The bearer of this, who is going to America, presses me to give him a letter of recommendation, though I know nothing of him, not even his name. This may seem extraordinary, but I assure you is not uncommon here. Sometimes, indeed, one unknown person brings another, equally unknown, to recommend him; and sometimes they recommend one another. As to this gentleman, I must refer you to himself for his character and merits, with which he is certainly better acquainted than I can possibly be. I recommend him, however, to those civilities which every stranger of whom one knows no harm has a right to; and I request you will do him all the good offices, and show him all the favour, that on further acquaintance you shall find him to deserve.I took this from a "juvenile" biography of Franklin published in the early 20th century. They had a different idea back then what children might profit from reading. If the seedier stories about Franklin's private habits are true, those were left out, but there was no bowdlerizing of the politics.
The safe road
Benjamin Franklin penned an all-purpose letter of recommendation while in France in 1776:
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I don't know that there are many doubts about the truth of Franklin's "private habits" as he himself seemed quite open about them. He penned letters extolling the virtues of taking an older woman as a lover for a whole list of practical reasons (the least controversial of which by modern standards was "she's less likely to get pregnant"). He was famously popular with the ladies of the French court (much to the consternation of John Adams, who all but accused him of putting the concerns of the Revolution behind those of his libido), and did not seem the least bit ashamed of any of it.
In fact, most histories of the Founders tend to leave out a great deal of what apparently was common knowledge at the time. Aaron Burr apparently was well known for sleeping with other men's wives. And so on.
Franklin was no slouch as a scientific thinker, either. I knew he dabbled in electricity, but I didn't know how involved he was in English and French scientific societies. Here are his thoughts on what we would now call Continental Drift:
"I did not find Coal mines under the Calcareous rock in Derbyshire. I only remarked that at the lowest Part of that rocky Mountain which was in sight, there were Oyster Shells mixed with the Stone; & part of the high County of Derby being probably as much above the level of the Sea, as the Coal Mines of Whitehaven were below, it seemed a proof that there had been a great Bouleversement in the Surface of that Island some part of it having been depressed under the Sea, & other Parts which had been under it being raised above it. Such Changes in the superficial Parts of the Globe seemed to me unlikely to happen if the Earth were solid to the Center. I therefore imagined that the internal parts might be a fluid more dense, & of greater specific gravity than any of the Solids we are acquainted with; which therefore might swim in or upon that Fluid. Thus the surface of the Globe would be a Shell, capable of being broken & disordered by the violent movements of the fluid on which it rested." Not bad for the late 18th century.
Franklin was almost 70 when he mourned the death of his wife of many years. The next year he assisted in the Declaration of Independence. He served as the new nation's first Postmaster General and its first foreign ambassador (to France), and died in 1790.
"In fact, most histories of the Founders tend to leave out a great deal of what apparently was common knowledge at the time."
Yes, we went through a period after the Civil War in which the American elite became rather prissy and unwilling to discuss (or even admit they knew) about a great many things. It was not thus in the days of the Revolution, and even less so in the Jacksonian age. Nor is it today, although it may be (as Aristotle would have us expect) that it is possible to err in both directions.
Nor is it today, although it may be (as Aristotle would have us expect) that it is possible to err in both directions.
The pendulum keeps swinging, and any who see it drift in one manner or another and proclaim that as the inevitable tide of history just prove themselves shortsighted.
Certainly, there is little question that men have always had vices, and all men are some mixture of the good and the bad. It is nothing new or surprising. I suppose it's not surprising either that we idealize our heroes, at least to some extent.
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