FRANKLAND 



2314 



FRANKLIN 



FRANKLAND, or FRANKLIN, a name given 

 in 1784 to a short-lived state organization, of 

 which John Sevier, a notable man at the time, 

 was governor. It was formed as a protest 

 against the action of North Carolina in de- 

 priving its citizens of state government. At 

 the close of the Revolutionary War Congress 

 had no money to pay its debts, and asked all 

 the states holding Western lands to donate 

 them to the Federal government. North Caro- 

 lina, of which the present Tennessee was then 

 a part, agreed, but the settlers of this latter 

 region did not give the plan their approval, 

 and they set up a new state which they named 

 Frankland, or Franklin. They fixed the sal- 

 aries of their officers at so many raccoon skins, 

 because of the scarcity of money. After a 

 hard struggle, North Carolina suppressed the 

 new government in 1788. The territory of 

 Tennessee was ceded to the United States gov- 

 ernment in 1790, and in 1796 it was admitted 

 as the sixteenth state of the Union. See TEN- 

 NESSEE, subhead History. 



FRANK 'LIN, a district of the Northwest 

 Territories of Canada, named in honor of Sir 

 John Franklin. It was formed in 1895, and 

 includes many islands to the north of the 

 mainland, as well as Baffin Land and Albert 

 Land. It is practically uninhabited, for it is 

 almost entirely within the Arctic Circle; the 

 only inhabitants are a few Eskimos in Baffin 

 Land. The total area is estimated at 500,000 

 square miles. In some parts of the district 

 musk-oxen, bears, foxes and other fur-bearing 

 animals are found in large numbers. For fur- 

 ther details, see NORTHWEST TERRITORIES. 



FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN (1706-1790), one of 

 the first great Americans and, what can be 

 said of.few men in all the world's history, a 

 man distinguished in almost every field 

 of endeavor. The epigrammatic inscription 

 carved on a medallion of him, "He has seized 

 the lightning from Heaven and the sceptre 

 from tyrants," mentions but two of the numer- 

 ous phases of his activity. Scientist, author, 

 statesman, philosopher, inventor, printer, dip- 

 lomat, humorist surely few other men ever 

 ventured on so many careers and worked them 

 out so successfully. "America's patron saint 

 of common sense," he is called, and the de- 

 scription fits him well; for in everything he 

 did, in everything he said and in everything 

 he wrote there was evidence of plain, unsenti- 

 mental, common sense. 



Early Life. Benjamin Franklin was born on 

 January 17, 1706, in Boston, where his father 



was a tallow chandler. As the family was poor 

 and as Benjamin was the fifteenth of seven- 

 teen children, he had no special advantages 

 and went to school less than a year. He dis- 

 liked the work in his father's shop and was 

 therefore apprenticed to an older son, who 

 was a printer, though it had been the family's 

 intention to devote this tenth son as its "tithe 

 for the ministry." In his brother's office 

 Franklin mastered his new trade, and found 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 



He was the characteristic figure of the age in 

 which he lived ; yet we to-day find him as modern 

 as ourselves. 



time to read much, and thoughtfully. Books 

 were not numerous, but Pilgrim's Progress, 

 Plutarch's Lives and an old volume of the 

 Spectator with Addison's matchless essays 

 never lost their charm for him. 



That he was forming an English style as 

 well as entertaining himself was soon evident 

 from the little essays which began to appear 

 in his brother's paper, the New England Cour- 

 ant. These Franklin had slipped under the 

 office door, and the brother was well pleased 

 to print them, but when he learned who their 

 author was he refused to publish more and 

 soundly scolded the daring youth. Indeed, 

 friction between the two brothers was con- 

 stant, and finally, in 1723, the younger ran 

 away to Philadelphia. Most people, even those 

 who have not read the rest of Franklin's auto- 

 biography, are familiar with his account of his 

 first day in Philadelphia. Having spent his 

 last money for three "great puffy rolls," he 

 walked down the street eating one and carry- 



