David Waldstreicher 
A Companion to Benjamin Franklin 

This companion provides a comprehensive survey of the life, work and legacy of Benjamin Franklin – the oldest, most distinctive, and multifaceted of the founders.

* Includes contributions from across a range of academic disciplines

* Combines traditional and cutting-edge scholarship, from accomplished and emerging experts in the field

* Pays special attention to the American Revolution, the Enlightenment, journalism, colonial American society, and themes of race, class, and gender

* Places Franklin in the context of recent work in political theory, American Studies, American literature, material culture studies, popular culture, and international relations

Table of Content

List of Figures x

About the Contributors xi

Introduction 1

David Waldstreicher

Part I Biography 5

1 Franklin’s Boston Years, 1706-1723 7

Nian-Sheng Huang

2 The Philadelphia Years, 1723-1757 25

George W. Boudreau

3 The Making of a Patriot, 1757-1775 46

Sheila L. Skemp

4 Franklin Furioso, 1775-1790 65

Jonathan R. Dull

Part II Franklin and Eighteenth-Century America 81

5 Benjamin Franklin and Colonial Society 83

Konstantin Dierks

6 Benjamin Franklin and Pennsylvania Politics 104

Alan Tully

7 Benjamin Franklin and Religion 129

John Fea

8 Benjamin Franklin and the Coming of the American Revolution
146

Benjamin L. Carp

9 Benjamin Franklin and Native Americans 164

Timothy J. Shannon

10 The Complexion of My Country: Benjamin Franklin and the
Problem of Racial Diversity 183

Nicholas Guyatt

11 Benjamin Franklin, Capitalism, and Slavery 211

David Waldstreicher

12 Benjamin Franklin and Women 237

Susan E. Klepp

Part III Franklin the Writer and Thinker 253

13 ‘The Manners and Situation of a Rising People’:
Reading Franklin’s Autobiography 255

Ormond Seavey

14 Poor Richard’s Almanac 275

William Pencak

15 Benjamin Franklin and Journalism 290

David Paul Nord

16 Benjamin Franklin, the Science of Flow, and the Legacy of the
Enlightenment 308

Laura Rigal

17 Benjamin Franklin, Associations, and Civil Society 335

Albrecht Koschnik

18 Empire and Nation 359

Eliga H. Gould

19 Franklin’s Pictorial Representations of British America
373

Lester C. Olson

Part IV Franklin and the Categories of Inquiry 391

20 American Literature and American Studies 393

Edward Cahill

21 Benjamin Franklin’s Material Cultures 412

Megan E. Walsh

22 Benjamin Franklin and Political Theory 430

Jerry Weinberger

23 Benjamin Franklin and International Relations 463

Leonard J. Sadosky

24 Benjamin Franklin in Memory and Popular Culture 479

Andrew M. Schocket

Bibliography 499

Index 536

About the author

David Waldstreicher is Professor of History at Temple University. He is the author of numerous publications including Slavery’s Constitution: From Revolution to Ratification (2009); Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery and the American Revolution (2004); and In the Midst of Perpetual Fetes: The Making of American Nationalism, 1776-1820 (1997).