John Winthrop And Benjamin Franklin Research Paper

John Winthrop and Benjamin Franklin were both leaders in their time. They had very different views on common issues, which is very apparent in the works used in the document provided for this paper. The two men had differences in topics such as; logical thinking, religion, and views on government control. John Winthrop was more of a strict man who didn't see the option of questioning issue, where as Benjamin Franklin chose to have a more open mind about each issue he dealt with.

We see a very distinct difference between the two men in how they use logic. John Winthrop's logic, if you could call it logic, was very distorted. In the document, we read about a woman who gave birth to a still born child. Today if we hear about this we would acknowledge the tragedy and continue on with life. Winthrop writes “some rumor began to spread, that the child was a monster...”, this shows how his society was ignorant to the possibility of still born children. They didn't understand why a child could be born still, so they came to the conclusion that it must have been the woman's fault. He goes on to say that the women was right to leave town because people started to suspect that she was a witch. Benjamin Franklin on the other hand used logic to benefit himself and teach others to do the same. He was very adamant about the idea that “Time is Money”. He expressed for example, if you could make 10 dollars in a day and you waste half a day, you have thrown away 5 dollars. He didn't accept that you could take a day off without losing more that what you spent which is what made him a very successful and wealthy man. He also believed that money can create money. This idea is proven to still work in our society today, an example of thi...

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...t over you, in all administration of it, for your good”. Benjamin Franklin's view of government is completely opposite to Winthrop's. Benjamin Franklin was part of the group who created the “Declaration of Independence”. He believed that, “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.”

In summary, I believe colonial society had changed greatly from Winthrop's days to Franklin's. This is beneficial because we see how society is able to stray from the path of religion and venture onto other ideas that would have otherwise been discouraged. Benjamin Franklin was able to detach himself from traditional religion to expand his ability to experiment with science where as John Winthrop remained narrow minded because of his dedication to his religious beliefs.