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One of John Adams' famous criticisms of Franklin came in a letter to James Lovell dated April 14, 1781. In it, Adams writes: "The history of our Revolution wil
by realce 3y ago
One of John Adams' famous criticisms of Franklin came in a letter to James Lovell dated April 14, 1781. In it, Adams writes:
"The history of our Revolution will be one continued lie from one end to the other. The essence of the whole will be that Dr. Franklin's electrical rod smote the Earth and out sprang General Washington. That Franklin electrified him with his rod—and henceforth these two conducted all the policy, negotiations, legislatures and war."
- aswanson 3y ago[flagged]
- jmsdnns 3y agoThat is probably how Ben Franklin would describe it too, depending on the audience.
- bombcar 3y agoThis sounds like a direct quote from Soldier in TF2.
- nothingbutthe 3y agoIt is the greatest nation if you believe in Locke and human flourishing. The 20th century fundamentally changed the structure and nature of the US, and has since just been war, empire and fleecing the poor, the middle class and soon the rich.
- vkou 3y agoIt's a little odd for a nation that invented democracy and freedom to have human chattel slavery as a government policy in checks notes 1863. Freedom and democracy for some people at the expense of others wasn't exactly a novel invention, you could look back to other slave societies like ancient Athens for it.
- jmsdnns 3y agoBen Franklin invented the US, not freedom and democracy. The distinction is important.
- krapp 3y agoBen Franklin invented distinction, both with and without a difference.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- aswanson 3y agoAmerica had to invent freedom and democracy because Europe had no idea of those concepts.
- BrotherBisquick 3y ago[flagged]
- croes 3y agoDangerous times for sarcasm
- denlekke 3y agoAn elegant weapon, for a more... civilized age
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- smcin 3y agoVery funny. America is nowhere near "the oldest nation on earth". Denmark has existed as a unified country since the 8th century AD [https://japan.um.dk/en/about-denmark/denmark/history https://japan.um.dk/en/about-denmark/denmark/history] San Marino since 301 AD [https://www.timetravelturtle.com/visiting-san-marino-oldest-country https://www.timetravelturtle.com/visiting-san-marino-oldest-...] and many others. Let's make revisionism fun: "Asterix in the USA" (1994 film): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix_Conquers_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix_Conquers_America
- askafriend 3y ago> Very funny. America is nowhere near "the oldest nation on earth". So you're agreeing that it is indeed the greatest nation on earth?
- tssva 3y agoIt was sarcasm. One clue that a non-American might not get is that Benjamin Franklin was never president.
- smcin 3y agoI know that, you noticed the first two words were "Very funny"? The rest of it was directed at other people who genuinely believe the claim.
- splendor_spoon 3y agoThe rest of it seems to have missed that the original comment was sarcasm.
- smcin 3y agoNo, to repeat, the rest of it was addressed at the non-empty subset of readers who genuinely believe the claim. I love you telling me repeatedly what you assume my intent was, especially when the assumption was wrong. You could try it a third time.
- RichardCA 3y agoThe story of Franklin's role in the history of Physics almost never gets told properly. The PBS Mechanical Universe series did a good job with it, given that they only had 25 minutes to work with. https://youtu.be/N72oYRZvFzA https://youtu.be/N72oYRZvFzA
- russellbeattie 3y ago"...he means well for his Country, is always an honest Man, often a wise one, but sometimes, and in some things, absolutely out of his senses." - Ben Franklin in a letter about how Adams is (to paraphrase) a clueless, paranoid, anti-social, self-righteous loudmouth. Adams had issues.
- krapp 3y agoBit of the pot calling the kettle black, there.