Author Archives: Steven W. Allen, J.D.


About Steven W. Allen, J.D.

Steven W. Allen, J.D. is an author, speaker, and retired attorney. His book "Founding Fathers - Uncommon Heroes" is popular with all ages and is used in many schools. See his other books at www.StevenAllenBooks.com

Service Club with Benjamin Franklin

Posted on by April 20, 2016

Ben FranklinHey, how would you like to have been in a service club with our Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin? Wouldn’t that have been great? He was a learned man, and you could learn much from him and his experience.

Benjamin Franklin founded “the Leather Apron Club,” more formally known as the Junto, in 1727, in Philadelphia. This was a forerunner of today’s types of service clubs such as Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, and Optimists clubs. It was intended to provide a place where friends could come to learn from each other and help others as well. read more

Doctor Franklin

Posted on by April 19, 2016

Ben Franklin thumb pictureI can remember being told sometime shortly after my receipt of my diploma for the grade of Juris Doctor (Doctor of Laws), that doctors were originally mostly lawyers! Well, we’re not to be confused with doctors of medicine. But the original doctor degrees were first issued to lawyers, doctors, and, of all things, religious leaders.

Nevertheless, Benjamin Franklin was often referred to as Doctor Franklin. I didn’t wonder about that too much until I started studying Dr. Franklin’s life. I learned that Benjamin Franklin received an honorary master’s degree from the College of William and Mary in 1756. He also received honorary DOCTOR degrees from across the Atlantic, the University of St. Andrews in 1759, the University of Oxford in 1762. And he also received doctorates from America’s oldest universities, Yale and Harvard. And then again from the College of William and Mary. read more

Death and Taxes

Posted on by April 18, 2016

Ben Franklin thumb pictureIn honor of this Tax Day in these United States, I leave only a quote from Benjamin Franklin:

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

Of course you’ve heard that one, but have you heard this quote from him? He was once asked if our country should ever have income or direct taxation. (You know that was unconstitutional until 1913 and the sixteenth Amendment).

“His response was immediate and direct: “No. An income tax will make liars out of the people and a despot out of the government.” read more

Thomas Jefferson’s Birthday!

Posted on by April 13, 2016

ThomasJeffersonThomas Jefferson should truly be remembered and honored today. What did he accomplish? I’ll just mention a few here. He graduated from William and Mary College and then studied law for 5 years under George Wythe, the first law professor in Virginia.

By then he was already an accomplished violinist and dancer. He fell in love with and married another musician, Martha Wayles Skelton. He had already begun construction on Montecello, so they moved in to the one room that was finished there. He worked on building and remodeling for the next 40 years. (If you haven’t been there, you should go to visit and to observe the detail and the beauty of his mansion on the hill. read more

Jefferson’s Suggested News Categories

Posted on by April 12, 2016

ThomasJeffersonThomas Jefferson suggested that editors divide their newspapers into four sections: Truths, possibilities, possibilities and lies.

The General Advertiser in London published a story in 1747 that was soon picked up by some newspapers in the American colonies. It wrote that a woman named Polly Baker from New England, was being prosecuted for giving birth to an illegitimate child. This was the fifth time she had apparently been guilty of the same offense.

Her defense to the judges had been that she had simply been obedient to the “first and great commandment of nature, and of nature’s God, ‘increase and multiply’” She reasoned how could it be a crime to “add to the number of the King’s subjects in a new country that really wants people?” read more

What? A Violent Benjamin Franklin?

Posted on by April 11, 2016

Ben Franklin thumb pictureFranklin, of course, was first a printer. And a good one at that. Of course he needed things to print in his newspaper. He loved good stories. He even made some up—especially to discourage the British in the Revolutionary War.

Did he go too far? Only you can decide. In 1789, the year before Ben died, a newspaper article was printed in which Ben is reported to have said:

“My proposal, then, is to leave liberty of the press untouched, to be exercised in its full extent, force and vigor, but to permit liberty of the cudgel (which is a short and heavy club, for those of you who can’t remember your high school English) to go with it . . . .Thus, my fellow citizens, if an impudent writer attacks your reputation, dearer to you perhaps than your life, you may go to him openly and break his head.” (Clarence S. Brigham, Journals and Journeymen, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1950, page 69. Emphasis omitted, spelling and capitalization modernized. read more

Benjamin Franklin’s Mistakes He Never Made

Posted on by April 10, 2016

Ben FranklinBenjamin Franklin will be the first to admit that he made mistakes. Plenty of them. However, there appear to be at least 3 mistakes he never made. He tells us about those.

Franklin never accepted the current situation to be unchangeable. He thought he could change things for the better, and he looked for ways to do it. If something wasn’t quite right he would rack his mind, or work on whatever the conditions were until he could find a solution. A good example of this is when his brother suffered from kidney stones, he developed America’s first urinary catheter to ease the problem. read more

James Madison and the Bill of Rights

Posted on by April 6, 2016

JamesMadisonThe Constitution was undeniably the idea, design, and proposal of James Madison, but so also was the Bill of Rights. The first 10 Amendments to the Constitution. Once the Constitution was ratified and signed by the 55 Representatives of the States in Congress, it had to be approved by each of the States individually.

In an effort to gain the votes of the States, Madison, together with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton wrote the “Federalist Papers” to fully explain the meaning and importance of the Constitution. Nine State had to adopt it before the Constitution would replace the Articles of Confederation as the principle document uniting the States. read more

Thomas Jefferson and Vegetables

Posted on by April 5, 2016

ThomasJeffersonToday my wife and I ate at a restaurant named “Tender Greens” in San Diego, California. We are on a little trip together with our daughter and her husband. As we ordered our food at this nice eatery, I was reminded of Thomas Jefferson. I know, many things remind me of Jefferson.

But you see, Thomas Jefferson at his mountain top estate of Monticello, had his own wonderful garden. This was his intention to provide a year round supply of fresh vegetables. The garden was finally laid out in 1774, and he grew a wonderful variety of fresh vegetables. He grew many new hybrid varieties. His favorite vegetable was peas. read more