It often happens to me that I read a statement attributed to Franklin and get a vague sense that “it doesn’t sound like Franklin.” In one recent case, it became clear why a particular statement didn’t sound like Franklin, and I’d like to share it. This morning, The Hill published this statement: “A system where …
Sharp-eyed Alabamian Karen Hedwig Backman caught a bogus Franklin quote unknown to me: Safety without choice is prison. Her Letter to the Editor came to the defense with the classic alternative. Congratulations!
I listened to an audio version of Ed Asner and Ed. Weinberger’s 2017 book, The Grouchy Historian: An Old-Time Lefty Defends Our Constitution Against Right-Wing Hypocrites and Nutjobs. The audio version was read by Mr. Asner himself. It is related to multiple books written to clarify that the Framers of the Constitution were elite, self-serving …
I visited the National Archives on December 12, 2018, and made some notes about the Charters of Freedom display in the Rotunda. The Rotunda contains 17 display cases. Aside from the three major documents in cases 8-10, each case contains facsimile documents and supporting information on modern placards. Franklin is featured in the display case …
The Relgion of Ignorance line was never said, only quoted incorrectly.
In my posting of August 23, 2015, I mentioned this quote: “This will be the best security for maintaining our liberties. A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the religion of ignorance that tyranny begins. ” …
I browse the news feed of Franklin mentions daily, and almost stop because of the flurry of bogus quotes from Franklin. So convenient a thing it is to concoct a Franklin quote for anything one has a mind to say. I happened across the @bfcircles Twitter group on my phone this morning, and on the …
This article from Dubai credits Dr. Franklin with The best of all medicines are resting and fasting. Best of Ramadan wishes to all, but I don’t recognize that as a Franklin line: the only fasting I recall from Franklin was in connection with vegetarianism – that he has since occasionally abstained from eating meat – …
Franklin’s quote about “a republic, if you can keep it” is cited daily somewhere on the Internet, it seems. This posting is the first I’ve noticed that identified the woman who asked Franklin the question: At the close of America’s Constitutional Convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was reportedly asked by George Washington’s friend, Mrs. Elizabeth …
Continue reading ‘Constitutional Convention: Elizabeth Powell?’ »
By legend, some people (especially out side the U.S.) say Franklin “was the best President the United States ever had.” Here is a recent website giving him that promotion: The Daily Mail.
