II.

Early Years in Boston

Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston in the colony of Massachusetts. His father, Josiah Franklin, was a tallow chandler (maker and seller of soap and candles). His mother, Abiah Folger, was Josiah’s second wife. Benjamin was the 15th of Josiah’s 17 children, and Abiah’s 8th child. The Franklin family had little money, like most New Englanders of the time, and could not afford to give their children much education. When Benjamin was ten years old, his father took him out of school and taught him to make soap and candles. Disliking the business, however, he went to work for a cutler, or knife-maker. At age 12 he was apprenticed as a printer to his brother James, who had recently returned from England with a new printing press.

Franklin stayed with his brother for five years, learning the printing trade. During this time he made friends with apprentice booksellers in Boston and borrowed books from them. He also skimped on food to buy books. In this way he taught himself grammar, arithmetic, navigation, and philosophy, as well as several foreign languages. His reading included The Pilgrim’s Progress by British preacher John Bunyan; Parallel Lives, the work of Greek essayist and biographer Plutarch; An Essay upon Projects by English journalist and novelist Daniel Defoe; and the Essays to Do Good by American clergyman Cotton Mather. When Franklin acquired a copy of the third volume of the Spectator by British statesmen and essayists Sir Richard Steele and Joseph Addison, he set himself the goal of mastering its prose style.

In 1721 James Franklin established a weekly newspaper, the New England Courant, and Benjamin, at the age of 15, was busily occupied in delivering the newspaper by day and in composing articles for it at night. These articles, published anonymously, won wide notice and acclaim for their pithy observations on the current scene. Because it chose to challenge the Puritan establishment, the New England Courant frequently incurred the displeasure of colonial authorities. In 1722, as a consequence of an article considered particularly offensive, James Franklin was imprisoned for a month and forbidden to publish his paper, and for a while the paper appeared under Benjamin’s name.