Free Republic

The pragmatic founding father defies deism and comes up with his own conception of the Creator. Soon after the death of his child Francis, Benjamin Franklin was moved to set down his religious beliefs in an address he gave to a group of philosophically inclined friends known as "the Junto." Though he committed these ideas to paper more than 60 years before his death, they would serve as the basis for his understanding of the divine to the end of his life. In this description of Franklin's beliefs from Walter Isaacson's new book, "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life," we can...

<p>The Pilgrims and the Mayflower also are excluded, as well as the word "war," which has been replaced with "conflict" in lessons about the early settlers, colonization and expansion.</p> <p>Also gone are most references to the inhumane treatment many American soldiers endured in wars overseas during the 20th century. However, the standards specifically note that students should identify slavery, the Holocaust and modern Iraq as examples "i n which people have behaved in cruel and inhumane ways."</p>

The Jan. 28th edition of the Washington Times reports that "George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin are not included in the revised version of the New Jersey Department of Education history standards. The Pilgrims and the Mayflower also are excluded, as well as the word 'war,' which has been replaced with 'conflict' in lessons about the early settlers, colonization and expansion." The educrats and shallow politicians may not like to admit it, but there is a war going on in education, and New Jersey, the location of Washington's great revolutionary victories at Trenton and Princeton, is among the battlefronts. ...

Americans remember Benjamin Franklin as one of our founding fathers. And well they should, as he was not just our most famous citizen at our country's birth, he was a central part of that birth. As a member of the Second Continental Congress, Franklin helped draft the Declaration of Independence. As a member of the Constitutional Convention, he helped draft the Constitution. Both documents bear his signature. He also signed the Treaty of Alliance with France, bringing the colonies French aid against the British, and The Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War and recognized the independence of the...

TORONTO (CP) - The United States is defined by a handful of historical figures. Yet Americans themselves know surprisingly little about one of them. But a handful of Canadians hopes to change all that with Benjamin Franklin, a two-part docudrama airing next Tuesday and Wednesday on PBS (check local listings). The project took years of work by former Montrealer Ron Blumer, who also wrote Liberty! The American Revolution, shown on PBS in 1997. He's spent much of the intervening time doing research, much of it in Yale University's vast Franklin archives. "This is like writing a PhD thesis, really," says...

THE next time you see a $100 bill, have a look at the face on it — Benjamin Franklin, an early American patriot. As early as 1787, he warned of the danger of the Jews. Though I have read widely about the Jews, I have found no truer or more accurate an opinion than that of Franklin. His opinion was also shared by George Washington who became the first president of the United States. Franklin said: “I agree completely with General Washington that we must protect this young nation from their influence. In every land the Jews have settled, they...