Benjamin Franklin & John Adams
Specific for each writer:
Franklin is a refreshing new view from the Puritans. Not stuffy, and in fact, almost modern and much more contemporary. What is odd is his conflicts and discontinuities in his system of values: not concerned with the condition of the soul and a quest for worldly effectiveness are not Puritan at all. He strives for an almost secular perfection.
John & Abigail Adams express moments of intimacy in their letters, something that might not have been so common with respect to correspondence that would have been, in a way, ?public?. Formal letter writing in the 18th century had a specific presentation and code it followed; one from which these two often times stray. These letters express both political change and personal relationship in different ways.
1. What similarities and essential differences can we see between Franklin?s project of ?moral Perfection? & the Puritan notion of morality?
2. How does Franklin adapt to what he calls the ?Age of Experiments? to political and personal life? Why is what Franklin saying considered to be radically new?
3. Explain how the letters between John and Abigail are ?rare? for the 18th century?
4. How do these letters transcend the formality of the time and what place does feeling have?
How does Franklin?s Autobiography and Adams Letters reveal them to be eighteenth century men? How is each writing to an eighteenth century audience: Franklin speaking about wealth and personal well being and the Adam?s desire for more personal attentiveness in their letters. How are both of these authors contrary to eighteenth century culture?
