The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin


In the summer of 1771, while he was living in a country home in England, Benjamin Franklin began an autobiography that he was destined to never finish. He prepared an outline of a final section that he did not complete, but the four parts that he did finish represent one of the seminal documents of the enlightenment. In his description of a "new Regime", as Professor Joseph Alulis, Basic Program Instructor referred to it in his lucid and invigorating presentation at the Chicago Cultural Center today (part of the First Friday series of lectures presented by The Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults). Franklin described a new order or foundation for what became The United States of America. Only 5 years after writing the first part of his autobiography Franklin would join Thomas Jefferson and others in writing the Declaration of Independence of the United States. The autobiography is an inspirational work and one that recommends the life of virtue and wisdom. A book worth reading and rereading.