{"id":3270,"date":"2026-02-03T00:58:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T00:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/?p=3270"},"modified":"2026-02-03T00:58:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T00:58:35","slug":"benjamin-franklin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/02\/03\/benjamin-franklin\/","title":{"rendered":"Benjamin Franklin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is from an excellent podcast called the world and everything in it and their website is wng.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


The voice of one of our nation’s Founders still echoes across the centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An elder statesman at the birth of the republic, he helped invent modern America\u2014and warned it could not survive on human ingenuity alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benjamin Franklin had an enduring belief that God governs in the affairs of men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Franklin had just two years of formal schooling. But he became a polymath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He made his first mark as a writer, publishing under the pseudonym Silence Dogood. He later founded the Pennsylvania Gazette and produced Poor Richard\u2019s Almanac, still read nearly three centuries later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By his early forties, Franklin had earned enough from printing to retire. Then he got busy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He invented the lightning rod and bifocals. He helped found America\u2019s first lending library, its first fire department, and the University of Pennsylvania. He improved colonial mail service. And through it all, Franklin showed a relentless curiosity about how the world works\u2014and how societies hold together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That curiosity shaped his moral outlook, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Secretary of State Tony Blinken once summed it up this way\u2014quoting Franklin himself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BLINKEN: No one knew better than Mr. Franklin the power of personal engagement, relationship building, and simply having a good time together\u2014as he said, \u201cBe at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Franklin\u2019s most enduring work was not his inventions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the country he helped bring into being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early on, Franklin hoped reconciliation with Britain was possible. But as tensions mounted, he became convinced the American cause was just. He served on the drafting committee for the Declaration of Independence and helped shape its language. And he understood the danger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a White House dramatization of the period, Franklin puts it plainly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FRANKLIN: Nothing compared to the moment when I signed my name to our Declaration of Independence\u2014knowing full well it might be my death warrant. \u201cWe must all hang together, or we shall most assuredly hang separately,\u201d I quipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That line may be apocryphal\u2014but the risk was not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Franklin was older than most of the Founders\u2014a steady, seasoned presence. During the Revolution, his diplomacy helped secure vital support from France. And at the Constitutional Convention, he often acted as a mediator when tempers flared and progress stalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was a friend of evangelist George Whitefield, attended his sermons, and even published them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Franklin understood something essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He understood Providence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Late in the Constitutional Convention, after days of deadlock, the aging Founder rose and reminded his colleagues that nations do not rise by human effort alone. One dramatization captures his plea:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How has it happened that we have forgotten to humbly implore the Father of lights to illuminate our understanding? The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth\u2014that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall without His notice, is it probable that a great nation can rise without His aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Franklin was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Constitution was completed, Franklin was asked what the delegates had created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A woman asked Franklin, \u2018What have you brought us\u2014a republic, a democracy, a monarchy?\u2019 And Franklin replied, \u2018A republic\u2014if you can keep it.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is from an excellent podcast called the world and everything in it and their website is wng.org The voice of one of our nation’s Founders still echoes across the centuries. An elder statesman at the birth of the republic, he helped invent modern America\u2014and warned it could not survive on human ingenuity alone. Benjamin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3270"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3284,"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3270\/revisions\/3284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}