Ben and Will Franklin

Paper Summary:

The writer of this paper examines "Benjamin and William Franklin: Father and Son, Patriot and Loyalist" written by historian and author Sheila L. Skemp. This book contains surprising historical fact about one of America's founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin and his son William. This paper details the fact that William not only did not support his father's patriot cause but he actively supported the English loyalist cause and labored to keep America under colonial rule, eventually going to jail for his efforts. This paper discusses Skemp's method of introducing the reader to the facts behind the Franklin family drama as well as insight into the Revolutionary War. The author presents a balanced portrayal of the two men's different interests to show how both men could both believe in liberty, but because they represented different political interests and were subject to different political intellectual influences, they came to hold different political views. This paper details numerous historical facts regarding both father and son, for example, William was royally appointed as governor of New Jersey while in contrast Benjamin Franklin accepted a position as a representative of Massachusetts in England.

From the Paper:

"This book shows not only how a father and son can go from loving and esteeming one another's opinions to fighting each other on opposing sides, but how their conflict was emblematic of the of the era. Shelia Skemp presents a balanced portrayal of the two men's different interests to show how two men could both believe in liberty, but because they represented different political interests and were subject to different political intellectual influences, they came to hold different political views. Skemp attempts to show how two Americans from the same family could make such different sense of the events spanning the end of the French and Indian War and the Declaration of Independence because of different political principles about the best way to go about fighting for liberty, life, and happiness, as well as their divergent economic and personal interests."

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