Benjamin Franklin was an exceptional intellectual personality. He went from being a poor uneducated boy, into a very intelligent and wealthy man. This was through his self improvement and determination in life. Franklin was a diplomat, printer, scientist, political philosopher and a writer. Throughout Franklin’s life, he worked on his self improvement so that others would learn from it. He improved his characters by writing the thirteen virtues which helped him in his moral perfection.
Benjamin Franklin was a genuine and a compassionate man who wanted to help other people. He wanted the world to learn from his own experience, by allocating his knowledge. Through this, Benjamin Franklin founded the Philadelphia library. Benjamin made a proposition to his friends that they pool together their respective books in a common place in order to facilitate convenience and use of all members. He argued that, by placing all the books in one place, all members would have an opportunity to access every book that is owned by their colleague and his book club members agreed to it. Consequently, the members brought their books until an entire room was filled up with different types of books. Afterwards, Franklin organized for the setting up of a subscription library which was registered under North American Subscription libraries. This is how Franklin opened the Philadelphia library which helped him in gaining more knowledge especially his writing skills. In addition, the library also helped the local people as they were able to access various book on various subjects from the library.
Franklin did not behave well responsibly as a youth and so, he decided to change his life by embarking on a project he called moral perfection. During Franklin’s journey, he befriended the people who could help increase his knowledge on all subjects as he was working on humanizing himself. He met different friends who even encouraged him to spend his money on entertainment until he owed them. This made him to start working on his character. His enthusiasm to greatness was the fact that he came from a poor family, and saw he saw potential in him and wanted to be a leader. In addition, the fact that he had been discontinued from formal education yet he had a passion for studying, gave him the strength to work harder to get what he wanted. He set out on a journey of his moral perfection project where he set out his goals on this journey and quest for moral perfection. He created a list of four resolutions which were; to become more frugal so that he could pay up what he owed others and become very industrious. In addition, he wanted to become honest and sincere in his words and action he says “Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself” (FRANKLIN 78). Lastly, he vowed never to speak ill of any man but speak the good he knows about every body. In addition to the four resolutions, he came up with thirteen virtues which were; Chastity, Silence, Justice, Resolution, Frugality, Order, Industry, Sincerity, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Moderation, Temperance, and Humility. He made up a book which he wrote his progress on weekly basis because he was determined to work on his moral perfection. He devoted a week for each virtue whereby at the end of each day, Franklin marked his faults. Additionally, Franklin had different dictums from the bible and other books which motivated and encouraged him. While he marked his faults on daily basis, Benjamin found out that he had more faults than he could have imagined and on the other hand, he also so a great improvement he was making in his moral perfection project. This can be seen as he confesses in his autobiography that “I have been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavor, a better and a happier man then I otherwise should have been, if I had not attempted it” (FRANKLIN 89). Franklin was determined to reach his goals despite his faults and he saw himself as a better man. Nothing could bring him down. Franklin had qualities that he formed in the pursuit of moral perfection.
Franklin wanted moral perfection and so, he followed his virtues by order and when he achieved the first perfection, he was convinced that the others would come easily. He followed his daily routine recorded in his book but at some point, he nearly gave up. The reason he nearly gave up was because he claimed that, the virtue of order gave him so much painful interest. However, due to his dream and vision for his country, Franklin never gave up but pursued to achieve his goal of greatness. At the end of the thirteen weeks, he would start again back on the first virtue. At one time, Benjamin became cynical of himself when the virtue order gave him difficult times. In his biography he says “An amusing anecdote about a man who concludes that “a speckled axe is best” (FRANKLIN 96). Benjamin never gave up when the virtue order gave him difficulties but instead, worked on perfecting on the virtue. The faults he saw in the order virtue vexed him so much but still he kept on pursuing his journey to perfection, he was a man who could never give up easily despite having such an experience.
Benjamin Franklin’s parents were pious Puritans and Benjamin was baptized as a Puritan. He was a religious man despite the fact that he rejected his puritan upbringing of the belief in Jesus Christ, Salvation, belief in hell and many religious dogmas. He believed in God as he retained a strong faith in God, the morality and goodness in man. He had faith in God and this can be seen when he introduces the practice of a common prayer during the 28th June 1797 Constitutional Convention. He confesses that he has never doubted the existence of the Deity and that man should do good to others since all crime is punishable by God. Franklin rejected Christian dogma but had a strong faith and believed in many Christian principles of one God, worshiping that one God and one will be accountable to God for his/her actions. Benjamin Franklin was a religious man only that his religious beliefs differed with those of colonial Christians.
In conclusion, Benjamin Franklin was a kindhearted man who never stopped helping others and improving himself. He had a strong faith in God and believed in doing good to others. He did a lot for the nation which continues to be used up to now including establishing the Philadelphia public library. In addition, he was a motivating and modest man who valued every person in the society and never gave on anything he wanted to do despite the struggles. He grew from a young poor, uneducated boy to a well-formed, strong willed and a knowledgeable rich man. He believed in civilizing one self as a means to success and enlightening the society. He never stopped at anything but rather tried doing it by inspiring the other people and improving himself.
Works Cited
Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Rockville: Arc Manor LLC, 2008. Print.
