BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
by
Robin McKown
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
New York
To Rosalie Quine
Third Impression
© 1963 by Robin McKown
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 63-9688
Manufactured in the United States of America
Published simultaneously in the Dominion of Canada
by Longmans Canada Limited, Toronto
10216
CONTENTS
- 1. A Boyhood in Boston 9
- 2. A Young Man on His Own 18
- 3. The Birth of Poor Richard 28
- 4. The Civic-Minded Citizen 38
- 5. The Thunder Giant 49
- 6. A Brief Military Career 61
- 7. The Battle with the Penns 73
- 8. The White Christian Savages 84
- 9. The Stamp Act 91
- 10. Friendships in England 100
- 11. The Terrible Hutchinson Letters 111
- 12. Beginning of a Long War 123
- 13. The Splendid Word Independence 132
- 14. France Falls in Love with an American 143
- 15. America’s First Ambassador 155
- 16. A Glorious Old Age 165
- 17. The Closing Years 177
- Suggested Reading 188
- Index 189
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
1
A BOYHOOD IN BOSTON
The Franklins of Boston were poor, numerous, lively andintelligent. There were seventeen children in all, seven bytheir father’s first wife, who had died after Josiah Franklinbrought her from England to America; and ten by his secondwife, Abiah, Benjamin’s mother. Benjamin, born on January 6(January 17, new style), 1706, was the youngest son, thoughhe had two younger sisters, Jane, who was always his favorite,and Lydia.
They lived on Milk Street across from the Old SouthChurch until he was six, when they took a larger house onHanove