Benjamin Franklin and the Politics of Improvement
Alan Houston
Abstract
This book explores Benjamin Franklin's social and political thought. Although Franklin is often considered “the first American,” his intellectual world was cosmopolitan. An active participant in eighteenth-century Atlantic debates over the modern commercial republic, he combined abstract analyses with practical proposals. The author treats Franklin as shrewd, creative, and engaged—a lively thinker who joined both learned controversies and political conflicts at home and abroad. Drawing on archival research, he examines such themes as trade and commerce, voluntary associations and civic militia ... More
Keywords: Benjamin Franklin, commercial republic, American identity, voluntary associations, civic militias, population growth, immigration policy, self-improvement, electoral institutions, slavery
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2008 | Print ISBN-13: 9780300124477 |
| Published to Yale Scholarship Online: October 2013 | DOI:10.12987/yale/9780300124477.001.0001 |
