The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin

"Well, Gordon Wood is just a great historian. I’ve enjoyed his work for such a long time. I leaned heavily on this book in writing my own, and he does a really good job with the creation of Franklin. ‘Americanization’ is a way of saying that Franklin went from being very much pro-British Empire, which he remained all the way down, even into the 1770s, hoping that independence wouldn’t have to happen. But as things turned out, while he was a diplomat in London, he saw a polarization between the colonies and the English during that time. “It’s just so unlikely that Franklin’s life would have turned out the way it did” The common perception of Franklin by contemporary Americans, if they know history, is that he’s just associated with the founding of the country, and you don’t really see how he developed and the incredible emergence of this person who was close to the bottom of colonial society and who made this life for himself as a businessman, printer and editor, and who then retired at the young age of 42, while still owning the business and receiving income from it. Then he begins to dabble in politics, and eventually worked his way into Pennsylvania politics. He goes overseas to negotiate with the Penn family to try to get a better deal for the colony in North America. And that’s how he also begins to make connections for other kinds of diplomatic endeavors, which occupy much of the last two or three decades of his life. It’s just so unlikely that Franklin’s life would have turned out the way it did. And one of the reasons why I really enjoy studying and writing about history is that nothing is inevitable. It’s all accidental—although I don’t want to say it’s complete chance. Franklin would have said there was Providence involved, and I would agree with him as somebody who believes in God, but there are just so many surprises in the way history turns out. And the way Franklin turned out is surprising, and I think Wood really captures that well, as well as the evolution of Franklin’s own understanding of British North America and the possibilities of a new nation."