The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin

Rating:
Summary: Really 3.5
Review: This is an extended essay on Benjamin Franklin by the distinguished historian Gordon Wood. Wood explores Franklin's career and his later significance in American life. This concise book gives an outline of Franklin's life and then concentrates on Franklin's role in the American Revolution. Wood uses Franklin to show the evolution of many colonials from thinking of themselves as English and enthusiastic supporters of the British Empire to revolutionaries. Franklin is an extreme example of this general phenomenon. Resident for many years in England, Franklin was enamoured of the cosmopolitanism of English life and an enthusiastic imperialist. Many many colonials, he was disillusioned by the maladroit handling of colonial affairs after the Seven Years War. Once he converted to the cause of the Revolution, he became a fervent supporter and his diplomacy at the French court was crucial to the success of the Revolution. Woods deals also with Franklin's transition from craftsman to gentleman and his later adoption by the American public as the symbol of successful capitalism. These discussions provide some insight into the changing nature of social and political life engendered by the Revolution.
Like all of Wood's work, this is a well written and insightful book. It is, especially in comparison with his prior monographs, relatively slight. Well worth reading but not a major work of scholarship.

Rating:
Summary: Well Worth It
Review: While many biographers consider Franklin the first American, Wood is interested in what Americanized him. Wood lays out how Franklin's experiences pushed him away from Britain, and how Franklin's own hard work became a hallmark for American behavior through the years. In a sense, we learn why Franklin became an American and why we consider him such a quintessential one.

It's not usually stressed that Franklin loved the British Empire and wanted to be a player in London politics. After retiring from the Printing business, Franklin spent most of the next 20 years in England making friends and influencing colonial policy. His scientific experiments and inventions made him famous the world over and the colonies looked rather small to him.

What made the difference was Franklin's work as an agent for Pennsylvania and Mass. While those associations got Franklin in the middle of British politics, they also made him suspect when the colonies began to rebel. Though Franklin had no pulse on the colonies and wanted to remain loyal to the King, he was a readily available target to British Politicians who felt America was ungrateful. Franklin eventually understood that the colonists would never be treated as equals and they were wasting their time as part of the empire.

He may have been one of the last to get the message, but he was one of the most fervent converts thereafter. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and almost solely responsible for bringing France into the American Revolution without which America never would have gained independence.

Just as important as to why we see Franklin as the first American is his legacy of entrepreneurship. Franklin's example of humble beginnings to riches is a uniquely American phenomenon. Franklin's reputation has grown a bundle since his death in 1790 and much of it has to do with his Autobiography that stresses thrift and hard work. These were unusual ideas in Europe and never fully embraced as they were here. As America built a stronger nation, Franklin continued to be one of the patron saints.

Wood makes you wonder how different America would be if Franklin hadn't been Americanized.