Benjamin Franklin did not, no he didn’t, write the first American novel. However, as a printer, he did publish the first novel in America. The first novel written in plain English was “Pamela” by Samuel Richardson. That was published in London in 1742. Benjamin Franklin brought it to America and published it himself in his printing shop in 1744.
Franklin was a very successful printer. He also published the first political cartoon. We should pay some attention to it today with the current repercussions from our Presidential election. As the French and Indian war was beginning, Franklin was again at the forefront. In Albany, New York, in 1754, Ben proposed a union of all the colonies to Congress at that city.
Some say that whatever a man has decided to have placed on his tombstone says a lot about what that man considered to be of greatest importance in his life. Knowing that you would think that a man who accomplished as much in his life as did Thomas Jefferson would need a large grave marker. Or perhaps he’d need several tombstones to give the full story.
It may be “much ado about nothing”. I still believe that small details are and must be important. It may just be a small peccadillo. But for some reason it seems to be important to me. It may not be something to quibble about, but perception is everything. And it’s how I look at things, especially today—small things are important.
There is still some opposition to the Electoral College. Some people are advocating that it be done away with and we go to a strictly popular vote. That would move us more towards Democracy. If you’ve read any of the words of the Founding Fathers, you’ll remember that they taught that a Democracy is one of the worst types of government. It eventually results in the control by the masses and tyranny.
An anonymous descendent of Jefferson’s recently made a gift to Monticello of Jefferson’s obelisk clock. Jefferson had a carved shelf inside of his alcove bed. He designed an obelisk clock which was engineered and built by Parisian clockmaker, Louis Chantrot. It’s quite a work of art in itself. When Tom could see the time on the clock as it sat on this shelf in the morning sunlight, that’s when he would arise and start the day.
Poor Richard’s Almanac was written and printed by Benjamin Franklin, Printer, and it was very popular. We still use some of his hokey sayings today. For example: “Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead>”
Looking at all the different fish, I was reminded of Benjamin Franklin’s experiment with a faddish vegetarian diet. He had given up eating meat for a season. On a trip across a harbor on a boat, the wind stopped and the boat became becalmed. It couldn’t reach the shore. So the crew made the most of their time by fishing off the bow.