The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin (140 page)

LC: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Liberty of Congress (Washington, D.C.).

Lemay:
Benjamin Franklin: Writings,
selected and annotated by J. A. Leo Lemay (New York, 1987).

Letters of Rush: Letters of Benjamin Rush,
ed. L. H. Butterfield (Princeton, N.J., 1951).

Memoirs: Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin,
ed. William Temple Franklin (London, 1833).

NEQ: The New England Quarterly.

Papers of Jefferson: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson,
ed. Julian P. Boyd (Princeton, N.J., 1950–).

Papers of Madison: The Papers of James Madison,
ed. William T. Hutchinson and William M. E. Rachal (Charlottesville, Va., 1962–91).

Papers of Washington: The Papers of George Washington,
ed. W. W. Abbot (Charlottesville, Va., 1983–).

PBF: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin,
ed. Leonard W. Labaree et al. (New Haven, Conn., 1959–).

PG: Pennsylvania Gazette.

PMHB: Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography.

PR: Poor Richard
[year]:
An Almanack for the Year of Christ
[year]. (All the pertinent issues can be found in
PBF,
under last part of the previous year.)

Records of Convention: The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787,
ed. Max Far-rand (New Haven, Conn., 1923).

Smyth:
The Writings of Benjamin Franklin,
ed. Albert Henry Smyth (New York, 1905–7).

Sparks:
The Works of Benjamin Franklin,
ed. Jared Sparks (Boston, 1840).

WMQ: William and Mary Quarterly
(3rd. series).

Writings of Jefferson: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson,
ed. Albert Ellery Bergh (Washington, D.C., 1903–4).

Writings of Madison: James Madison: Writings,
ed. Jack N. Rakove (New York, 1999).

Writings of Washington: The Writings of George Washington,
ed. John C. Fitzpatrick (Washington, D.C., 1931–44).

Yale: Benjamin Franklin Collection, Yale University (New Haven, Conn.).

1. BOSTON BEGINNINGS: 1706–23

10 “Coming to himself … this resolution”:
Diary of Cotton Mather,
2 vols. (Boston, 1911–12), 1:12, 357.

10–12 “That there is … imposed upon”:
The Wonders of the Invisible World
(1893), reproduced in
The Witchcraft Delusion in New England,
ed. Samuel G. Drake (Roxbury, Mass., 1866), 1:55, 61, 94–95, 102–6.

12 “blame and shame”:
The Diary of Samuel Sewall,
ed. M. Halsey Thomas (New York, 1973), 1:367.

12 “the first letters”: Marion L. Starkey,
The Devil in Massachusetts
(Garden City, N.Y., 1969), 198.

14 “I remember well”:
ABF,
54–55.

14 “a place where”: Arthur Bernon Tourtellot,
Benjamin Franklin: The Shaping of Genius: The Boston Years
(Garden City, N.Y., 1977), 105.

15 “When I was a child”:
Bagatelles,
45.

16–18 “I do not remember … difficulty”:
ABF,
53–54.

18 “without the least fatigue”: to Barbeu-Dubourg, undated, Smyth, 5:542–45.

19 “the old feud”: Walter Muir Whitehill,
Boston: A Topographical History
(Cambridge, Mass., 1959), 29.

21 “The said Apprentice”: John Clyde Oswald,
A History of Printing
(New York, 1928), 355.

22–23 “still had a hankering … vanity”:
ABF,
58–60.

23 “Will you hear”: in Thomas C. Leonard, “Recovering ‘Wretched Stuff’ and the Franklins’ Synergy,”
NEQ
72:3 (Sept. 1999), 445–47. Although the editors of
PBF
were skeptical that this is in fact Franklin’s poem, Leonard’s textual and contextual reasoning is persuasive.

24 “I was extremely”:
ABF,
62.

25 “vile
Courant
”: Samuel G. Drake,
The History and Antiquities of Boston
(Boston, 1856), 564.

25 “to vilify”: Kenneth Silverman,
The Life and Times of Cotton Mather
(New York, 1984), 357.

26 “notorious”: Tourtellot,
The Boston Years,
258.

26 “the wicked printer”:
Diary of Cotton Mather,
2:663.

26–27 “either to commend … else to grieve for”:
PBF,
1:9–10.

27 No questions”:
ibid.,
11.

27 “exquisite pleasure”:
ABF,
68.

28–29 “There is certainly … garnish it mightily”:
PBF,
1:11–12, 17, 19, 22, 26.

29 “The houses”: Carl Seaburg,
Boston Observed
(Boston, 1971), 82.

29 “This night”:
Diary of Cotton Mather,
2:658.

29 “’tis thought”:
PBF,
1:27.

30 “I made bold”:
ABF,
69.

30 “Without freedom”:
PBF,
1:27, 30.

31 “Whenever I find … Courant”: Tourtellot,
The Boston Years,
423–25.

31 “entirely dropped”:
PBF,
1:48.

31 “Adam was never”:
ibid.,
1:52.

32–34 “I was charmed … scrapes”:
ABF,
63–71.

2. FRIENDS AND OTHER STRANGERS: 1723–24

36–37 “a den … cheap a price”: Harry Emerson Wildes,
William Penn
(New York, 1974), 12, 22, 27, 119.

37–38 “large town … for money”: Mary Maples Dunn and Richard S. Dunn, “The Founding,” in
Philadelphia: A 300-Year History,
ed. Russell F. Weigley (New York, 1982), 1, 14.

40 “I recollected”:
ABF,
87–88.

42 “I was thoroughly”:
ibid.,
73.

43 “I saw”:
ibid.,
124.

44–50 “most awkward … pig poisoned”:
ibid.,
76–80.

51 “The reason”: Dunn and Dunn, “Founding,” 31.

52–53 “most affable … grum and sullen”:
ABF,
81–82.

54 “Stoop”: to Samuel Mather, May 12, 1784, Smyth.

56–58 “He suspected … his promise”:
ABF,
88–92.

3. LONDON ONCE: 1724–26

61–62 “I was satisfied … Riddlesden”:
ABF,
93–94.

62 “a person”: biographical note on William Vanhaesdonck Riddlesden,
ABF,
296.

62 “I have lately”:
ibid.,
94.

64 “Presuming on … a burden”:
ABF,
99.

65 “Oh, the miserable”: Thomas Burke,
The Streets of London through the Centuries
(London, 1943), 39–40.

66 “No city in the world”: Daniel Defoe,
A Tour thro’ London about the Year 1725, Being Letter V and Parts of Letter VI of
A
Tour thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain’
(1724–26; rpt. New York, 1969), 48.

66 “As we stumbled”: Burke,
Streets of London,
64.

67 “No person”: editorial note in Defoe,
Tour thro’ London,
25.

67 “This is to give”: Walter Besant,
London in the Eighteenth Century
(London, 1903), 440.

67–68 “Last Wednesday … not wise”:
ibid.,
238–42.

68 “The many-headed”:
ibid.,
427.

69 “spent with Ralph”:
ABF,
96.

69 “foolish intrigues”:
ibid.,
115.

70–71 “a detestable custom … very agreeably”:
ibid.,
100–1.

72
A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain: PBF,
1:58–71.

74–76 “My printing … to see it”:
ABF,
96–105.

76–81 “This Gravesend … Thank God!”: journal of voyage,
PBF,
1:72–99.

4. AN IMPRINT OF HIS OWN: 1726–30

83–84 “expert at selling … do over again”:
ABF,
107.

85 “I had almost determined”: to Jane Franklin, Jan. 6, 1727.

88–95 “a very civil … beneficial to us”:
ABF,
112–19.

95 “Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion”:
PBF,
1:101–9.

96 “Those who write”: “Plan of Conduct”:
ibid.,
1:99–100.

97–98 “1. Temperance … Jesus and Socrates”:
ABF,
149–50.

99–100 “Something that pretended … by the endeavour”:
ibid.,
156.

100 “In order to secure”:
ibid.,
125–26.

101 “a paltry thing”:
ibid.,
119.

101–2 “in behalf of myself … lay it down”: Martha Careful and Caelia Shortface [Letters],
American Weekly Mercury,
Jan. 28, 1729,
PBF,
1:112–13.

102 “Let the fair sex … on hearing further”: Busy Body [Letter],
American Weekly Mercury,
Feb. 4, 1729,
ibid.,
1:114–16.

103 “a trifle”:
ABF,
120.

103–4 “now to be carried … will allow”:
PG,
Oct. 2, 1729,
PBF,
1:157–59.

5. POOR RICHARD: 1730–35

107–8 “I considered … escaped it”:
ABF,
128.