The Afterlife Experiment of Benjamin Franklin

Most of the founding fathers of the United States of America were religious men—many of them held unorthodox religious beliefs, it is true, but they were still generally curious about the supernatural world. The great writer, intellectual and inventor, Benjamin Franklin was no exception.

Franklin, however, was by no means a saint; he was a man of skeptical curiosity and scandalous behavior. Even so, he had an interest in religion. He went to see (or critique) traveling preachers and even tried to force himself to adhere to a morally-perfect daily plan, including the use of charts to track his progress. In the end, Franklin decided that moral perfection was an impossible (and unenjoyable) accomplishment, and he eventually abandoned his pursuit of perfect purity. In the end, Benjamin Franklin converted to the ideas of Deism, a religious philosophy that claims that a God created reality, but that the deity halted direct contact after the act of creation.

Even though Franklin was skeptical of the different human interpretations of divinity, he still had a keen interest in the spiritual realm. This interest most clearly manifested in an interesting pact that Franklin made with a friend named Charles Osborne. The two became pals when Franklin was about 18 years old. They, and two other men, bonded over their shared interests in reading and writing. They even held poetry competitions where they judged each other’s talents. In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin remembered Osborne to be an affectionate friend, but also a relentless critic when it came to judging literature and poetry.

Sometime during their friendship, Franklin and Osbourne promised each other that the one who died first would haunt the survivor and reveal secrets about the afterlife. According to Franklin, Osbourne eventually traveled to the West Indies (the Caribbean), where he became a successful lawyer. Unfortunately, Charles Osbourne died at a young age, long before Franklin’s own death, but he never fulfilled his promise to Benjamin Franklin.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Top picture attribution: (Benjamin Franklin portrait by David Rent Etter (1835), modified for spookiness, [Public Domain] via National Parks Service and Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Autobiography and Other Writings of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Kenneth Silverman. New York: Penguin Books, 1986.  

Thomas Jefferson Sold More Than 6,000 Books To The U. S. Library Of Congress

In August, 1814, British forces burned Washington D.C., the capital of the young United States of America. Capital Hill was damaged by the flames, and the Library of Congress was lost. Luckily for the fledgling country, one of the founding fathers of the United States had an obsessive addiction to collecting books. Furthermore, he was plagued by debts and was more than willing to sell his possessions.

In 1815, Thomas Jefferson sold an enormous collection of 6,487 books to the government for an estimated total of $23,950. The collection contained both ancient classics and modern works—Jefferson’s favorite ancient author was Cicero, by whom he owned at least forty texts. The wide variety of genres and topics in the collection caused a stir among the members (and observers) of the Congress, who thought that the U. S. government should not have paid for some of the odd volumes that Jefferson stumbled across during his studies.

Despite Jefferson’s still existent debts, he continued to buy an endless supply of books, even after selling thousands to the Library of Congress. When he died in 1826, he had still been burdened by a debt of $107,000—a sum that equates to more than 2 million modern U. S. dollars. Shortly after his death, Jefferson’s second massive collection of books (numbering in the thousands) was auctioned off, along with most of his other possessions.

Sadly, on the Christmas Eve of 1851, around 2/3 of Jefferson’s original contribution to the Library of Congress was lost in another fire. Interestingly, the Library of Congress is trying to procure copies of the texts that were destroyed.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture attribution: (Portrait of Thomas Jefferson, by Mather Brown (1761–1831), in front of a library painted by Rudolf von Alt  (1812–1905), both images are [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jefflib.html 
• http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/winter10/jefferson.cfm 
• https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/debt 
• http://www.history.com/topics/war-of-1812  

The Man Behind Uncle Sam

 ("Buy War Bonds" (Uncle Sam) circulated 1941-1945, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)

Flamboyant, colorful and patriotic, the symbol of Uncle Sam is either loved or hated—yet, either way, he is an unforgettable character. Almost every United States citizen has at one point in their life seen an image of the iconic man clad in red, white and blue pointing at them from within a poster. Many people, however, have no clue that a man who lived in the 18th and 19th century is credited as the original “Uncle Sam.” His name was Samuel Wilson and this is the story of how he sparked America’s most vibrant mascot.

  (Portrait of Samuel Wilson, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)

Samuel Wilson was born in 1766 within the modern region of Arlington, Massachusetts. At the time, the American colonies were at war with the British Empire. In 1781, a fifteen-year-old Samuel Wilson joined the Revolutionary Army for the last few years of the war, though he likely did not see any combat. He was given the position of a military cattle guard, and also served as a butcher and meatpacker for the American forces. After the United States secured its independence with the close of the war in 1783, Samuel Wilson returned home and began cultivating a family business with his brother.

The Wilsons invested their money into more than one field of commerce. Initially, they thrived in brickmaking, but Samuel Wilson also diverted his profits into building a meatpacking industry in Troy, New York. Wilson’s meatpacking business obtained a lofty deal when the War of 1812 broke out—the United States contracted with Samuel for around 5,000 barrels of beef and pork to be shipped to American forces.

The thousands of barrels shipped by Samuel Wilson were stamped with his company’s insignia, but were also labeled with the letters “U.S.” so as to convey that the food was being shipped to the United States forces. Soldiers and American citizens, however, had a different interpretation of the “U.S.” stamped on each barrel. Either mistakenly, or as a joke, or just out of appreciation and affection, the soldiers simply stated that the barrels were coming from “Uncle Sam” Wilson. Whatever the cause, the name stuck and soon became a national sensation. By 1813, the name "Uncle Sam" had already become a nickname for the United States and its government.

  ("The lightning speed of honesty," an Uncle Sam cartoon by Thomas Nast (1840–1902), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)

As for the cartoon mascot of Uncle Sam, that would take many more decades to coalesce into the U.S. mascot of today. Throughout the 1860s and 1870s, the great cartoonist, Thomas Nast (1840-1902), laid the groundwork for the iconic image of Uncle Sam. The artist’s other influential works were with the characters of Santa Claus and the donkey and elephant mascots of the Democratic and Republican political parties. His Uncle Sam included a beard or goatee and wore the signature striped American suit. Another artist named Montgomery Flagg (1877-1960) finalized the Uncle Sam imagery. Flagg contributed Sam’s patriotic top hat and was the first to include the famous, “I Want You In The U.S. Army,” slogan. 

 

(Uncle Sam poster c. 1917 by Montgomery Flagg (1877-1960), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)

Unfortunately, Uncle Sam Wilson did not live to see his name bloom into an unforgettable national image. He died in 1854, at the age of eighty-eight, before Thomas Nast had popularized the basic features of the Uncle Sam character. Samuel Wilson was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, in his adopted home of Troy, New York. The United States government formally recognized Wilson as the inspiration behind the famous image of Uncle Sam in 1961.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Sources:

• https://priceonomics.com/uncle-sam-was-a-real-dude/  
• http://anb.org/articles/20/20-01883-print.html 
• https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/us/plenty-will-claim-to-be-uncle-sam-but-a-few-can-prove-the-lineage.html  
• http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/united-states-nicknamed-uncle-sam

Thomas Jefferson’s Daughter Almost Became A Nun In A French Convent

(Portrait of Martha "Patsy" Jefferson Randolph painted by Thomas Sully  (1783–1872), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)

From 1784-1789, Thomas Jefferson served as an American diplomat in Paris, France. Although Jefferson was genuinely charmed by the French people and their drive for revolution, he was also intimidated and mystified by the freedoms that French women had achieved. In the eyes of the quiet politician from Virginia who dreamed of a simple, rural society, the Parisian women seemed too overly active in politics and sex. When Jefferson’s two daughters were eventually shipped to Paris to be near their father, Thomas Jefferson’s concerns had already grown to a point where he decided his daughters needed to be isolated from the Parisian culture.

Martha Jefferson (known as Patsy) and Mary Jefferson (known as Polly and, later, as Maria) were both placed by their father in school at a convent in Panthemont. Thomas Jefferson was a Protestant (a peculiar one, at that) and he definitely did not want his daughters to become Catholic, but he obviously thought the nuns would be a better influence on his daughters than the rest of France. He hoped, and seemed to believe, that the nuns were separating their religion from the education that was being provided to his daughters in the school.  Nevertheless, Jefferson soon learned from letters sent by his children that the students were not as isolated from the rest of the world as he would have liked.

Even in the convent, the students heard ample scandalous gossip about events occurring locally and throughout France. Jefferson also learned that his daughters were gaining a thorough understanding of the French language—unfortunately, this was apparently detrimental to their native English. Patsy reported to her father that, although her ability to speak French had grown spectacularly fluent, her native English was becoming harder and harder to remember and use.

Yet, another jarring revelation from Patsy led Jefferson to the undeniable conclusion that his daughters needed to be evacuated from France—in April 1789, Patsy made the short-lived decision to become a nun. Upon hearing this news, the shocked Thomas Jefferson quickly drove his carriage to the convent at Panthemont and yanked his daughters away from the tutelage of the nuns. By September 1789, Jefferson ended his business in France and returned to his estate of Monticello in Virginia, putting the Atlantic Ocean between France and his daughters.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Source:

• American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, by Joseph J. Ellis. New York: Vintage Books, 1998. 

Thomas Jefferson’s First Political ‘Fight’ In The Continental Congress Was Over Some Suggested Revisions To His Writing

(Portrait of Thomas Jefferson, by Mather Brown (1761–1831), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)

Thomas Jefferson, the legendary writer from the American Revolution, and the third President of the United States, was very picky about his rhetoric and wording. Jefferson was, therefore, never enthusiastic when Congress suggested editing sections of his drafts.

Though he was a politician who could write better than almost anyone in the world, Jefferson was no orator. When it came time to give a speech, Thomas Jefferson was abysmal, so he understandably spent most of his time in Congress in silence. He was not afraid, however, to speak his mind if his writing was questioned, and he did so on the floor of the Continental Congress.

When John Dickinson proposed changes to Jefferson’s draft of the “Declaration of the Causes and Necessities for Taking Up Arms,” Jefferson took the suggestion of revision as a personal insult. The Continental Congress managed to negotiate a peace between the two men. Dickinson’s suggestions were worked into the draft, but Jefferson’s style of writing remained intact. Though a compromise was reached, Jefferson continued to believe that his work was mistreated.

Jefferson’s resistance to revisions continued when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. A committee from Congress edited the Declaration, and the rest of Congress approved most of the revisions. Though the wide majority of the Declaration of Independence is Thomas Jefferson’s unaltered words, for the rest of his life, Jefferson firmly believed that the original essence of his document had been corrupted and mangled by the Continental Congress’ revisions.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Source:

• American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, by Joseph J. Ellis. New York: Vintage Books, 1998.

Legend Claims That King George III of Britain Turned His Back On The American Revolutionaries, Thomas Jefferson And John Adams, During A Reception In 1786

(Left to Right: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, George III. All paintings are licensed as public Domain)

John Adams (the future second president of the United States) was appointed as the main ambassador and diplomat to England in 1785, two years after the success of the American Revolution. His difficult job was to attempt to bring the kin nations of the United States and Great Britain back into a working relationship—or, at least, to get the countries in speaking terms.

Upon John Adams’ arrival in London, King George III welcomed the revolutionary with a tense, but cordial, meeting. Aside from vocally praying that the United States would not suffer too much from their lack of monarchy, King George III held back his understandable bitterness. He even applauded John Adams for his lack of interest in all things French—an interest that was otherwise commonplace in revolutionaries like Thomas Jefferson.

While John Adams was politicking in London, Thomas Jefferson was doing the same in Paris. In 1786, however, Jefferson crossed the English Channel and met with John Adams in London. Together, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson received an audience with King George III. Unlike the first meeting between Adams and King George, this time the king let his distaste for the Americans show. Perhaps, the king specifically detested Thomas Jefferson for the man’s authorship of works like the U. S. Declaration of Independence, which labeled George III as a tyrant. Maybe, the king loathed Thomas Jefferson’s doting on French ideas and culture. Whatever the reason, George III acted rudely to the U. S. statesmen when they visited in 1786. Some accounts even claim that the king turned his back on Jefferson and Adams—though there is debate as to whether that was literal, or just a figurative description of King George III’s manners. In the book American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, however, Joseph J. Ellis, an acclaimed historian of the U. S. founding fathers, seems to believe the event actually occurred.

Source:

• American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, by Joseph J. Ellis. New York: Vintage Books, 1998.