Benjamin Franklin and The System of Virtues

     Benjamin Franklin was one of the most influential figures in American history, especially in the Rationalism Period.  He was one of the first people to use logic and actual evidence with his writing.  The Declaration of Independence was not just some words he came up with and, along with a few other people, threw on a paper.  He used actual events and happenings to decide what was good and what was bad for America and logically combined them and artfully wrote them on paper.  Well he did not necessarily write it, but helped to write it.  At one point in his life, he realized he was not the person he wanted to be.  He was able to pinpoint a lot of flaws within his personality.  Once he had these flaws pinpointed he began to create his own system of virtues.  There were thirteen of them:  Temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness. tranquility, chastity, and humility.  These were the thirteen things that he felt encompassed a good person, and he was determined to master all of them.  This exemplified The Rationalism Period through its logic.  Benjamin Franklin saw a problem with himself, and he didn't just pray to God and assume he would fix it and he did not just make the accusation that demons were causing him to have flaws.  Instead he took responsibility and created his own scientific method of improving himself.
     Benjamin Franklin started out being religiously educated as a Presbyterian.  He speaks of a Presbyterian preacher who used to visit him and of this preachers sermons:  "But his discourses were chiefly either polemic arguments, or explications of the peculiar doctrines of ours sect, and were all to me very dry, uninteresting, and unedifying, since not a single moral principle was inculcated or enforc'd, their aim seeming to be rather to make us Presbyterians than good citizens"  (Franklin, 82).  This shows us that Franklin was a religious man, but he still found many flaws within the religious system.  He believed that their was a God, but he did not rely on religion to explain everything and dictate his entire life.  He was logical and realized that if he wanted change he needed to make his own change.  "I concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent out slipping"  (Franklin, 83).  This quote shows that Benjamin Franklin also realized that wanting change was not enough.  Just to have the interest to be completely virtuous was not enough.  During The Rationalism Period, people began to realize that they can't rely on religion to do everything for them.  They had to be logic and solve things on their own.  Benjamin Franklin's System of Virtues is a great example of this.  Benjamin Franklin realized how he was living was not all that he could be and so he did something about it.  He took matters into his own hands and created a scientific and methodical way of solving the problem.  
     Benjamin Franklin's System of Virtues is a wonderful representation of The Rationalism Period in many ways.  A few words that describe The Rationalism Period are scientific, methodical, and logical.  The System of Virtues can also be easily described in this way.  Benjamin Franklin saw that he was not living in the way he maybe should be and took responsibility.  He didn't try to blame it on God or the Devil or ghosts, he simply took responsibility and tried to change it.  He created a very methodical plan to better himself that included daily examinations of himself and recordings of his actions each day.  He hoped he would be able to publish his findings so that he could share with everyone how he thought was best to improve your life.  Benjamin Franklin took responsibility and made a very logical and scientific way of solving his problems, just as many did in The Rationalism Period.   

Franklin, Benjamin, Dixon Wecter, Larzer Ziff, and Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1959. 81+. Print.