Ben Franklin Virtues

Deism is the belief that God created the world and everything it it but after creating it he let nature take its course(What Is Deism). Ben Franklin was a deist in the way he thought about his virtues because he was the one taking control of his life and making his own decisions not having God controlling his every move. Ben Franklin believes in God and is a Christian, but is not a full deist just in his belief of virtues. The thirteen virtues that Ben Franklin created were designed for men but they were unrealistic in many ways just like deism. The virtues were designed to create perfect people who did not make any mistakes, which being human is impossible. No one is perfect except for God which is part of the thirteenth virtue, which states: "Humility- Imitate Jesus and Socrates" (Franklin 150). This imitation could possible set expectations to high and no one could follow all the virtues all the time. Deism allows the the people to determine morality from nature but everyone has a different sense of wrong and right and would have different standards for their virtues(What Is Deism).

Deism's faults lie in the people because that is deism there is a God but he stepped aside and decided to the let the people chose their own path that they believed would be right for them( What Is Deism). Ben Franklin chose to create his thirteen virtues and decided that that was how he was going to live. He still remained close to God using the words of the Lord to help him fulfill his task to be a man of virtue.

"O powerful Goodness! bountiful Father! merciful Guide! Increase in me that wisdom which discovers my truest interest. Strengthen my resolution to perform what that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to Thy other children, as the only return in my power for Thy continual favours to me"(Franklin 155).

The quote that lies in his little book is one from God but the Deist do not believe that God has control in a persons live and that we live by our own choses and we determine what is right and wrong(What Is Deism). The virtues are from a deist point of view because they make a plan on how you should act without the influence of God. The virtues represent an outline of how Ben Franklin believed people should act and this similar to deism where it is up to the individual to decide how to live(What Is Deism). The way Ben Franklin used his virtues was a Christian way and this makes it seem like the virtues were more Christian but it is not God telling them or making them live this way. You could say that the virtues were based on the Ten Commandments and in a way they might have been but the Ten Commandments were created by God and they were how God wanted people to live and again this not how the deist see things(What Is Deism).

"What Is Deism? | Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry." CARM - Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry. Web. 27 Oct. 2011.

Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, 1895. Print.

Journal 14

Today I awoke to the rising sun and climbed the ladder the candles were lit and a small fire burned in the chimney. The kitchen smelled of baked bread that mother had cooked earlier that morning. I sat at the small wood kitchen table with my bread and drank a small glass of milk getting ready to head out to the print shop and help my master Ben Franklin. I finished eating and washed my face in the stream outside the back door. There was a small breezy as I walked slowly past the town Inn and skipped along past the small farm seeing the cows. It was early when I arrived at the shop and I quietly let myself in the back door with the key that we hid under the bottom step. I walked in and turned on the printing press, started the fire, and got the paper ready for the news that my master will write and I would copy. Each morning I completed the these simple tasks and got everything set up so that when Master Franklin walked in all he had to do was write. Master Franklin was a brilliant man and I was happy to work under him as an apprentice and knew that he would teach me all the need knowledge to become as successful as him. Each morning Master Franklin walked in with a smile on his face carrying his little black notebook that he carried making dots when he felt himself losing control of his virtues. He quoted his virtues all the time while he thought, wrote his stories, and invented his amazing inventions. He spoke of his virtues so often that I could recite them myself and I found myself joining in reciting them with him as he mutter them throughout the day. We finished each day with a farewell as he left I stayed and cleaned up the stamps, put out the fire, and as I left I locked up the doors and dumped the ashes out and continued home and I repeated this routine about every day.

Journal 13

The American Dream today is very different than what it was about half a century ago with the two story house and the white picket fence. The American Dream back in the day was the dream of having an opportunity of freedom and work and being able to do whatever you dream of. Having a nice little house in the suburb with two point five kids and a dog was considered the best thing during the time. The American Dream today is slightly different everyone’s is now different because everyone wants something else because they have so many more options and possibilities in life. Some people dream of having money and power others simply dream of going to college and getting a good job. My dream is to get a great job and have my own house and later on start a family. The American Dream could be anything these days. People original came to America for freedom of religion and this was their dream. The American people then dreamed for independence and this common dream lead to the revolution and this revolution gave the American people more rights and freedoms. America was built on dreams and the want of the people and these dreams fuel the American spirit and the drive for the future. People dream of success and happiness just like the original motto of America: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The dreams of all the American people are now equally achievable were before the men were the ones American Dreams could be completely fulfilled but now the women can achieve their dreams just like men instead of being trapped as a housewife. The dream of the people could be anything like sky diving, or climbing the tallest mountain now a days the sky’s the limit. The American Dream is no longer focused on having a perfect little family in the suburb with a boy and a girl playing in the front yard now it is about the success you want for yourself.

Journal 12

The rules of right and wrong would be very simple and clearly stated because the rules of right and wrong vary between different situations. If people could have rules that apply to all situations then there would not be as many awkward moments that you have to figure out a way out of the situation. It is like little kids who play games like school but they change the rules. Rule one would be if you know you are not going to say something nice do not say anything at all. That is a simple rule that would prevent people from fighting and having their feelings hurt. Rule two would be that you have to be honest and lying would result in jail time. Last night Emily my little sister lied and I was getting so frustrated because she keep on lying trying to convince me that she did not but the computer's history does not lie. She knows that she is not supposed to touch my computer and straight out lied and continued lying to me over and over again saying that she did not do anything. Emily did not understand that the history does not lie and I'm pretty sure that while I am at swimming practice that I was reading The Real Housewives of New Jersey's blogs or checking out her good reads account. She is so dumb that trying to cover up her lie she said that her and mom were on it a few days ago but the history is dated and the dummy thinks I can not read. I hate lying it drives me crazy. Rule three would be that government workers do not get any money until they fix the economic issues that threaten the American people who are hurting everyday because they can not pay their bills. Rules would be made on the basics of honesty, trust , and how much people get done. People have to be productive in order to get stuff done and if you are lazy and wait for people to do things for you, you will not get far in life. Rules are meant to be fair and everyone has to pull their own weight.

Franklin Reflection

Benjamin Franklin writing style reflects that of the rationalism period, which involves logical and analytical thinking compared to the writing style of Puritans who wrote more religious and believed God controlled everything. "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" explains the life of one of the biggest creators of the time. Ben Franklin created many important historical documents including helping to write the Constitution and also he invented glasses, a stove, daylight saving time, and a lightening rod (Divine). These ideas would have confused the Puritans because the believed that God had a part in everything and that he would provide everything they needed. Franklin's new inventions were made to get an answer to the question why. The question why was a big difference between the rationalism period and the Puritan era.

The Puritans did not ask the questions and believed that God was the reason for everything but the rationalism period was the start of exploring with experiments and God was not the entire focus of the people.

"He had some letters, and was ingenious, but he was an infidel, and wickedly undertook, some years after, to turn the Bible into doggerel verse, as Cotton had formerly done with Virgil. By this means he set many facts in ridiculous light, and might have done mischief with weak minds if his work had been published; but it was never" (Franklin 106).

This statement showed that the people living in the area were using there brains some maybe not for the right reason like Dr. Brown. Dr. Brown was a smart man in his practice most likely but he was involved with some poking fun at the Bible which would be unheard of during the Puritan time.

The two pieces are alike in the way they are presented because in the Puritan writing such as Mary Rowlandson's "A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson" where the story is presented in a diary format. Both these pieces are written in that format but the contents of them are completely different. Mary Rowlandson believes that God knows what He is doing and will provide what she needs to survive. "I repaired under these thoughts to my Bible (my great comforter in that time) and that scripture came to my hand, Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee" (Rowlandson 85). She refers to God as the provide and would never think that their was a power greater than His. The people during Franklin's time have God as a backdrop in their life and you can tell because the focus of the document is not completely on religion but instead the facts and reasoning is what really interested the people. "Then one of the company knew the place to be Cooper's Creek, a little above Philadelphia, which we saw as soon as we got out of the creek, and arrived there about eight or nine o'clock on the Sunday morning and landed at Market Street wharf"( Franklin 108). "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" has a lot of details which is not common in the simple sentences and structure of the Puritan writing style. The Puritans did not use a lot of detail they were straight forward this is how it is where the rationalism period left grey areas that required more description.

Rowlandson, Mary. "from A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 82-85. Print.

Franklin, Benjamin. "From The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 106-108. Print.

Divine, Robert A., T. H. Breen, George M. Fredrickson, R. Hal Williams, H. W. Brands, and Ariela J. Gross. America Past and Present AP Edition. Boston: Longman, 2011. Print.

Journal 11

James Madison's proverb "One man's trash is another mans treasure" is a common theme in our house. My mom comes home with random stuff that they are going to get rid of at her hotel and brings it home because she gets a big idea about a way to reuse it. This weekend she brought home to giant bathroom mirrors that were going to get thrown away but instead of letting them go in the trash she brought them home. Emily and I asked her why she does it and she responded with do you know how much these mirrors cost. She spray painted them black and sliver so that they would look new. Theses stupid mirrors weight a ton and you can not just hang them on a wall they have to braced and its a big project. Before the mirrors she has brought home curtains and rods in an attempt to create a big movie curtain to go across the projector screen downstairs, but instead those curtains are hiding our furnace, air conditioning unit, Christmas, and other holiday decorations. The first big thing that she brought home was a potted tree. She brought home one one day and was hoping that she could save the tree because it was almost dead and she did. Once she saved that one she came home with four more of them and now they are all healthy trees and they are all over the house. These are heavy and big trees that have to be moved into the house for the winter and they shed all over. One man's trash is definitely another's treasure. The person who sees that as a treasure is my mom she has a way of turning trash into something useful. Some people just throw away broken or old stuff that they do not use anymore but instead they should think of a creative way to turn it into something different. Some people take old broken bathtubs and turn them into flower beds personally I think it looks tacky but to some its really cool. Reuse old junk is recycling which is awesome for the environment.

Thomas Paine Reflection

Thomas Paine was a patriot writer who rallied a lot of support for his side both before and during the Revolutionary War with his writings one of the most famous being Common Sense. This pamphlet rallied the patriots to boycott English products and just like Common Sense the author was inspiring war and why the colonists needed to separate from their mother country (Divine). Paine was a big rationalist writer and throughout all of his writings he is accused of being an atheist because his views were based on logic and reasoning instead of religion."The prosecution contended that Paine's book, by subverting the truths of Christianity, undermined the government and the constitution, both of which rested on Christianity" (Bald). The accusation that Paine was anti-religious was decision that did not have full truth. His writing style was logically and analytical which was what the new writing style was and the independence of the people had to be based on facts.

"Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to tax) but "to bind us in all cases whatsoever" (Paine 134).

Thomas Paine is talking to his already loyal patriots but is also hoping to gain support from the people who are not sure what side to choose (Divine). Thomas Paine wants the others to join his cause for the fight against freedom and the pamphlet was his way of gaining new supporters and also helped the patriots pass on information such as to boycott the English made products. Thomas Paine and the other patriots in the colonies were tired of the English taxes and wanted to escape their power. The colonists had lived well before the English lost in the Seven Years War which caused them to go broke and thats when they started paying attention to the Americans. Thomas Paine wanted to reach out to the people that were being taxed and taken advantage of by the British. He wanted them to fight for their freedom and in The Crisis he is wanting them to reject the British and come fight for their independence so they can make their own rules (Divine). "I call not upon a few, but on every State: up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake" (Paine 136).

This call for everyone to revolt against the British was a big moment in history the colonies were going from their small independent communities and united as one giant super power to fight their common enemy (Divine). Thomas Paine was a revolutionary writer who helped the colonist gain the need support and man power to defeat the British soldiers and gain independence (Divine). His writing rationalism writing gave people reason on why they should fight and information about why these things were happening. There was logic in The Crisis which could have influenced many to join the patriots or even maybe side with the loyalist.

Paine, Thomas. "The Crisis, No. 1." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009.134-136 . Print.

Bald, Margaret. "Censorship History of The Age of Reason."Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Religious Grounds, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Divine, Robert A., T. H. Breen, George M. Fredrickson, R. Hal Williams, H. W. Brands, and Ariela J. Gross. America Past and Present AP Edition. Boston: Longman, 2011. Print.