Famous Americans

Front matter

T*' A

By

RICHARD H. UHRBROCK, M. A.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I Benjamin Franklin i

II Samuel Adams lO

Chapter I

Born : Boston, IMassachusetts, January 17, 1706. Died : Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 17, 1790.

If you should go to Boston to-day you would be sure to visit Old South Church. Just across the street from that church Benjamin Franklin was born. His father, Josiah Franklin, was an English silkdyer, who came to America in 1682 because here he could worship according to his own beliefs. At that time the people of England did not have religious freedom. Every one was supposed to attend the Church of England. Upon his arrival at Boston the older Franklin found that there was little demand for his skill as dyer. The women in the colony spun and wove the cloth out of which they later made the clothes for their entire families. Often the suits and dresses were not dyed, but when that was necessary, the women themselves did the work. Josiah Franklin had a wife and three children to support, so he became a candle and soap maker. At that time candles were used instead of lamps. Gas and electricity were not even known.

Benjamin was the fifteenth child of Josiali Franklin. The family was poor and the examples of thrift and saving that Benjamin saw practised daily made a lasting impression on him. He l:>egan to read so early that he never remembered having been taught his letters. His father placed him in school when he was eight years old and he remained there for two years. Then several of his older brothers left home to enter business for themselves, so Benjamin was taken into his father's shop. There he helped his father for the next two years by cutting wicks and filling candle molds with melted tallow.

Not all of young Franklin's time was spent in study or in his father's shop. He was fond of swimming, fishing and boating. A near-by pond was his favorite resort on a sunny day. There he was very popular with the other boys. One day he brought a large kite down to the i3ond with him. Without telling his playmates what he was about to do, he undressed and then flew the kite. It sailed up and out over the water. Then he tied the string about his waist and waded out several yards. The kite was pulling and tugging; the breeze was strong. Stretching out flat upon his stomach and grasping the string firmly, Franklin let the kite ])ull him across the*

Photo from Undervvood and Underwood.

Btiijainiu Franklin

4 FAiVrOITS AAIEKTCANS

pond. The neAV sport soon became very popular with the other lads in the neighborhood.

Until he was twelve years old Benjamin helped his father make soap and candles. At this time he became so dissatisfied with the work that he talked of running away to sea. His father discouraged that idea, but began to look for a trade for the boy to follow. The father and son visited bricklayers, glaziers, weavers, carpenters and cutlers, but the boy did not like any of the work he saw. About this time James Franklin, an elder brother of Benjamin, returned from England with a press and enough type to open a printing shop. Franklin's father grasped the opportunity to place the restless boy in a trade where he might read and study. He was apprenticed to his brother James, who was to feed and clothe him until he was twenty-one in return for his services. During that time Benjamin was to be taught the trade of printer. Only during the last year of his apprenticeship was he to receive a small wage.

James Franklin started a newspaper in Boston, and Benjamin became the boy-of-all-work in the shop. His brother sometimes treated him cruelly, liut he enjoyed his woi'k and liked to read everything that he saw in print. The printing shop was the meeting-place of writers and thinkers of the day, and young Benjamin listened eagerly to their conversation. AYhile working at some task, he thought over all he had heard. Once in a while he wrote out different ideas that occurred to him, but he was afraid to show them to his brother. He believed one little article that he wrote was so good it ought to be printed. He hid it away a long time between the pages of a book.

At last he thought of a way to bring it to his brother's attention without letting him know who had written it. That night he slipped the folded bit of paper under the door of the printing office. The next morning James Franklin found it. As Benjamin watched him reading it his heart nearly stood still. Suddenly James exclaimed, "I like this. I wonder who wrote if?" And he placed it with the papers that were to be printed that day. The unknown author continued to slip articles under the door of the printing shop and James Franklin continued to print them. At last Benjamin confessed that he was the writer and he became a person of some value in the eyes of his brother and his friends.

Several articles that James Franklin printed in his paper displeased the authorities in the colony and he was arrested and thrown into jail. Benjamin was a])out sixteen years old at that time and for several months, until the release of his brother, he ran the paper. There had been a shipwreck off the New England coast and Benjamin wrote a poem about the event which he printed and sold on the streets of

Boston. Another sailoi- soni*' lie wrote was also very popular. His father said that the poems were poor and that he was wasting his time thinking about them.

When James returned from jail the two brothers quarreled more and more. Finally Benjamin decided to leave his brother. James went to all of the printers in Boston and got their promise not to hire the boy. Since he could find no work at his trade in that city, he determined to go elsewhere. He sold his books and few trinkets and boarded a sailing vessel bound for New York. Later in life he said it was a great mistake to leave home without bidding friends and family good-by.

After a few days at sea Franklin landed at New York. There he went to see William Bradford, the only printer in the town. Bradford had little work and plenty of hands, so he was not in a position to hire the young printer. However, he told him of an opportunity in the shop of a relative in Philadelphia, and urged the boy to go there. In those times it took sevei'al days to make the trip from New Yoi*k to Philadelphia. Now it can be done in two hours.

Franklin boarded another sailing boat whose captain planned to sail aroimd New Jersey, then up the Delaware Bay and River to Philadelphia. While in Long Island Sound the boat was overtaken by a violent storm and very nearly wrecked. After thirty hours the hungry, dripping, sea-sick ])assengers were landed at Amboy, on the New Jersey coast. From there the young traveler made his way afoot across the state to Burlington. At that town, after a short wait, he boarded a rowboat that was going to Philadelphia. The men of the party rowed until late at night. In the darkness they were certain they had ])assed their destination, so they landed on the New Jersey shore where they camped until morning. When day broke they could see Philadelphia in the distance. The party rowed across the I'iver and landed at Market Street wharf about nine o'clock.

From the wharf Franklin walked up Market Street. Soon he spied a baker's boy with a basket of bread on his arm. He thought of how hungry he was, so he asked the boy to direct him to a baker's shop. The boy told him where to go, and when he reached the place he went in and asked for three biscuits such as he had known in Boston. The baker did not have any, so Franklin asked for three pennies' worth of bread of any sort. He was surprised when he was given three large rolls. Not knowing what to do with so much bread, he placed a roll under each arm and stepped out into the street gnawing the third one. He walked out Market Street past the home of Miss Deborah Reid who was standing in the doorway. She could not help smiling at the queer figure he made. His clothing: was creased and his shoes were dusty. His pockets were stuffed with extra socks and shirts. He might easily have been mistaken for a runaway servant. Deborah Reid would have smiled still more if some fairy had allowed her to peep into the future, and to see the young man passing before her munching a roll, as the worldfamous Franklin, and herself at his side as Mrs. Franklin.

It was Sunday morning and the Quakei's were walking slowly out Market Street toward their meeting-house. Franklin followed and entered the building. Soon he became drowsy and fell asleep. After the service was ended a kind old Quaker aroused him. This man welcomed him to the Quaker City and found a boarding-place for him. The next day Franklin went to see the printer, Bradford. He did not have work f oi' the boy, but sent him to another man named Iveimer who hired him, and who was well pleased with his new employee.

At that time Philadelphia was the capital of the Province of Pennsylvania. Benjamin Franklin soon came to the notice of Governor Keith who suggested that an up-to-date printing shop be set up in the town with the young man at its head. Franklin was pleased and flattered at the governor's attention, and made a joui-ney to Boston to secure his father's aid in buying a press and type. His father welcomed his returned son, ])ut was unable and unwilling to set him up in business. AVlien lie returned to Philadelphia the governor still urged his plan and suggested that Franklin go to England to purchase his supplies. The governor promised letters of credit to friends there. After many delays Franklin sailed on the annual ship from Philadelphia to London, being assured that letters of introduction were in the hands of the captain. Imagine his disappointment upon his arrival in London when he found that the easy-going Governor Keith had failed in his promise.

Friendless and almost penniless in the largest city in the world, Franklin soon found work at his trade. He remained in London for eighteen months, and while there met many famous people and visited many noted places. The printers in the shop in which he worked drank beer to make them strong. Franklin argued that beer had little food value because it was nearly all water. The part that was not water was harmful, he said. He drank pure water and was able to do more work with less effort than his fellow-workers. They called him the ''Water- American."

After Franklin had been in London a year and a half he met a Philadelphia merchant who was returning with a stock of goods. This man persuaded Franklin to return to America and act as his clerk. Franklin accepted the offer and worked in a store

FAM0U8 AMERICANS for a time, hut uihui the death of his oiiiployer he returned to i)riutin,i;-. Ahout this time a newspaper, the Pe)nis//h-tiiii(i (idzcttv, was offered for sale. As

he had saved a little money Franklin bought the paper. Soon he secured the contract for printing the paper money for the colony and he was on the road to become a successful man.

In 1732 Franklin began to i)rint an almanac under the name of Richard Saunders. This became the famous Poor liic/Hird's AliiHiiHir. It was published yearly and was filled with quaint sayings, and homely advice, such as:

Early to bed and early to rise

Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

God helps those who help themselves.

A word to the wise is enough.

Well done is better than well said.

Have something to do to-morrow?

Do it to-day.

Drive thy work. Let not thy work drive thee.

Make haste slowly.

A penny saved is a penny made.

One to-day is worth two to-morrows.

Speak little : do much.

A slip of the foot you may soon recover,

But a slip of the tongue you jnay never get over.

The almanac contained information about crop planting and the weather. Children often carried it to school and used it for a reading book. During the I^eriod from 1740 until the Revolution no other book, except the Bible, was so widely read in the colonies. The almanac was translated into many foreign languages and helped to spread the fame of Franklin abroad.

Benjamin Franklin was a man of method and oi'der. He set aside a certain part of the day for work and another part for reading and study. He

12 FAxMOUS AMEKKJAXS

lived according to rule. During his spare moments he learned Latin, French, Spanish and Italian. The people of Philadelphia elected him to the assembly where he helped to make the laws for the commonwealth. He also became postmaster of the city, and later was postmaster-general of all the colonies.

He was interested in making Philadelphia a model city. He constantly urged upon the citizens the need of street paving. He improved the smoky street-lamps so that they would burn brightly until morning. He invented the Franklin stove which gradually took the place of the wasteful fireplacemode of heating. Systems of paid police protection and street cleaning that he suggested were adopted. Together with a number of friends, Franklin started a free lilu'ary which was the first one of its kind in the world. A college that he founded has grown into the University of Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania Hospital which he started is still in existence. If .you look on the front of TJie Saturday Evening Post you will find something interesting a])out Benjamin Franklin. It says that he began to ])ubUsh that weekly journal in 1728.

When Franklin was about forty-five years old he became very mucli interested in electricity. One day while watching tlie lightning flash during a heavy storm, it occuri'ed to him that ])ossibly lightning and electricity were the same thing. After the

BENJAiMm FRANKLIN 13

idea came to him he could not rest until he had either proved or disproved it. For a long time he thought about the matter. At last he thought he had solved the problem. He made a large kite out of two strong sticks and a big silk handkerchief. To this he fastened a long hemp cord. Then he waited until the next heavy storm. At last the dark clouds rolled up and he knew that soon he would l)e al:>le to prove whether or not lightning and electricity were the same thing.

Just before it began to rain he called his son William, and gave him the kite and ball of string to carry. As Franklin step^Ded out of his doorway he took the big brass key out of the lock and slipped it into his pocket. William did not know what to think, because he had never heard of any one flying kites in a thunder-storm. The two went out Market Street to an old cow-shed that stood on the site of the present City Hall, in Philadelphia. Standing in the shelter of the shed Franklin and his son William put up the kite. After it had sailed high up over the city the brass door key was tied to the end of the string. Then the two waited. After a flash of lightning Franklin touched his knuckles to the key. What do you suppose happened? An electric spark jumped from the key to his hand and he felt a shock. "There is electricity there, William! There is electricity there!" he cried. He had brought electricity down from the clouds and proved that it aud lightning were the same thing. This discovery won for him the respect and admiration of all thinking men, both in this country and in Europe.

A short time after this he invented the lightning rod to protect houses during the time of storm. That invention has never been improved upon. It is used to-day just as when he placed the first rod on his own home.

Franklin established a fire company in Philadelphia, the first of its kind in any city in America. His system was very simple. All householders were required to keep several leather buckets, filled with water, near the door. When the fire bell was rung all of the citizens rushed out with their buckets. A line was formed quickly between the burning house and a pump, and while one or two strong men pumped, the filled buckets were passed and emptied on the fire. The empty buckets were returned by another line and quickly refilled.

In 1754 a convention was called to meet at Albany, New York. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the French and Indian question, and to make a treaty with the chiefs of the Six Nations, a powerful Indian tribe that lived in the Mohawk Valley. Franklin was one of the delegates from Pennsylvania and he offered a plan of union for the colonies. In his paper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, he printed a picture of a snake cut into thirteen pieces which represented the thirteen colonies. Above and below the picture he had these words, "Unite or Die." Although the colonists were in favor of a union, the plan was rejected by the King of England when it was placed before him.

The trouble between the colonists and the French and Indians was not settled until a war was fought between them. That war was very expensive and the English government decided that since the war had been fought for the protection of the colonists they should pay the cost. Money was to be raised by means of a stamp tax. The Stamp Act which was passed by England in 1765 was a direct tax. All newspapers had to be printed on stamped paper. Marriage licenses, mortgages, deeds and other business papers were to bear a stamp which had to be bought from a government officer. The people in the colonies resented the direct tax, saying that their own assemblies and legislatures, whose members they had elected, were the only bodies that had a right to tax them. Franklin made a trip to England to protest against the tax. On his return he warned the people that they must prepare for war.

The discontent grew and ten years later war became necessary. Franklin was a member of the First Continental Congress which met in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia. This Congress protested against

England's treatment and decided to prepare for war. Franklin was also a member of the Second Continental Congress wliicli met in Independence Hall, and he helped Thomas Jefferson to draw np the Declaration of Independence. As the members of Congress were signing the document, John Hancock said, ''Gentlemen, we must all hang together in this matter." Immediately Benjamin Franklin replied, "Yes, because if we don't hang together we will be sure to hang separately!"

At this time Franklin was an old man, loved and respected in America and Europe. America needed a friend abroad, and it needed money and troops. • Some one had to go to Europe and plead our cause. No one was so well fitted to undertake such an important mission as Benjamin Franklin. In his old age, while a revolution raged in his own country, he went to the court of the King of France. He persuaded that monarch to recognize the struggling colonies and to assist them in their fight for inde])endence. Franklin was very popular in Paris. Crowds cheered him when he appeared and followed him on the streets. His pictures were sold ever3wvdiere. He won the sympathy, i-egard and support of the French people and helped to win the Revolution by his untiring efforts.

After the war was won Franklin represented his country when the treat}^ of jx'ace was signed ])etween the United States of America and England. Soon after his return to this country he aided in drawing up the Constitution of the United States. Pennsylvania honored him hy electing him govei'uor of the state.

Throughout the long life of Benjamin Franklin he liad l)ut one motive, and that was to serve. He spent years in the service of his country, and at times neglected his business in order to serve her. He was just as read}^ to give his time, as well as his advice, when that was needed. He was not content to have things done in a cai'eless way. He always tried to improve conditions under which he lived. Many of the enterprises and institutions founded b}^ him are still in existence and they form great memorials to his genius.

The study of Franklin sliould occupy four periods of thirty minutes each. The material should be presented in the following order: boyhood, arrival in Philadelphia, inventions, and services to his country. Interest is aroused when the account is presented in story form by the teacher. The anecdotes that appear in the text should be supplemented by additional ones when it is possible to obtain them. The book should be opened after a desire has been created to know more about the character. Children delight in acting, and added interest can be secured by dramatizing Franklin's arrival in Philadelphia and his meeting with Miss Reid. Pictures of Famous Americans and newspaper clippings of interest to the children should be pasted on a rear blackboard. Questions on the text should be used whenever opportunity affords, but it is advisable to refrain from using the questions listed for discussion until the children are well acquainted with the details of Franklin 's life and services. The significant points developed during a discussion should be listed on the blackboard as they occur.

1. Do you think Franklin was like other boys who lived in Boston two hundred years ago? Why?

2. How did Franklin's father help him to find his first job?

3. Why was that a good plan? Is it done to-day? Why?

4. Why did Franklin like the printing business?

f). Do you think Governor Keith was an honest man ? Why ? C). What example did Franklin set the English printers?

Was he right? Why? 7. What was Poor Richard's Almanac f •6. Why was Franklin just as thi-ifty in time saving as Its

money saving? 9. How did Franklin serve liis country during the

Kevolution ? 10. Was he a good citizen? Why?

Bolton : Famous American Statesmen. Brooks: I'rue Story of Benjamin Franklin. Eliot: Four American Leaders.

Franklin : Autohiographj/.

Sparks: Men WJio Blade the Nation.

Chapter II

Born : Boston, Massachusetts, September 27, 1722. Died: Boston, Massachusetts, October 2, 1803.

When Benjamin Franklin was sixteen years old, working in his ])rotlier's printing shop in Boston, another boy, Samuel Adams, was born in the same town. When this boy grew to manhood he also was to aid in freeing his country from foreign rule, and to earn for himself the title of "Father of the Revolution." The father of Samuel Adams was a wealthy merchant who lived in a great mansion overlooking the harbor, where one could see many sailing vessels at anchor. Even at that time Boston was a great seaport and her ships went to and fro all over the world. Very little is known of the boyhood of Samuel Adams except that he attended the Boston Grammar School. The story is told that he was so punctual in going to and from school that workmen could regulate their hours of work by him.

After he finished the work at the Boston Grammar School, his father sent him to Harvard University, which is at Cambridge, just across the Charles

River from Boston. There lie was to study for the ministry, but Samuel had no liking for that kind of life. He was greatly interested in the affairs of the people and spent much of his time talking and writing about the events of the day. When he was graduated from college he made a speech. His subject was, ''Whether It Be Lawful To Resist the Supreme Magistrate If the Commonwealth Can Not Otherwise Be Preserved." The supreme magistrate of Massachusetts, Governor Shirley, heard the speech, but he did not dream that the young man standing before him would one day put into practise what he was preaching.

After graduating from college, Adams began to study law. His mother disapproved of law as a profession and wanted him to enter some business. Shortly after this his father lost a great deal of money, and young Adams was obliged to give up all of his studies and find a paying position. He entered the banking house of Thomas Cushing, but disliked the work so much that he left it after a few months. His father had saved some money from the wreck of his fortune so he gave the son five thousand dollars to start in business for himself. He loaned half of this sum to a friend who never returned it, and soon lost the other half in an unsuccessful business deal.

As a banker and a business man Samuel Adams had not been a success. However, his friends and relatives had not lost faith in him. They were so sure he had real ability that they secured the position of tax collector for him. Although he made many friends while engaged in that work he did not have the ability to get the taxes from the people. His accounts became mixed and he was obliged to give up the position.

After Samuel Adams lost the position of tax collector in Boston he became clerk of the town assembly. In that position he had a good chance to use his talent for leading men. England needed money to pay the expenses of her wars. The king and his ministers decided that the colonies should pay part of the costs. A law was passed which said that all goods that the colonists had to sell would have to be sold in England, and anything they wanted to buy would have to be purchased there. This made the Boston merchants very angry. They would no longer be able to sell fish and manufactured articles in the West Indies and buy sugar, indigo and cotton there.

Another section of the law said that all shii)s in the colonial trade would have to be built in England. This would destroy the connnerce, manufacturing and shipl)uilding in the colonies.

Also, in order to obtain uku'c money, the English taxed all goods that were brought into the colonies.

The people refused to pay the taxes and soon they began to smuggle goods into the country. Fast sailing schooners would slip into some quiet river and unload a cargo of sugar, cotton, hides, timber, tar and indigo that had been brought from the West Indies. They would then slip away before the revenue officers of the king could find them and collect a tax.

The English knew that many homes and warehouses had smuggled goods in them, so they applied to the king for Writs of Assistance, which were warrants, or permits, to search the homes of the New Englanders. If a revenue officer came to a man's house with a Writ of Assistance he could search the ■place from cellar to garret. If he found anything on which a tax had not been paid he could arrest the owner of the house as a smuggler, make him pay the tax, and perhaps put him in prison. Samuel Adams opposed the rights of the officers to search the homes of the people.

The discontent in the colonies grew still greater when England decided to raise money by selling stamps which were to be placed on all newspapers, deeds, marriage licenses, mortgages and other business papers. When the people of Boston learned this, they apjDointed Samuel Adams to write a paper denying the right of the English Parliament to put the Stamp Act into force. Their charter said that

SA^IUEL ADAMS 2?^

they had the rights and privileges of Englishmen. They further said that "Taxation without representation is tyranny." Only the assemblies which they had elected had a right to tax them, they claimed.

Adams stated in the paper that if the tax was not removed the colonists would not import anything from England. They would do without tea, new clothing and furniture, new dishes and books until the tax was lifted. While the people of Boston were thinking and talking about the Stamp Act, the same thing was going on in all of the other colonies, because all of them were affected by the law. Benjamin Franklin was sent to England to defend the rights of the colonists, but his mission was not a success.

When the Stamp Act became a law in 1765, England was obliged to enforce it. For this purpose she sent two regiments of troops to Boston and quartered the soldiers in the homes of the people. The soldiers and citizens constantly fought with one another. Finally on the fifth of March. 1770, the soldiers were so abused and ill-treated by the citizens that they fired into a crowd, killing three and wounding eight. Immediately a cry went up, "The soldiers are rising! To arms! To arms! Town-born, turn out!" The streets were soon crowded with people, but wise heads controlled the situation and further ])loodshed was avoided.

This event became known as the Boston Massacre, and a committee on which Samuel Adams served was formed to inquire into the matter and fix the blame. At a great meeting held the next day it was declared