An Octogenarian’s Legacy

July 11, 2024

By Jim Towey

Photo Credit: Howard Chandler Christy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

At 81 years of age, after upwards of 50 years in public office, at a time his beloved country was beset with political strife, when foreign leaders entertained doubts about him, and while his peers at home quarreled with him, he knew history would judge carefully his next move.

Benjamin Franklin, the great American patriot, rose from his chair in Philadelphia’s stiflingly hot Independence Hall and made a motion for the unanimous approval of the Constitution of the United States that he had helped draft. This wasn’t his first senior moment of greatness. When he was a spry 76, Franklin helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War. And as a mere youth of 70, he signed the Declaration of Independence that he had help draft, and crafted our nation’s motto, “E Pluribus Unum.”

‘Able and useful’

At no point was Franklin’s mental acuity ever questioned. John Adams, a “frenemy” at best, described Franklin during the time of the peace talks with Britain as one who “has been able and useful, both by his sagacity and his reputation, in the whole negotiation.”

I know all this from Walter Isaacson’s biography, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. It was given to me at Christmas by my children, and not simply because Franklin proudly bore the banner of baldness beneath which I, too, march. The kids decided against a powdered wig for me.

I knew of some of Franklin’s unique accomplishments. He proved by flying a kite that lightning was electricity and invented a rod to neutralize its destructive effect. He made a pair of bifocal glasses for himself that remain the prototype for today’s versions. He is credited with many sayings that are common parlance today, such as, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise,” and, “Haste makes waste.”

A remarkable man

Isaacson portrays a true American original who has much to teach us. The young Franklin, the tenth son of his father, started working when he was 10 years old. He opened a print shop at age 22 and within a year owned his own newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette. By 25, he had founded a library and adorned it with the motto, “To pour forth benefits for the common good is divine.”

Franklin’s relationship with the divine was a work in progress throughout his life. A month before he died, he wrote, “I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That he governs it by his Providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render to him is doing good to his other children.” When pressed on whether he thought Jesus was divine, Franklin praised the Gospels’ system of morals as “the best the world ever saw or is likely to see,” but confessed doubts, adding with customary wit, “I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble.” Franklin had a picture of the Day of Judgment by his bedside when he died.

An imperfect man

The personal life of Franklin was as complicated as he. While in search of a wife, he fathered a child whom he would raise, advocate for appointment to the governorship of New Jersey, and then punish when the two found themselves on opposing sides of the American Revolution. His wife was not a romantic interest, and in fact, of the last 17 years of her life, Franklin spent only two with her. Franklin was an inveterate flirt and forged emotional bonds with several women over the course of his life, most of whom were young enough to be his daughters. And yet, over the gravesite where he would be entombed alongside his wife, he asked that the tombstone’s inscription simply be, “Benjamin and Deborah Franklin.” His family remained dear to him.

At the time of the Constitutional Convention, Franklin cautioned about the danger posed to democracy by two passions which, he once wrote, “have a powerful influence in the affairs of men: ambition and avarice; the love of power and the love of money.” His service to his country continued when the Convention ended. At age 82, Franklin served a third term as president of Pennsylvania’s assembly. Two months before he died, the 84-year-old Franklin presented a petition to Congress to abolish slavery. Congress deferred the matter.  

Franklin showed that being over 80 was not a disqualifying condition for public service, but he knew its perils. In his final remarks at the Constitutional Convention, he said, “The older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment and pay more respect to the judgment of others.” This self-awareness helped Franklin finish his public life honorably.  He was a portrait of how to age with dignity. His legacy inspires all of us today.

(The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Aging with Dignity and/or its Board of Directors.)