The Portable Benjamin Franklin

Table Of Contents

The Portable Benjamin FranklinIntroduction
Acknowledgments
Note on the Texts

The Portable Benjamin Franklin

Autobiography

Selected Writings

I. Printer, Journalist, Tradesman (1722-1757)

1722: The Dogood Papers (Nos. I, II, IV, VII)
1728: Epitaph

The Pennsylvania Gazette
1729: The Printer to the Reader
1731: An Apology for Printers
1732: Letter from Anthony Afterwit
1732: Letter from Celia Single
1735: Advice to a Pretty Creature and Replies

Poor Richard, & Poor Richard Improved
1736: Hints for Those That Would Be Rich
1739: A True Prognostication
1753: Title Page
1753: Preface
1757: Directions for Making a Striking Sun Dial
1758: The Way to Wealth

II. The Betterment of Life

Civic and Personal Improvement
1743: Promoting Useful Knowledge
1749: Education of Youth
1760: To Mary Stevenson (reading with pen in hand)
1760: To Mary Stevenson (acquaintance with nature)
1763: To Mary Stevenson (American young begin to lisp)
1760s(?): To Oliver Neave (swimming lesson)
1782: The Handsome and Deformed Leg
1785: To Richard Price (books instead of a bell)
1786: The Art of Procuring Pleasant Dreams

Plans Private and Domestic
1748: To Cadwallader Colden (intends to retire)
1750: To Abiah Franklin (life in retirement)
1756: To Deborah Franklin (camp life)
1758: To Deborah Franklin (household arrangements)
1762: To William Strahan (intends to move to England)
1784: To William Franklin (reconciliation?)
1789: Codicil to Last Will and Testament

Inventions, Experiments, Observations
1747: To Peter Collinson (on electricity)
1750: To a Friend in Boston (an electric shock)
1752: To Peter Collinson (electrical kite)
1755: To Peter Collinson (whirlwinds)
1757: To John Pringle (electricity in paralytic cases)
1762: To Sir Alexander Dick (Pennsylvania fireplace [Franklin stove])
1762: To David Hume (installing a lightning rod)
1780: To Joseph Priestley (power of man over matter)
1783: To Sir Joseph Banks (some suppose flying now to be invented)
1784: To La Sabliere de la Condamine (cures by electricity and animal magnetism)
1785: To George Whatley (ruminations approaching age eighty)
1786: An Instrument for Taking Down Books from High Shelves
1786: To Benjamin Vaughan (lead poisoning)

III. Politics: Theory and Practice

Philadelphia, 1734-1757
1751: On Transported Felons
1751: Exporting of Felons to the Colonies
1751: Increase of Mankind
1754: Join or Die
1754: Three Letters to Governor Shirley

London and Philadelphia, 1757-1764
1763: To Isaac Norris (submits receipts)
1764: To Peter Collinson (let trade take its course)

London: Colonial Agent, 1764-1775
1766: Price of Corn, and Management of the Poor
1773: Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One
1773: An Edict by the King of Prussia
1773: To William Franklin (on preceding satires)

Philadelphia: Revolution, 1775-1776
1775: To William Strahan (you are now my enemy)
1775: To Joseph Priestley (the Americans will fight)
1775: To a Friend in England [David Hartley] (there is no little enemy)
1776: To Lord Howe (impossible we should think of submission)
1776: Anecdote recalled by Jefferson about editing of Declaration of Independence

Paris: American Minister, 1776-1785
1777: To Mary Hewson (figure to yourself an old man)
1777: The Sale of the Hessians
1777(?): To a Friend (you have no idea of how I am harassed)
1777: Model of a Letter of Recommendation
1778: To Charles de Weissenstein (Parliament never had a right to govern us)
1779: Passport for Captain Cook
1779: The Levee
1780: To George Washington (you may live to see our country flourish)
1782: To James Hutton (murder of the Moravian Indians)
1782: Apologue
1782: To Sir Joseph Banks (long for a return of peaceful times)
1782: Information to Those Who Would Remove to America
1783: To Sir Joseph Banks (there never was a good war or a bad peace)
1784: To Sarah Bache (honor is a personal thing)

United States of America: Philadelphia, 1785-1790
1787: Constitutional Convention, Speech on Subject of Salaries
1787: Constitutional Convention, Speech at the Conclusion of Deliberations
1788: On the Abuse of the Press
1789: An Address to the Public on Slavery
1789: Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks
1790: Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim on the Slave Trade

IV. Religion: Belief and Critique

1725: A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain
1738: To Josiah Franklin (religious opinions)
1753: To Joseph Huey (on good works)
1762: To Jared Ingersoll (deity not so angry as a New England justice)
1779: Conte
1780: To Richard Price (religious tests)
1784: To Samuel Mather (memory of Cotton Mather)
1790: To Ezra Stiles (something of my religion)

V. Bagatelles and Dalliances

1730: A Witch Trial at Mount Holly
1745: Advice to a Young Man
1747: The Speech of Polly Baker
1765: To the Editor of a Newspaper (the world is grown too incredulous)
1777: The Twelve Commandments (to Madame Brillon)
1778: The Ephemera (To Madame Brillon)
1778: Elysian Fields (To Madame Helvetius)
1779: The Whistle (To Madame Brillon)
1779: Morals of Chess
1779: To Elizabeth Partridge (somebody gave it out that I loved ladies)
1780: Dialogue Between Franklin and the Gout
1784: An Economical Project
1785: A Petition of the Left Hand

VI. Virtuoso

1755: To Peter Collinson (contents of a busy mind)
1760: To David Hume (unusual words)
1762: To Giambatista Beccaria (the armonica)
1781: To Court de Gebelin (Indian languages)
1789: To Noah Webster (purity of English)

Chronology
Glossary of Correspondents
Editor’s Notes