American Literature / Unit 5 AML 0403 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Benjamin Franklin and the Invented Self
Captions available
The idea
Born in Boston, a tallow chandler's youngest son, Franklin was apprenticed to his brother James, a printer with a newspaper, and read everything the shop produced. Printer, scientist and diplomat, he became the period's proof that a man could make himself.
In practice
A soap boiler's son who made himself.
Where people slip
The self-made man is partly Franklin's own invention.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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