The Pennsylvania Gazette

Even though he had a dead-end job at Keimer’s printing shop, what did he do to ensure his future success while in this difficult situation?

I soon perceiv'd that the intention of engaging me at wages so much higher than he had been us'd to give, was, to have these raw, cheap hands form'd thro' me; and, as soon as I had instructed them, then they being all articled to him, he should be able to do without me. I went on, however, very cheerfully, put his printing-house in order, which had been in great confusion, and brought his hands by degrees to mind their business and to do it better. (51)

- "they all respected me the more, as they found Keimer incapable of instructing them, and that from me they learned something daily." (52)

- What happened to George Webb?
- Ben invents a mould to cast types (52) "I also engrav'd several things on occasion; I made the ink; I was warehouseman, and everything, and, in short, quite a factotum." (52)
- friendship with Meredith, his future business partner; his father gives him the capital to secure the equipment which will put Ben into business on his own.
- CONTACTS: "the New Jersey jobb" (52-53)
- "At Burlington I made an acquaintance with many principal people of the province." (53); Isaac Decow's prophecy (53)

How did Franklin forge his own religious principles? (Why was that so important?)

- the then state of my mind with regard to my principles and morals (53)
- [At fifteen], I began to doubt of Revelation itself....I soon became a thorough Deist. (53)

Whatever is, is right.
Though purblind man
Sees but a part o' the chain, the nearest link,
His eyes not carrying to the equal beam,
That poises all above. – Pope, Essay on Man (54)

I grew convinc'd that truth, sincerity and integrity in dealings between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life; and I form'd written resolutions, which still remain in my journal book, to practice them ever while I lived. Revelation had indeed no weight with me, as such; but I entertain'd an opinion that, though certain actions might not be bad because they were forbidden by it, or good because it commanded them, yet probably these actions might be forbidden because they were bad for us, or commanded because they were beneficial to us... (54)

Franklin's Printing Business (1728)

- Despite the croaking of old Samuel Mickle (55), Franklin gets the equipment from London that was financed by Meredith’s dad, rents a building, and when George House refers him his first client, he is in business.
- Building a clientele: Franklin co-founds "a club of mutual improvement, which we called the JUNTO" (55)
- What skills did Franklin and his friends develop during the Friday night meetings of the Junto Club? How did belonging to this debating club serve the members’ business interests?
- Rule #1: no 'positive argumentation'

…the club continued almost as long, and was the best school of philosophy, morality, and politics that then existed in the province; for our queries, which were read the week preceding their discussion, put us upon reading with attention upon the several subjects, that we might speak more to the purpose; and here, too, we acquired better habits of conversation... (56)

- The Members of the Junto Club:

William Coleman, then a merchant's clerk

Robert Grace, a young gentleman of some fortune

William Maugridge, joiner, an exquisite mechanic, a solid, sensible man.

William Parsons, bred a shoemaker, but loving reading

Nicholas Scull, a surveyor

Thomas Godfrey, a self-taught mathematician

Joseph Breintnal, a copyer of deeds

- "But my giving this account of it here is to show something of the interest I had, every one of these exerting themselves in recommending business to us." (56)

- HARD WORK: Quaker History: "I compos'd of it a sheet a day" (56)
- "this industry, visible to our neighbors, began to give us character and credit"

For the industry of that Franklin," says he, "is superior to any thing I ever saw of the kind; I see him still at work when I go home from club, and he is at work again before his neighbors are out of bed. (56)

The Pennsylvania Gazette (1728) (Or How to Make a Million Dollars)

Our first papers made a quite different appearance from any before in the province; a better type, and better printed; but some spirited remarks of my writing, on the dispute then going on between Governor Burnet and the Massachusetts Assembly, struck the principal people, occasioned the paper and the manager of it to be much talk'd of, and in a few weeks brought them all to be our subscribers. (56)

the leading men, seeing a newspaper now in the hands of one who could also handle a pen, thought it convenient to oblige and encourage me. (57)

- The Crisis: with his partner Meredith (57-58) Franklin and the Art of the Deal

- Meredith's father backs out of backing the paper. How does Franklin handle it?
- He approaches two friends who indicate a willingness to back him IF he dissolves his partnership with Meredith.
- Instead of leaping at this opportunity, Franklin refuses to betray his partner; instead, he goes to him and says,

Perhaps your father is dissatisfied at the part you have undertaken in this affair of ours, and is unwilling to advance for you and me what he would for you alone. If that is the case, tell me, and I will resign the whole to you, and go about my business. (58)

- Meredith is given an opportunity to save face and makes Franklin an offer to sell him his part of the business on favorable terms. Then Franklin borrows the money from his friends. RESULT: Everyone is happy!

As soon as he was gone, I recurr'd to my two friends; and because I would not give an unkind preference to either, I took half of what each had offered and I wanted of one, and half of the other; paid off the company's debts, and went on with the business in my own name,

Paper Money! the deal which makes Franklin a rich man. How did he land it?

- Fiscal Policy Debate:

"The wealthy inhabitants oppos'd any addition, being against all paper currency, from an apprehension that it would depreciate, as it had done in New England, to the prejudice of all creditors. " (58)

"I was on the side of an addition, being persuaded that the first small sum struck in 1723 had done much good by increasing the trade, employment, and number of inhabitants in the province..." (58)

- Debates the question of paper vs. metal currency at the Junto Club
- Prints an anonymous pamphlet: “The Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency” agitating on the side of paper money. Result? The Legislature passes the bill.

the point was carried by a majority in the House. My friends there, who conceiv'd I had been of some service, thought fit to reward me by employing me in printing the money; a very profitable jobb and a great help to me. (59)

Maximizing Profit (59): spinning off business

- the printing of the Newcastle paper money
- the printing of the laws and votes of that government,
- I now open'd a little stationer's shop.
- paying off debt!

Cultivating his Public Reputation

- Humility: Taking care to not only remain industrious and frugal, but also to appear so in public: (59)
- "I began now gradually to pay off the debt I was under for the printing-house."
- "I drest plainly; I was seen at no places of idle diversion." (59) 
- "I never went out a fishing or shooting." (59)

I sometimes brought home the paper I purchas'd at the stores thro' the streets on a wheelbarrow. Thus being esteem'd an industrious, thriving young man, and paying duly for what I bought, the merchants who imported stationery solicited my custom; others proposed supplying me with books, and I went on swimmingly.

Franklin and Women

- Why did Franklin decide he would not marry his first fiancée?
- What risk did Franklin run by deciding to marry Miss Read?