Benjamin Franklin Part 13

[Footnote i-342: Cited in B. Fa, _The Revolutionary Spirit In France and America_, 289. Fa shows that in France the "revolutionary leaders"

who took lessons from Franklin regarded him as "the prophet and saint of a new religion," as the "high priest of Philosophy." See also E. J.

Lowell, _The Eve of the French Revolution_ (Boston, 1892), chaps. XVI and XVIII.]

[Footnote i-343: B. Fa, _The Revolutionary Spirit in France and America_, 302.]

[Footnote i-344: _Writings_, VIII, 34.]

[Footnote i-345: _Ibid._, VIII, 452; June 7, 1782 (to Joseph Priestley).]

[Footnote i-346: _Ibid._, IX, 241.]

[Footnote i-347: _Ibid._, IX, 330.]

[Footnote i-348: _Ibid._, IX, 521; see also IX, 489.]

[Footnote i-349: Although the preponderance of evidence bears out the trustworthiness of this a.s.sertion, one can not idly dismiss his _Some Good Whig Principles_ or disregard his expressed belief that the people "seldom continue long in the wrong" and if misled they "come right again, and double their former affections" (cited in W. C. Bruce, _Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed_, II, 100; also see _Writings_, X, 130). There is a clearly evident polarity in Franklin's mind between ultra-democratic faith and a rigorous observation that if "people" are so const.i.tuted, many men are utter rascals. One almost senses a dichotomy between Franklin the politician and Franklin the man and moralist.]

[Footnote i-350: See his _The Const.i.tution of the United States_ (New York, 1924).]

[Footnote i-351: _The Records of the Federal Convention_, ed. by Max Farrand, I, 488; see _Writings_, IX, 602-3, 595-9.]

[Footnote i-352: _Writings_, IX, 596.]

[Footnote i-353: _The Records of the Federal Convention_, I, 47.]

[Footnote i-354: _Ibid._, I, 165.]

[Footnote i-355: _Writings_, IX, 593.]

[Footnote i-356: _The Records of the Federal Convention_, I, 109.]

[Footnote i-357: _Ibid._, II, 120.]

[Footnote i-358: _Ibid._, II, 204.]

[Footnote i-359: Franklin objected to primogeniture and entail.]

[Footnote i-360: _Ibid._, II, 249.]

[Footnote i-361: Gettell, _op. cit._, 122.]

[Footnote i-362: _Writings_, X, 56-8.]

[Footnote i-363: _Ibid._, IX, 698-703.]

[Footnote i-364: _Ibid._, IX, 608.]

[Footnote i-365: _Ibid._, IX, 638.]

[Footnote i-366: _Writings_, X, 7.]

[Footnote i-367: Letter in American Philosophical Society Library; cited by B. M. Victory, _Benjamin Franklin and Germany_, 128.]

[Footnote i-368: _Writings_, III, 96.]

[Footnote i-369: _Ibid._, III, 97.]

[Footnote i-370: _Ibid._, III, 107.]

[Footnote i-371: _Ibid._, IV, 221.]

[Footnote i-372: _Ibid._, IV, 377.]

[Footnote i-373: _Ibid._, V, 165. He repeated this thought to Beccaria in 1773 (_ibid._, VI, 112). Also see V, 206, 410-1, VII, 49.]

[Footnote i-374: _Ibid._, VII, 418; also see VIII, 211.]

[Footnote i-375: _Ibid._, VIII, 315; also see letter to Priestley, June 7, 1782, VIII, 451; to Comte de Salmes, July 5, 1785, IX, 361.]

[Footnote i-376: _Ibid._, IX, 652.]

[Footnote i-377: _Ibid._, IX, 621. He wrote this after he was reappointed President of Pennsylvania in 1787. He confessed, however, that this honor gave him "no small pleasure."]

[Footnote i-378: W. P. and J. P. Cutler, _Life, Journals and Correspondence of Rev. Mana.s.seh Cutler_, I, 269-70.]

[Footnote i-379: _Joseph and Benjamin, A Conversation_, Trans. from a French Ma.n.u.script (London, 1787), 72. If this meeting never took place, the reported conversation is anything but "decidedly silly" as Ford opines (_Franklin Bibliography_, #936, 371).]

[Footnote i-380: _Writings_, IV, 143.]

[Footnote i-381: _Ibid._, VIII, 601. Also see IX, 53.]

[Footnote i-382: _Ibid._, VIII, 593.]

[Footnote i-383: Brother Potamian and J. J. Walsh, _Makers of Electricity_, 126.]

[Footnote i-384: "Letters and Papers of Cadwallader Colden, IV (1748-54)," _Collections of the New York Historical Society_ (1920), 372.]

[Footnote i-385: "An Outline of Philosophy in America," _Western Reserve University Bulletin_ (March, 1896). See also I. W. Riley, _American Philosophy: The Early Schools_, 229-65.]

[Footnote i-386: _Franklin, the Apostle of Modern Times_, iv.]

[Footnote i-387: _Writings_, I, 295.]

[Footnote i-388: _Boston News-Letter_, Jan. 17, 1744/5. Also see 1669-1882. _An Historical Catalogue of the Old South Church (Third Church), Boston_ (Boston, 1883), 304.]

[Footnote i-389: _Writings_, I, 324.]

[Footnote i-390: _Writings_, IX, 208.]