First Man of the Universe

The American Story

Christopher Flannery

Society & Culture, Documentary, History

4.6 • 941 Ratings

🗓️ 29 September 2020

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Benjamin Franklin ran away at seventeen with barely a penny in his pocket. Through hard work and his own genius, he made a life for himself in the printing trade, and was able to retire at the age of 42. He then spent the next 42 years of his life, from 1748 to 1790, pursuing his scientific and philosophic inquiries and doing all he could—and this was a very great deal—to benefit his city, state, country, and world. By the time of his death, he was one of the most famous people in the world.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to the American Story.
0:04.0	Stories about what it is that makes America beautiful.
0:08.0	Heartbreaking, funny, inspiring, and endlessly interesting.
0:12.0	This is Chris Flannery with the Cramoni. inspiring and endlessly interesting.
0:13.4	This is Chris Flannery with the Kramon Institute.
0:16.4	I call this one.
0:18.5	First Man of the Universe. Benjamin Franklin was 70 years old when he arrived in Paris in 1776.
0:28.8	He would stay for the next nine years representing the United States of America and the cause of the
0:34.2	American Revolution that had just begun. He was the most famous American in the world.
0:42.2	If John Adams can be believed, Franklin might have been at that moment the most
0:46.5	famous man in the world from anywhere.
0:49.8	In Adams's words, Franklin's reputation was more universal than Newton or Voltaire.
0:57.0	His name was known not only to Kings, nobility, and philosophers.
1:01.9	There was scarcely a peasant or a citizen who was not familiar with it, and who did
1:06.1	not consider him as a friend to humankind.
1:11.0	His fame came especially from two sources, his scientific discoveries, and his
1:16.2	statesmanship on behalf of American freedom. These accomplishments were
1:21.2	summed up in a Latin epigram bestowed on Franklin by an admiring Frenchman.
1:27.0	Er ripuet, Coilay, Full men, Skeptrumquay, Tyrannus, which means he snatched the lightning from the heavens and the
1:38.1	scepter from tyrants.
1:41.8	Franklin's scientific fame came with the publication in 1751 of his experiments and observations on electricity,
1:50.0	presenting to the world the first convincing theory of electricity.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Christopher Flannery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Christopher Flannery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.