Politics

1776 All-Stars: Benjamin Franklin Reminds Us To Just Do Things

Franklin was fundamentally an optimist, and his life reminds us that politics is not what really matters.

Eric Boehm | From the July 2026 issue

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL Add Reason to Google

Media Contact & Reprint Requests

(Illustration: Joanna Andreasson, ChatGPT-5.4; Source images: Wikimedia)

This is part of 1776 All-Stars, a series about Reason's favorite American Founders. Read more here.

When Benjamin Franklin was 17 years old, he did that most American of activities: He ran away from home.

More precisely, Franklin fled an apprenticeship in Boston and made his way to Philadelphia, the city with which he is still synonymous. Under the laws of the time, this made Franklin a criminal and a fugitive. Perhaps that taught the gifted youngster something about how to deal with unjust laws.

Franklin was not an immigrant by the technical, bureaucratic meaning of the word. Still, he arrived without wealth or connections in his new city, and he got to work building both.

While laboring in a print shop, the 21-year-old Franklin formed a debating society whose members committed to respectful discussion of science, morals, and philosophy. The members of the Leather Apron Club were soon doing much more: They founded Philadelphia's first lending........

© Reason.com