Blog Post 1

After reading through Benjamin Franklin’s text I believe one of the key values a good American should hold is frugality, which basically means to not waste money especially on unnecessary items. In both texts Benjamin Franklin mentions America as economically mobile. Americans are not just frugal with money but their time and food. This is because the ideal American should be hard working and dedicated (industrious) to their family. For example, in Section 8 of his Autobiography he writes “I spent no time in taverns, games, or frolicks of any kind; and my industry in my business continu’d as indefatigable as it was necessary. I was indebted for my printing-house; I had a young family coming on to be educated, and I had to contend with for business two printers, who were established in the place before me.” Also, Franklin sends a powerful message in The Way to Wealth when he states “and he that riseth late, must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night. While laziness travels so slowly, that poverty soon overtakes him, as we read in Poor Richard, who adds, drive thy business, let not that drive thee; and early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” 

I believe Benjamin Franklin attempts to persuade the audience to adopt his beliefs of frugality and American ideology in The Way to Wealth, when he writes “So much for industry, my friends, and attention to one’s own business; but to these we must add frugality, if we would make our industry more certainly successful. A man may, if he knows not how to save as he gets, keep his nose all his life to the grindstone, and die not worth a groat at last. A fat kitchen makes a lean will.” The satire from this piece of Franklin’s writings correlate with his views of frugality by criticizing the audience for not being the ‘ideal good American’.