Q&A – Founding Father Benjamin Franklin
Students submitted many questions that we were not able to address during the live program Benjamin Franklin. We are grateful to historical interpreter Stephen Smith for addressing these questions from the perspective of Ben Franklin. We hope you and your students will enjoy reading their responses.
Q: Who did you marry and how many children did you have?
A: I married Deborah Reed, the young lady who laughed at me on my first day in Philadelphia, by common law in 1730. I had three children: William, Sarah, and Francis.
Q: Did you ever talk to your brother again?
A: Yes, in my next meeting with my brother, James, I acted poorly by rubbing his face in my success. After that, we actually became friends and, when he became very ill, he asked me to raise his child, which I did.
Q: Did you get along with your other siblings?
A: Being the youngest boy of 17 children, I was especially fond of my little sisters. As for the older family members, many were no longer living at home (and many were no longer living). I believe I had a good relationship with those that were still around as I was growing up.
Q: What gave you the idea to experiment with lightning?
A: I was trying to impress my friends by killing a turkey with the electricity we made from rubbing silk and glass together. I accidentally shocked myself. A bright flash followed by a loud sound…does that remind you of something? Thunder and lightning. Also, if you look closely at electricity flowing from a sharp point, it looks like miniature lightning.
Q: What was your first invention? Your favorite?
A: My swimming fins were actually my first invention. My most beautiful invention was the Glass Armonica. My favorite invention was our union, all of us joining together. I helped do this by inventing the first political cartoon, a snake cut into many pieces saying “Join or Die”.
Q: Did you ever have inventions that failed? What did you do?
A: I was never really happy with my stove – I wanted the best heat with the least smoke. So I changed it, and it failed…so I changed it again…and again. Even today, my final rendition of the stove still smokes too much as the fire dies. I’m also sad to say my phonetic alphabet invention would have made spelling much easier but, alas, it was a public failure.
Q: How can young people become inventors?
A: I believe that most of my inventions come from three things that young people have in abundance: boredom, laziness, and that need to try something differently (later to be called creativity). Boredom can lead the mind to wonder about the many ways to do something differently. My laziness (sloth) caused me to hate chopping wood, so how can I make a stove to heat with less wood? When you get an idea, play with it in your mind daily. Each day your idea will get older and stronger, and when it is old enough, it can change the world.
Q: Do you have any aerodynamic inventions?
A: Your interesting word “aerodynamic,” if I understand it correctly, is air power: “aero” means air, and “dynamic” is power. I did like to fly my kites, which would require understanding the power of air to lift the kite. I attached a large box kite to the front of a ship once to use the upper air streams to slowly pull the ship during the doldrums. You might consider my charting of the gulf stream and prevalent winds as aerodynamic, though it was mostly aeronautical.
Q: Have you always liked to write?
A: Since I left school after only two years, I taught myself to write by reading a good article, outlining it, and then later trying to rewrite the article just from the outline. Sometimes my rewrites were better than the originals. I eventually even tricked my brother into publishing my letters by Silence Dogood.
Q: How many books did you write, and why did you write them?
A: Mostly I published a newspaper, an annual almanac, and pamphlets. I wrote 16 or so bound books to teach virtues and help people make money or improve their lives. I also published the writings of many other authors on commission.
Q: How old were you when you started writing?
A: I was 10 years old when I left school, so I would say I began writing at 8 or 9.
Q: What is your favorite book?
A: You would think my autobiography would be my favorite – because it is all about me and my story as I remember it. But it was my writing about my experiences and observations of electricity, gaining me international recognition among people I respected, that brought me the most joy.
Q: How old were you when you opened your library?
A: The Junto was formed in 1727 when I was 21 years old and was a secret organization for many years. It did not really become a public lending library until 1731 when I was 25.
Q: Where were you during the Boston Tea Party?
A: During the Boston Tea Party, I was in England with the people who owned the tea dumped into the harbor. I promised to pay for all the tea lost if they would give us representation; they did not. Taxation without Representation!
Q: How old were you when you helped to write the Declaration of Independence? When you were an ambassador?
A: I was 70 years old when we wrote the Declaration in 1776, and by the end of that year, I was in Paris, France, as an ambassador.
Q: Did you know the Marquis de Lafayette?
A: Yes, when the Marquis de Lafayette was fighting beside General Washington, we corresponded frequently. I later asked him to return to France to help me secure full French support for our American Cause.
Q: How did you help during the war?
A: In a nutshell, I helped write the Articles of Confederation we used to join the colonies together in this fight. I helped write the Declaration of Independence. I helped bring France into the war on our side. I even hired pirates to attack the British. I helped negotiate the peace. I think I did my part to help.
Q: What is your favorite proverb?
A: Favorite proverbs – there are so many, and by their very nature, their value arises out of the present situation.
- We have discussed the war: “There was never a good war or a bad peace”
- Remembering the Constitution: “A republic, if you can keep it.”
- And as I write: “Well done is better than well said.”
Q: What made you want to start a school?
A: Nothing makes us want something more than having it taken away. Being removed from school at an early age made me want it so much more for myself and for others. School must not be just for the privileged. Whether you are rich or poor, male or female, slave or free, our nation should be built on public education. We need educated voters in a democracy.
