History

Benjamin Franklin

Ken Burns’s two-part, four-hour documentary, "Benjamin Franklin," explores the revolutionary life of one of the18th century's most consequential and compelling personalities, whose work and words unlocked the mystery of electricity and helped create the United States.

“An American” (1775-1790)

1h 54m

Benjamin Franklin leaves London and returns to wartime Philadelphia where he joins Congress and helps Thomas Jefferson craft the Declaration of Independence. In Paris, he wins French support for the American Revolution then negotiates a peace treaty with Britain. He spends his last years in the new United States, working on the Constitution and unsuccessfully promoting the abolition of slavery.

Episodes

  • “An American” (1775-1790): asset-mezzanine-16x9

    “An American” (1775-1790)

    S1 E2 - 1h 54m

    Benjamin Franklin leaves London and returns to wartime Philadelphia where he joins Congress and helps Thomas Jefferson craft the Declaration of Independence. In Paris, he wins French support for the American Revolution then negotiates a peace treaty with Britain. He spends his last years in the new United States, working on the Constitution and unsuccessfully promoting the abolition of slavery.

  • Spanish Version | “Join or Die” (1706-1774): asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Spanish Version | “Join or Die” (1706-1774)

    S1 E3 - 1h 55m

    Leaving behind his Boston childhood, Benjamin Franklin reinvents himself in Philadelphia where he builds a printing empire and a new life with his wife, Deborah. Turning to science, Franklin's lightning rod and experiments in electricity earn him worldwide fame. After entering politics, he spends years in London trying to keep Britain and America together as his own family starts to come apart.

  • “Join or Die” (1706-1774): asset-mezzanine-16x9

    “Join or Die” (1706-1774)

    S1 E1 - 1h 55m

    Leaving behind his Boston childhood, Benjamin Franklin reinvents himself in Philadelphia where he builds a printing empire and a new life with his wife, Deborah. Turning to science, Franklin's lightning rod and experiments in electricity earn him worldwide fame. After entering politics, he spends years in London trying to keep Britain and America together as his own family starts to come apart.

Extras + Features

  • Franklin and Slave Labor: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Franklin and Slave Labor

    1m 49s

    Slavery was legal in all thirteen colonies that eventually formed the United States. In the middle of the 18th Century, nearly a tenth of Philadelphia’s residents were enslaved—working in businesses and homes, including Franklin’s. Many Philadelphians, including Franklin’s friends and colleagues, were vocally antislavery. But Franklin, committed to slave labor, did not join them.

  • Franklin and the Antislavery Movement: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Franklin and the Antislavery Movement

    7m 5s

    Franklin, though a former slave owner, had joined the growing antislavery movement in Philadelphia. With the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, he petitioned the new federal government to end slavery in the United States. Because of Franklin’s reputation, the petition was heard. But the House of Representatives voted it down, and the Senate tabled it without discussion.

  • Franklin Makes a Name for Himself as a Printer: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Franklin Makes a Name for Himself as a Printer

    3m 53s

    Franklin, who had only two years of formal education, largely taught himself through reading and on the job. At age 12, he joined his older brother James’s print shop as an apprentice printer. Later, when an essay appeared in James’s newspaper over the name Silence Dogood, no one, including James, knew the real author was 16-year-old Benjamin.

  • Franklin Hears About Washington’s Victory at Yorktown: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Franklin Hears About Washington’s Victory at Yorktown

    2m 39s

    In November 1781, Franklin heard news of the victory at Yorktown, the decisive battle of the American Revolution that was won by the combined forces of the French military and George Washington’s Continental Army. Back in 1778, Franklin had secured the alliance that brought France into the war, and without the French Army and Navy, the outcome at Yorktown would not have been possible.

  • Publicly Humiliated in London: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Publicly Humiliated in London

    6m 2s

    As Britain and the colonies grew apart, Benjamin Franklin, the most famous American in London and an agent for several colonies, found himself caught in the middle. After the Boston Tea Party, he was publicly humiliated in a government meeting room called the Cockpit and blamed for the crisis across the ocean. It was clearer than ever that Franklin would have to choose a side.

  • The Treaty of Paris, 1783: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Treaty of Paris, 1783

    4m 20s

    On September 3, 1783, Franklin and the other peace commissioners signed the Treaty of Paris. The American Revolutionary War was over, and Britain officially recognized the independent United States of America and its claims to a third of the North American continent. For others who were not party to the peace talks, especially Native Americans, the treaty was devastating.

  • Franklin Faces His Racial Prejudices: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Franklin Faces His Racial Prejudices

    1m 58s

    Deborah Franklin encouraged her husband to visit a new school for enslaved and free Black children in Philadelphia. After his visit, Benjamin Franklin admitted that he had previously held a low opinion of the “natural Capacities of the black Race,” but observing the children at school had proven his prejudices wrong. He now knew they were “in every Respect equal to that of white Children.”

  • Franklin and Adams: Rivals on the Same Diplomatic Mission: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Franklin and Adams: Rivals on the Same Diplomatic Mission

    4m 3s

    Benjamin Franklin and John Adams served the United States together as diplomats to France during the American Revolution, but they frustrated each other with their conflicting approaches to the job. Adams was impatient and did not recognize that Franklin’s popularity was an important asset in securing vital French support for the war effort.

  • Benjamin Franklin and Inoculation: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Benjamin Franklin and Inoculation

    6m 9s

    An African slave in Boston, Onesimus, introduced Cotton Mather to the concept of inoculation, which meant fewer deaths in a smallpox epidemic. Franklin was an early proponent of inoculation but when smallpox struck Philadelphia he and Deborah delayed inoculating their son. Franky contracted smallpox and died. This extended scene from BENJAMIN FRANKLIN includes bonus material not in the final film.

  • The Franklins Choose Opposing Sides in the Revolution: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Franklins Choose Opposing Sides in the Revolution

    2m 26s

    In the decades before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin and his son William collaborated intimately to promote the British Empire in America. But when war broke out, their family, like countless others, was torn apart. Benjamin Franklin supported George Washington’s army and sided with the rebels—the Patriots. William Franklin, the Royal Governor of New Jersey, remained loyal to the King.

  • Franklin’s Endlessly Quotable Poor Richard’s Almanack: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Franklin’s Endlessly Quotable Poor Richard’s Almanack

    4m 37s

    From 1733 to 1757, Franklin published Poor Richard’s Almanack, an annual bestseller in the colonies. In addition to weather predictions and astronomical observations, his almanac was notable for including aphorisms that combined wisdom with humor, philosophy with word play—an early example of a homespun American writing style that has continued through the generations.

Schedule

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