Franklin Comparrison

I am going to compare the authors Thomas Paine and William Bradford to Benjamin Franklin. Both Thomas Paine and William Bradford have writings of the Puritan style. Franklin on the other head was a huge leader in a Rationalist colony. (Divine) All three authors are fairly different so that is why I chose the people I did to compare. William Bradford is very much a Puritan writer. William is also a very large leader just like Benjamin, but Bradford led through God. He saw signs of God everywhere, the sailor's death, the six "elect" people taking care of the contagious sick people (Bradford 15, 65). Franklin doesn't see stuff that way. He does not see that God is everywhere constantly acting of humans lives. Franklin being a scientist,someone who invented many things, a writer who is still popular today as he was in his time, and someone who is constantly read and talked about in History. (Franklin 104) No where do I talk about him having a prominence in the church or within a religious community because that was not who he was. He led everything with his mind and Bradford was more of a leading by his heart instead. Thomas Paine, another fantastic Puritan style writer, also was one to lead with his heart instead of his head. He was very into telling people how they should and should not be following God. “Say not that the thousands are gone--turn your tens of thousands; throw not the burden of the day upon Providence, but show your faith by your works, that God may bless you” (Paine 136). This is just one quote that shows that to be very true that he thought he knew exactly how it should be and how people should be doing it. Franklin on the other hand was not just saying something was right, he was proving it at as well. He did not just throw out empty statements, each one had a reason for it to be said. Also each one had something behind it, whether that be a hidden meaning, a fact, or some type of statistic. There was just about always something behind it. Franklin did not feel that God really did make any decision. Although he was not fully on board with the God thing, Franklin did still believe in the existence of God. "God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say: This is my country. " (Petrie) This quotes the believing in God that Franklin did have. Except he still is asking for knowledge and things that will make things more logical in life. Unlike Paine and Bradford, Franklin does not force the fact of God and believing in him onto people. Franklin just speaks of him or to him.



Petrie, John. "The Greatest Benjamin Franklin Quotes." John Petrie's Home Page. Web. 16 Oct. 2011. .

Franklin, Benjamin. "from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 104-108. Print.

Divine, Robert A., T. H. Breen, George M. Fredrickson, R. Hal Williams, H. W. Brands, and Ariela J. Gross. America Past and Present AP Edition. Boston: Longman, 2011. Print.