Founding Made Plain every word, clause by clause
1771Franklin Autobiography p45:
1This is as much as I can now recollect
2 of the project,
3 except that I communicated it in part
4 to two young men,
5 who adopted it
6 with some enthusiasm;
7but my then narrow circumstances,
8 and the necessity I was under
9 of sticking close to my business,
10 occasioned my postponing
11 the further prosecution of it
12 at that time;
13and my multifarious occupations,
14 public and private,
15 induced me to continue postponing,
16 so that it has been omitted
17 till I have no longer strength
18 or activity left sufficient
19 for such an enterprise;
20tho' I am still of opinion
21 that it was a practicable scheme,
22 and might have been very useful,
23 by forming a great number
24 of good citizens;
25and I was not discouraged
26 by the seeming magnitude
27 of the undertaking,
28 as I have always thought
29 that one man of tolerable abilities
30 may work great changes,
31 and accomplish great affairs
32 among mankind,
33 if he first forms a good plan,
34 and,
35 cutting off all amusements
36 or other employments
37 that would divert his attention,
38 makes the execution
39 of that same plan
40 his sole study and business.
41In 1732 I first published my Almanack,
42 under the name of Richard Saunders;
43it was continued by me
44 about twenty-five years,
45 commonly called
46 "Poor Richard's Almanac."
47I endeavored to make it
48 both entertaining and useful,
49 and it accordingly came
50 to be in such demand
51 that I reaped considerable profit
52 from it,
53 vending annually near ten thousand.
54And observing
55 that it was generally read,
56 scarce any neighborhood
57 in the province
58 being without it,
59 I considered it
60 as a proper vehicle
61 for conveying instruction
62 among the common people,
63 who brought scarcely any other books.
64I therefore filled all the little spaces
65 that occurred
66 between the remarkable days
67 in the calendar
68 with proverbial sentences,
69 chiefly such as inculcated
70 industry and frugality
71 as the means of procuring wealth
72 and thereby securing virtue;
73it being more difficult
74 for a man in want
75 to act always honestly
76 as, to use here one of those proverbs,
77 it is hard for an empty sack
78 to stand upright.
79These proverbs,
80 which contained the wisdom
81 of many ages and nations,
82 I assembled and formed
83 into a connected discourse
84 prefixed to the Almanack of 1757,
85 as the harangue of a wise old man
86 to the people attending an auction.
87The bringing all these scattered counsels
88 thus into a focus
89 enabled them
90 to make greater impression.
91The piece,
92 being universally approved,
93 was copied
94 in all the newspapers
95 of the Continent;
96 reprinted in Britain on a broadside,
97 to be stuck up in houses;
98 two translations were made of it
99 in French,
100 and great numbers bought
101 by the clergy and gentry,
102 to distribute gratis
103 among their poor parishioners
104 and tenants.
105In Pennsylvania,
106 as it discouraged useless expenses
107 in foreign superfluities,
108 some thought it had its share of influence
109 in producing that growing plenty of money
110 which was observable
111 for several years
112 after its publication.
113I considered my newspaper, also,
114 as another means
115 of communicating instruction,
116 and in that view
117 frequently reprinted in it
118 extracts from the "Spectator"
119 and other moral writers,
120 and sometimes published
121 little pieces of my own,
122 which had been first composed
123 for reading in our Junto.
124Of these are a Socratic dialogue,
125 tending to prove
126 that, whatever might be
127 his parts and abilities,
128 a vicious man could not properly
129 be called a man of sense;
130 and a discourse on self-denial,
131 showing that virtue was not secure
132 till its practice became a habitude
133 and was free
134 from the opposition
135 of contrary inclinations.
136These may be found
137 in the papers
138 about the beginning of 1735.
139In the conduct of my newspaper
140 I carefully excluded
141 all libeling and personal abuse,
142 which is of late years become
143 so disgraceful to our country.
144Whenever I was solicited
145 to insert anything of that kind,
146 and the writers pleaded,
147 as they generally did,
148 the liberty of the press,
149 and that a newspaper
150 was like a stage-coach,
151 in which any one
152 who would pay
153 had a right to a place,
154 my answer was
155 that I would print the piece
156 separately if desired,
157 and the author might have
158 as many copies as he pleased
159 to distribute himself,
160 but that I would not take upon me
161 to spread his detraction;
162 and that,
163 having contracted
164 with my subscribers
165 to furnish them
166 with what might be
167 either useful or entertaining,
168 I could not fill their papers
169 with private altercation,
170 in which they had no concern,
171 without doing them
172 manifest injustice.
173Now, many of our printers
174 make no scruple
175 of gratifying the malice of individuals
176 by false accusations
177 of the fairest characters
178 among ourselves,
179 augmenting animosity
180 even to the producing of duels;
181 and are, moreover, so indiscreet
182 as to print scurrilous reflections
183 on the government
184 of neighboring states,
185 and even on the conduct
186 of our best national allies,
187 which may be attended
188 with the most pernicious consequences.
189These things I mention
190 as a caution to young printers,
191 and that they may be encouraged
192 not to pollute their presses
193 and disgrace their profession
194 by such infamous practices,
195 but refuse steadily,
196 as they may see by my example
197 that such a course of conduct
198 will not, on the whole,
199 be injurious to their interests.

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