"The more the people are discontented with the oppression of taxes, the greater the need the prince has of money to distribute among his partisans and pay the troops that are to suppress all resistance and enable him to plunder at pleasure."."requent recurrence to fundamental principles… absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty and keep a government free."."Our cause is the cause of all mankind…we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own."."Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."."All the property that is necessary to a man for the conservation of the individual… is his natural right which none can justly deprive him of."."Every man…is, of common right, and by the laws of God, a freeman, and entitled to the free enjoyment of liberty."."From a persuasion that equal liberty was originally the portion, it is still the birthright of all men."."Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God" (proposed by Franklin for the motto of the Great Seal of the United States).On his January 17 birthday, we should remember some of those inspirational words. Unfortunately, attention to what Franklin said about American liberty has often been crowded out by his other accomplishments. His discoveries went far beyond his famous kite experiment, including the identification of lead poisoning and the charting of ocean currents. He founded the University of Pennsylvania, as well as America’s first public library and hospital.
He even published the first political cartoon in the colonies.
He ran his own paper and published Poor Richard’s Almanac. He was a prolific inventor, from his trademark bifocals to the Franklin Stove and artificial fertilizer. However, Franklin’s role in our founding has been eclipsed in modern memory by his many other accomplishments.
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