That’s not to say that Franklin didn’t have a provocative side. Franklin was known to use playful “love letters” to practice his French with women and men alike, and all “joined in the fun of correcting Franklin’s poor grammar,” Cohn says.īut as far as historians know, Franklin never slept with his French friends. Letters between John and Abigail Adams might have spread some rumors - they didn’t like the way he easily charmed his way into society, where he made close friends with several French women. Cohn, the Editor in Chief of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, told TIME in an email that the allusion “perpetuates a myth that serious historians have tried to kill for years, but it persists – probably because people enjoy thinking of Franklin this way.”Ĭohn, who’s spent three decades looking at every document she could find about Franklin’s time in Paris, says she “can state with authority” that Franklin was no womanizer. In the song, Franklin’s refrain is that “diplomacy happens at night,” forcing him to “stay up late with a succulent breast or a thigh.” But, while the wining-and-dining aspect of Franklin’s time in Paris is well-documented, that’s not the case for the not-so-subtle suggestion that there was seduction involved.Įllen R. One idea implied by the song, however, gets a resounding “no” from historians. As Brands simply puts it, “Franklin was wining and dining Paris elites.” The description of Franklin’s son gets points for accuracy - he was in fact on the “wrong side” of the Revolution, as the song puts it, having landed himself in jail while working with British and their loyalists - and it’s true that Franklin had a tense relationship with John Adams. Franklin’s experiment demonstrated the connection between lightning and electricity.” As for whether they were “putting up streetlights in Gay Paris” during Franklin’s time there, which the song suggests, the first electric street lamps in the city of light wouldn’t show up until decades after Franklin went home. Electrical forces had been recognized for more than a thousand years, and scientists had worked extensively with static electricity. As the Franklin Institute has noted, “Benjamin Franklin did not discover electricity during this experiment - or at all, for that matter. References to “some lightning, a kite, and a fat brass key” do correspond with an experiment Franklin did, though he gets more credit (in the song and in general) than he should for what the experiment uncovered. Franklin spent much of the late 1770s and early 1780s in France, working to secure foreign support for the American revolutionaries. The lyrics, sung from Franklin’s rather cheeky perspective at age 76 (which places the song around the year 1782), touch on some of Franklin’s most famous scientific credits (electricity) and writings ( Poor Richard’s Almanack) while focusing on his diplomatic relationship with the French. In fact, he wrote folksy music of his own and, as mentioned in the song, played the “glass armonica” - the kind of instrument that the folk-leaning indie rock group The Decemberists might like too. Case in point: “Ben Franklin’s Song.” The tune, with lyrics by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and music by the Decemberists, has now been released as the first installment of what Miranda is calling “the Hamildrops.”Īs it turns out, a song is a fitting way to pay tribute to Franklin. Reed was terrified of water and wouldn't cross the ocean Franklin refused to stay home.For all the early American history crammed into Hamilton, there’s plenty more to the story that didn’t make it into the show. The biggest issue in Franklin's marriage to Reed was his frequent trips to London. (Bigamy laws!) But Reed and Franklin started living together anyway, and spent the rest of their life in a common-law arrangement, though the two were never officially married. The two were not permitted to marry, and Reed soon became engaged with another man who eventually ran away with her dowry.įranklin and Reed then wanted to marry, but because Reed's first husband just disappeared, they weren't allowed to. When Franklin was a teenager, he fell in love with Deborah Reed. And as in the dark all Cats are grey, the Pleasure of corporal Enjoyment with an old Woman is at least equal, and frequently superior, every Knack being by Practice capable of Improvement." "Regarding only what is below the Girdle, it is impossible of two Women to know an old from a young one. Benjamin Franklin: not warm and cuddly around children.
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