Benjamin Franklin

The neat thing about prayer is that Lord honors his promises. Last week Before class started the teacher made a remark about Mormons which sparked a conversation about polygamy among other things. If that wasn't enough later the teacher talked about how Washington and Hamilton were bisexual, and how Jefferson had many affairs with french women. Back to praying, after class I asked Heavenly Father to help me find the truth about these men. I already knew the truth, that our founding fathers weren't guilty of the scandals modern historians have placed upon them. Here and there evidence I had asked for presented itself. One of which was from a book Dee is reading called, The 5,000 Year Leap, a book by The National Center For Constitutional Studies. Anyways I am going to plagiarize a little here so that you read for yourself what I can not explain well enough.
"A note on Benjamin Franklin....It may seem strange to quote Benjamin Franklin on this subject, since certain historians have entertained the public for years with the alleged romantic profligacy of the famous Franklin. In point of fact he admits in his autobiography that after running away from his home as a youth he fell in with certain rough companions and later had a son whom he named William. Nevertheless, he raised his son honorably. With reference to later life, a specialist on his papers and background at Yale University, Dr. Claude-Anne Lopez, says the stories about his "thirteen illegitimate children" and similar wild stories have proven to be myths. She says careful research is disclosing that Franklin was not the philanderer many writers have represented him to be."

The book goes on to enclose a letter that Franklin at the age of 46 wrote to a Friend on the importance of marriage to dissuade a friend from taking a mistress.
Another source I found to be of help was a website featuring a book about Franklin called, "The real Benjamin Franklin". I am going to copy and paste from the website itself instead of explaining in my own words what it reads.
"There are many Benjamin Franklin's. Or at least he has taken on many different forms in the history books and conversations of the last two centuries. Some historians have shown us an aged statesman whose wise and steadying influence kept the Constitutional Convention together in 1787, while others have pictured a chuckling prankster who couldn't resist a funny story. Some remember Franklin for flying a kite in a thunderstorm; others think of him as a successful printer of the colonial era; still others know him only as an expounder of clever maxims ("A penny saved is a penny earned") or the author of a now famous autobiography. More recently, a certain brand of biographers and journalists have conjured up sensational tales of a lecherous old diplomat in his seventies who enjoyed illicit affairs with adoring young French women. And a few years ago Franklin even reappeared as a British spy! Some of these myths are now being repeated and embellished in school textbooks and "educational" television programs. New portrayals continue to come forward, multiplying and changing with each generation. Which of all these Benjamin Franklin's, if any, is real? This book is an attempt to answer that question. Or, more accurately, it is an attempt to let Franklin himself."

This book, The real Benjamin Franklin is part of a series of books, the other books include The Real George Washington, and The Real Thomas Jefferson. If your interested you can buy the three of them for $30.00 on Amazon. Anyways, I hope I've helped. Stay tuned for more about our Founding Fathers in blogs to come.