklin was a 17-year-old young man with a loaf of bread under each arm and munching on a third loaf when he walked "up Market Street as far as Fourth, passing by the door of Mr. Read, my future wife's father; when she, standing at the door, saw me and thought I made, as I most certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous appearance."

Franklin established himself as a printer a few months later and became acquainted with Deborah. They were engaged when he went to London to further his business experience. He wrote to Deborah once during his time in England; Deborah married a man name Rogers who was a potter soon after Benjamin departed to London. Potter deserted his young wife soon after their marriage and left only his debts behind him. There were rumors that Potter had another wife somewhere so Deborah might not have been too heart-broken to hear of his death.

Benjamin returned to America in July 1726 and married Deborah more than four years later. Deborah and Franklin lived happily together for more than forty years. Deborah was a "handsome woman" with a "comely figure," but she was also "industrious" and "frugal." Franklin wrote that Deborah was a "good and faithful helpmeet; … we … mutually endeavoured to make each other happy."

Deborah and Benjamin had two children together, a son who died in infancy and a daughter who lived to adulthood. They also raised an illegitimate son of Benjamin's that was born soon after their wedding.

Deborah died of paralysis in December 1774 while Benjamin was in England as the agent for the Province of Pennsylvania. Their daughter, Sarah Franklin, took her mother's place as mistress of the Franklin home before the Revolutionary War started. She was also very patriotic and had great public spirit. I will write later about Sarah.

Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers: The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp. 174-179.

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin, great patriot as well as signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston, Massachusetts. His father was a "true Puritan" who emigrated from England in 1682. Soon after arriving in America, he married a native of Boston named Miss. Folger. His father's occupation was in the "business of a soap-boiler and tallow-chandler."

Benjamin's parents wanted him to become a minister of the gospel. They began his education to be a minister but did not have the financial means for the necessary education. Benjamin attended a common school for a few years and then started working with his father. He did not enjoy his father's business and started working for a cutler; however, he couldn't afford the fee for an apprenticeship and went to work for his brother who was a printer. He continued working for his brother and became "quite proficient" while at the same time being very studious.

When he was seventeen years old, Benjamin left the employment of his brother and sailed to New York City. He couldn't find any work in that city so he continued on foot to Philadelphia. He knew no one in that city and had only one dollar in his pocket. He arrived on a Sunday morning and wandered around Philadelphia "until he came to a Quaker meeting, where he entered, sat down, went to sleep, and slept soundly until worship was closed…." Apparently, the Quakers had compassion on the young man, "With his spare clothing in his pocket, and a loaf of bread under each arm…."

Benjamin soon found employment in a Philadelphia printing establishment, and his employers noticed and appreciated his "industry and studious habits." Benjamin wrote a letter to a friend in New Castle, Delaware, giving a "graphic account" of his trip from Boston to Philadelphia. The letter was shown to Governor Keith. The governor became interested in the young journeyman printer and invited him to his mansion. A friendship developed between Franklin and Governor Keith; the governor advised Benjamin to go into business for himself and offered his patronage.

Franklin traveled to London as part of their plan and found that he needed to obtain employment to supplement the inadequate patronage. He started working as a journeyman printer in one of the main offices there and won many friends because of his "industry, studiousness, punctuality, and frugality." An interesting note about this particular job is that the printing press used by Franklin was put in the National Museum in Washington, D.C.
Benjamin planned to use some of his hard-earned money for a trip to the Continent and was about to depart on the venture when he was given another offer. A friend in the mercantile business was about to sail for America and asked Franklin to accompany him as a clerk. He accepted the offer and sailed for home in July, 1726.

Franklin was facing "the prospect of prosperity and wealth" with his new employer, but he was left without a job when his friend died. Franklin went back to work for his old employer but soon formed a partnership with another printer. He gained "friends, public confidence, and a successful business" in Philadelphia because of "his character, habits, and talents.

In 1730 Franklin married a young widow, whose maiden name was Deborah Read. He asked her to marry him before he went to London, but she married another man. While Benjamin was in London, her husband died. Benjamin and Deborah resumed their friendship upon his return home; they married and became the parents of a son and a daughter.

Franklin started his useful and famous annual known as Poor Richard's Almanac in 1732. This publication circulated widely in the Colonies and in England, and it was translated into several European languages. About the same time that he discontinued the almanac, Franklin started printing a newspaper that "became the most popular one in the Colonies."

Benjamin continued to be studious and gained "knowledge of the Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian languages." He started a literary club that eventually became the Philadelphia Library. He wrote essays on popular subjects and printed them in pamphlets. The pamphlets were widely read and gained popularity for Franklin. His business increased, making him comfortable financially in just a few years.

In 1734 Franklin was appointed as government printer for Pennsylvania, and in 1736 he was appointed to be the Clerk of the General Assembly. He became the postmaster of Philadelphia the next year. His income from these offices as well as from his business made it possible for him to enjoy more leisure time, which he used for philosophical pursuits and to work for more public good.

Franklin organized fire companies in Philadelphia, the first in America. He "devised" a way to pave the streets as well as a way to use gas to light the city. When he noticed that military discipline in Pennsylvania had been neglected, he gained a thorough knowledge about military tactics and then began to teach others what he had learned. He started the "American Philosophical Society," the "Pennsylvania Hospital," and the "Pennsylvania University." In 1742 he published a paper on how to improve chimneys, and he invented the Franklin stove, giving the invention to the public.

In 1741 he started publishing the "General Magazine and Historical Chronicle, for the British Plantations" and had wide circulation of it. He was elected to the General Assembly in 1744 and was re-elected annually for the next ten years. It was about this time that he started experimenting with electricity and discovered "the identity of lightning and the electrical spark of a machine." These discoveries made him famous all around the world.

Franklin continued to serve the public in various positions. In 1753 he was appointed as an Indian commissioner. In 1754 he was a delegate from Pennsylvania to a convention to consult about the general welfare and security against the French. He proposed a plan containing "all the essential features of the present Constitution," but his plan was rejected because it contained too much "democracy" and too many freedoms. About this same time he was appointed to be the deputy Postmaster General and was also "active in improving the military affairs of the colony."

Benjamin traveled to London in 1757 to represent Pennsylvania on government business and remained there for five years, making "many valuable acquaintances there." He went to London again in 1764 on government business and was still there when the Stamp Act was passed. He protested "loudly and boldly" against it. Because he was well respected in London and represented several of the Colonies, "he did much to arrest for a long time the blow that finally severed the Colonies from the mother country."

When Franklin realized that there was nothing more he could do to avoid war, he returned home in 1775 and was immediately elected to be a delegate to the General Congress. He was re-elected to the General Congress in 1776 and was a member of the "committee appointed to draft a Declaration of Independence." He voted for the adoption of the Declaration and then signed it on August 2, 1776.

Franklin was one of three commissioners that met with Lord Howe to discuss the possibility of peace between the Colonies and Great Britain. Reconciliation proved to be impossible, and the Revolutionary War commenced. About this same time Pennsylvania organized into a state, and Franklin was chosen to be its first president.

When Franklin was 70 years old, he was appointed by Congress as a commissioner to the Court of France to negotiate a treaty of alliance between the Colonies and France. He accepted the appointment and sailed to France in October 1776. Franklin was "received with distinguished honors," and "strong expressions of sympathy in behalf of his country were made." France was cautious and did not enter into formal negotiations until after they received the news that Burgoyne had been captured. Franklin signed a formal treaty with the French Minister in February 1778. France acknowledged the independence of America and "openly espoused her cause." Congress gave Franklin almost unlimited power, and he discharged his duties with such "fidelity and skill" that he was admired by Europeans. Franklin was still in France when Great Britain yielded their cause and agreed to negotiate a peace treaty on the basis of independence for the Americans. Franklin had the honor and pleasure of signing the peace treaty.

Franklin requested Congress to allow him to return home to his family and he returned home in 1785 after Thomas Jefferson arrived to succeed him. Americans greeted him with great joy and respect from the "most distinguished individuals" and many public bodies in the new nation. Even though he was 80 years old, he was elected to be president of Pennsylvania and held that office for three years.

He attended the Congress held in Philadelphia in 1787 and helped to frame the Constitution of the United States. This was his last public duty. After suffering with "gout and stone" for many years, he died on April 17, 1790, in his 84th year of age. His death was mourned by Americans and "a vast concourse of people followed his body to the grave." His death was also mourned by "the whole civilized world." "Congress directed a universal mourning throughout the United States for thirty days. In France, and indeed throughout Europe, the news of his death was received with profound grief…."

Facts and quotes are from Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, pp. 104-111.

Virtue and Morality

The topic of discussion for this Freedom Friday is the need for virtue and morality. This principle of freedom is based on the idea that a republican type of government needs virtuous and morally strong citizens to survive. The Founders had a great desire for independence but worried that they might not be good enough to make it work. They identified virtue and morality as being obedient to God's will, particularly the Ten Commandments.

Benjamin Franklin understood the importance of virtue and morality in obtaining and maintaining liberty: “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters” (Writings of Benjamin Franklin, 9:569).

The Founders also understood that virtue comes only with effort and learning and that it must be cultivated and exercised. They wondered if their posterity would make the effort to teach the rising generations to be virtuous and moral.

John Adams said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." (Quoted in John R. Howe, Jr., The Changing Political Thought of John Adams, p 189).

We must be virtuous and moral people and teach our posterity to be the same. This is one of the most important things we can do to protect the freedom, independence, and liberty guaranteed by our Constitution.

Justice

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all." What kind of justice does our nation guarantee? If something is "just," it is also "fair." This means that to obtain "justice for all," the situation must be fair to all. Only equal justice under the law can be fair to everyone. There are many different words being discussed in our nation today, words that sound like fairness to all but are just the opposite. "Social justice," "political justice" and "economic justice" are different ways to justify redistribution of wealth. President Obama stated, "… the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society. [O]ne of the, I think, tragedies of the civil rights movement was, because the civil rights movement became so court focused I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change." Redistribution of wealth appears to be high on the President's "fairness list" as his Administration uses his "coalition of power" to force change on Americans. One of the reasons given for Obamacare was that it was unfair and unjust for millions of people to be without health insurance. I have family members and friends who struggle to pay for health insurance - or go without it. I understand the need to increase the availability of health care at lower costs in order that all may have health coverage; however, I fail to understand the fairness or justice in taking from one group to give to another group as this President is seeking to do. I think that it is past time for everyone to understand a basic principle: Life is not fair. How can it be fair for one girl to have beautiful hair and a shapely body while another girl is unattractive? How can it be fair for one boy to have a tall, handsome, athletic body while another boy is short and skinny with an acne problem? What is fair about one person being able to sing beautiful melodies while another is not able to carry a tune? Life is unfair! Everyone's life experiences are unique. Even siblings born to the same parents and growing up together in the same home have individual abilities and experiences. Some will have a bigger disposable income than others, and some will have easier lives than their siblings. Life is not fair! Those people who think redistribution of wealth will make everyone rich should do some more thinking. As more and more money is taken from the wealthy and those who work hard for what they have, there will be less and less money to go around because no one will be motivated to work for success. No one wants to work for something that will just be taken away from them. Redistribution of wealth will simply make everyone poor. Instead of thinking about "social" or "economic" or "political" justice, we need to think in terms of "equal" justice. Everyone should have the opportunity to be educated, to work, to live in a nice neighborhood, to have health insurance, etc., but no one should be entitled to anything except life, liberty, and the opportunity to own property. There have been times in my life when I struggled, was broke, and without ready cash, but I have never lived in chronic poverty or been dependent on the government to provide my living. My parents taught me how to work and the importance of work. They also taught me to be independent. There is an old saying that should be taught in all homes, schools, and churches: "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for one day. If you teach the man to fish, he can catch his own fish and feed himself for many days," Individuals who are temporarily short of cash may need only a "fish," but people who live in chronic poverty need to be taught how to fish so that they can be independent. Benjamin Franklin shared the same idea. "I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer." America is a great nation with enough opportunities for all to succeed or to fail in the attempt. Failure is not a bad thing; in fact, it is one of life's greatest teachers. In fact, failure can lead to great achievement. The reason that so many Americans are prosperous is because capitalism gave them the opportunity to succeed or fail. Capitalism creates prosperity. If the government got out of the way, more people could enjoy prosperity. In America we are guaranteed the protection of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Americans should also enjoy "equal justice" under the law.

Benjamin Franklin

As I was pondering who should be my "very important person" for this week, my mind kept going back to Benjamin Franklin. As I studied about him, I realized more fully that this "ordinary" American accomplished many extra-ordinary things. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) "was a jack-of-all-trades and master of many. No other American, except possibly Thomas Jefferson, has done so many things so well. During his long and useful life, Franklin concerned himself with such different matters as statesmanship and soap-making, book-printing and cabbage-growing, and the rise of tides and the fall of empires. He also invented an efficient heating stove and proved that lightning is electricity. As a statesman, Franklin stood in the front rank of the people who built the United States. He was the only person who signed all four of these key documents in American history: the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of Peace with Great Britain, and the Constitution of the United States. Franklin's services as a diplomat in France helped greatly in winning the Revolutionary War. Many historians consider him the ablest and most successful diplomat that America has ever sent abroad" (James H. Hutson, World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 7, pp 486-487). Franklin was born January 17, 1706, in Boston, Massachusetts, the fifteenth child and last son in a family of seventeen children. His parents loved God and worked hard, but they could not afford to send Franklin to school for any longer than two years. Franklin was married, and the couple had three children, two boys and one girl. One son, William, became governor of New Jersey. Franklin educated himself by reading every book he could find. He also developed his own writing style as well as "taught himself the basic principles of algebra and geometry, navigation, grammar, logic, and the natural and physical sciences. He studied and partially mastered French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Latin…. Franklin made himself one of the best-educated persons of his time" (p 487). Franklin started working for his father making soap and candles at age 10 when he dropped out of school. At age 12 he worked as an apprentice for his brother's printing shop. At 17 he ran away from his brother's shop and went to Philadelphia where he worked for various printers. He was sent to London, England, to buy printing presses. At age 22 he was part owner of a print shop and was the sole owner two years later. His printing business prospered from the start. He was credited as being the first editor to publish a newspaper cartoon in America and illustrate a news story with a map. He was even more successful with his Poor Richard's Almanac than with his newspaper. Some of his sayings in the Almanac were: "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise;" "God helps those that help themselves," and "Little strokes fell great oaks." He never sought public office but was interested in public affairs. He was clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1736, postmaster in Philadelphia in 1737, and deputy post master general for all the colonies in 1753. Franklin was one of the first people in the world to study electricity. In 1752 he proved that lightning is electricity Philadelphia by flying a homemade kite in a thunderstorm in Philadelphia. Lightning struck a wire on the kite and traveled down the string to a key, where it caused a spark. He later tamed lightning by inventing the lightning rod. This invention benefited his family when lightning struck his own home without causing damage. Franklin also studied the movement of the gulf stream in the Atlantic Ocean, charting its course and recording its temperature, speed and depth. He favored daylight-saving time in summer and thought it silly for people to be sleeping in daylight and then using candlelight to do work. He invented the Franklin stove which gave off more warmth with less fuel than other stoves. He invented bifocal eyeglasses. He discovered that ventilated rooms caused less disease. He showed Americans how to add lime to their soil to decrease the acidity of it. He refused to patent any of his inventions or to use them for profit because he desired his work to be helpful to everyone. In 1754 during the war between the British and the French, Franklin thought that the colonies should unite against the French and Indians. He printed the famous "Join or Die" cartoon in his newspaper, showing a snake cut into pieces representing the colonies. His Plan of Union to bring the thirteen colonies under a single government was approved at the Albany Congress in New York but never ratified by the colonies. Some of the ideas from Franklin's plan were later included in the United States Constitution. Franklin continued to be active in public service. He went to London in 1757 to speak for Pennsylvania in a tax dispute and spent most of the next fifteen years in Great Britain as an unofficial ambassador and spokesman for the Americans. At the end of the French and Indian War, France agreed to give Great Britain either Canada or Guadeloupe Island in the West Indies. Franklin is credited with influencing the British decision to choose Canada by his comments about what could be accomplished Canada as compared to the West Indies. Franklin is also credited with helping to get the Stamp Act repealed by his knowledge of taxation problems. He offered to give his entire fortune to pay for the tea destroyed in the Boston Tea Party if the British government would agree to repeal its unfair tax. England ignored his proposal, and Franklin soon sailed back to America, with the understanding that there was no chance for the colonies to remain part of Great Britain. Franklin helped to write the Declaration of Independence and was one of the signers. According to tradition, John Hancock said during the signing ceremony, "We must be unanimous; … we must all hang together." Franklin agreed by saying, "Yes, we must indeed all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." In 1776 at age 70 Franklin began the most important task of his life when he went to France to represent the United States in obtaining an alliance with France for assistance in the Revolutionary War. France eventually agreed to help the colonies and was instrumental in the victory, particularly the last battles. At 81 Franklin was the oldest delegate attending the Constitutional Convention. His age and illness kept him from taking an active part in the work, but his wisdom kept the convention from breaking up in failure. He helped to settle a big dispute between the large and small states by supporting the Great Compromise, which resulted in a two-house Congress. When the Constitution was completed, he appealed to the delegates for unanimous support of it. Franklin died at age 84 on April 17, 1790. About 20,000 people attended his funeral. "Franklin's name would almost certainly be on any list of the half-dozen greatest Americans. His face has appeared on postage stamps, and on the coins and paper money of the United States. Two Presidents of the United States proudly bore his name: Franklin Pierce and Franklin D. Roosevelt" (p 492). Franklin's name appears on many buildings, roads, companies, etc. This is especially true in Philadelphia where the city's most famous citizen is revered: Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Franklin Institute, Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, and the athletic field at the University of Pennsylvania.