Franklin and the American Dream

Paper Summary:

The paper relates that Benjamin Franklin was an example of the American Dream, which is about realizing one's potential and rising from rags to riches. The paper describes Franklin's great entrepreneurial ventures and his unflagging optimism. The paper concludes that those who believed in themselves, worked hard and consistently tried to improve succeeded in the young capitalist environment of America.

From the Paper:

"Benjamin Franklin will always be known as the most respected man in American politics- a man of courage, wisdom, foresight who had the true entrepreneurial spirit. In his book "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin", we get an insight into the mind and spirit of a man who knew no fears. He was a true symbol of the American Dream realized. "Franklin created a bourgeois persona in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world. Americans have taken the identity Franklin constructed, defined it as middle class, presumed it an accurate portrayal, and used his life story as emblematic of the "American Dream."(Kulikoff) "

Sample of Sources Used:

• "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=Fra2Aut.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=all [Accessed online April 25 2008]
• Allan Kulikoff, Benjamin Franklin and the American Dream, University of Georgia http://www.uga.edu/colonialseminar/Ben%20Franklin%20and%20the%20American%20Dream.pdf

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