Few figures better embody the intellectual energy, civic ambition, and contradictions of eighteenth-century America than Benjamin Franklin. Printer, writer, scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, institution-builder, diplomat, revolutionary, and statesman, Franklin lived a remarkably varied life that paralleled America’s transformation from a collection of British colonies into an independent republic.
This week-long seminar will examine Franklin’s life and ideas within the broader worlds of the Enlightenment, the British Empire, and the American Revolution. Participants will explore his rise from apprentice printer to successful businessman and public intellectual; his experiments with electricity and commitment to “useful knowledge”; and his belief that individual self-improvement, civic virtue, voluntary associations, and public institutions could strengthen a free society. Franklin’s Autobiography, essays, letters, political writings, and scientific work will provide a foundation for considering his distinctive understanding of character, happiness, education, and self-government.
The seminar will also follow Franklin’s political evolution from proud British subject and imperial reformer to American revolutionary. Teachers will examine his diplomatic service in France, his contributions to American independence and the Constitutional Convention, and his changing views on slavery, culminating in his presidency of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society and final petition to Congress.
Philadelphia itself will serve as a primary source. Field studies may include institutions Franklin helped create or shape, including the Library Company of Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, Pennsylvania Hospital, and the institution that became the University of Pennsylvania, as well as sites associated with Franklin’s public and private life.
Note: This program begins on Monday and ends on Friday due to the Independence Day holiday.
Typically scheduled from Sunday through Friday in the summer, Founding Forward’s week-long teacher seminars are hosted at Union League Liberty Hill, a 300+ acre private conference center and golf course in suburban Philadelphia. Each seminar has a single theme and consists of content-focused talks by highly regarded scholars (morning and afternoon) interspersed each day with activation sessions featuring either lesson demonstrations from master teachers and presentation from resource providers like Retro Report or Periodic Presidents. Finally, each seminar includes an out-of-classroom field study to historic sites, archives, and museums.
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