“Yes, we must, indeed, all hang together..."

In America “people do not enquire of a stranger, What is he? but, What can he do?” wrote Benjamin Franklin in a pamphlet meant to entice Europeans to immigrate to America.

Covering the length of time that I’ve delved into the study of history, it was not until recently that I was enticed enough to read Benjamin Franklin. His Autobiography was witty and a little boring at times. Walter Isaacson’s biography was much more appealing, as is often the case with autobiographical counterparts. To my utter surprise, Mr. Franklin was the most popular American in the known world during his lifetime. Ben was a printer, publisher, husband, father, postmaster of the American colonies, scientist, diplomat, and successful politician.

What was most disconcerting for me to read at length was his worldview: a self-proclaimed Deist. Like many of his contemporaries embracing that movement known as the "Enlightenment," Franklin was forcibly opposed to all religious belief and conviction with the exception of moral teachings. For Franklin, he held a particular interest in religion that was practical and applicable to every day life (though Christians understand all true religion as being applicable).

Isaacson presented a convincing argument placing Benjamin Franklin and Jonathan Edwards as representatives of the two mainstream perspectives during the era. Edwards held deep religious conviction and was a leader of the great Evangelical movement, the Great Awakening. Franklin represents the polar opposite perspective and movement: the Enlightenment. Edwards was concerned with people’s spiritual needs above all else, and allowed that to impact his entire life. Franklin emphasized science and practicality over against spiritual matters.

Like most of the colonists, it took time for Franklin to endorse the idea of breaking away from England. His arguments for colonial independence were convincing … to the “Enlightened” mind, but they fail to convince the Biblically minded person.

During the American Revolutionary War, the colonies selected Ben Franklin as their primary ambassador to negotiate a peace treaty with England. He already possessed world renown because of his mastery over lightning as a direct result of his various experiments, culminating in the lightning rod. Benjamin was comfortable with European culture and politics because of his extravagant travels (he spent over 15 years in England and France). It came as no surprise to discover that Franklin was the only ambassador to remain during the entire negotiating process. The reader has surely spotted my cynicism of the colonists’ rebellion, but after it began, I have to admit that Franklin played an essential role in talks of a treaty. Surely, without him, the war would have lasted considerably longer.

Franklin’s great successes were the fruition of his very capable social skills, especially persuasion. He was a social butterfly, and used these social tendencies to his advantage.

Whereas he greatly lacked in oratory skill, he made up for in the cleverness of his writings. In a scientific spoof he made to the Royal Academy of Burssels, he humorously suggests studying the cause and cure for farting: “It is universally well known that in digesting our common food, there is created or produced in the bowels of human creatures a great quantity of wind. That the permitting this air to escape and mix with the atmosphere is usually offensive to the company from the fetid smell that accompanies it. That all well-bred people therefore, to avoid giving such offense, forcibly restrain the efforts of nature, it not only gives frequently great present pain, but occasions future diseases... Were it not for the odiously offensive smell accompanying such escapes, polite people would probably be under no more restraint in discharging such wind in company than they are in spitting or in blowing their noses. My Prize Question therefore should be, To discover some drug wholesome and not disagreeable, to be mixed with our common food or sauces, that shall render the natural discharges of wind from our bodies, not only inoffensive, but agreeable as perfumes.” (Isaacson, 373).

As inspiring as the discussion on farting is, I have yet to present my favorite line of Franklin’s: “Another time, he was playing [chess] with his equal, the Duchess of Bourbon, who made a move that inadvertently exposed her king. Ignoring the rules of the game, he promptly captured it. “Ah,” said the duchess, “we do not take Kings so.” Replied Franklin in a famous quip: “We do in America.”” (Isaacson, 372).

Anyone with a strong interest in the Enlightenment or the American Revolutionary War would profit from reading Isaacson’s Benjamin Franklin: An American Life.

Permit me to conclude with one last scene, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, no less: “At the official signing of the parchment copy on August 2, John Hancock, the president of the Congress, penned his name with his famous flourish. “There must be no pulling different ways,” he declared. “We must all hang together.” According to the early American historian Jared Sparks, Franklin replied: “Yes, we must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.” (Isaacson, 313).

Rusty