Governing Is the Art of the Possible Benjamin Franklin
fifteen
Equality
Chapter 15
|Document 27
Benjamin Franklin, Information to Those Who Would Remove to America
Sept. 1782 Writings 8:603--14 Many Persons in Europe, having directly or by Letters, express'd to the Author of this, who is well acquainted with North America, their Desire of transporting and establishing themselves in that State; but who appear to have formed, thro' Ignorance, mistaken Ideas and Expectations of what is to be obtained there; he thinks information technology may be useful, and forestall inconvenient, expensive, and fruitless Removals and Voyages of improper Persons, if he gives some clearer and truer Notions of that part of the World, than announced to accept hitherto prevailed.
He finds it is imagined by Numbers, that the Inhabitants of Northward America are rich, capable of rewarding, and dispos'd to advantage, all sorts of Ingenuity; that they are at the same time ignorant of all the Sciences, and, consequently, that Strangers, possessing Talents in the Belles-Lettres, fine Arts, &c., must exist highly esteemed, and so well paid, as to become easily rich themselves; that there are also affluence of profitable Offices to be disposed of, which the Natives are not qualified to fill up; and that, having few Persons of Family among them, Strangers of Birth must exist greatly respected, and of course hands obtain the best of those Offices, which will make all their Fortunes; that the Governments besides, to encourage Emigrations from Europe, not only pay the Expence of personal Transportation, but give Lands gratis to Strangers, with Negroes to piece of work for them, Utensils of Husbandry, and Stocks of Cattle. These are all wild Imaginations; and those who go to America with Expectations founded upon them will surely observe themselves disappointed.
The Truth is, that though in that location are in that Country few People so miserable as the Poor of Europe, in that location are also very few that in Europe would be called rich; it is rather a general happy Mediocrity that prevails. There are few great Proprietors of the Soil, and few Tenants; most People cultivate their own Lands, or follow some Handicraft or Merchandise; very few rich enough to alive idly upon their Rents or Incomes, or to pay the high Prices given in Europe for Paintings, Statues, Architecture, and the other Works of Art, that are more than curious than useful. Hence the natural Geniuses, that have arisen in America with such Talents, take uniformly quitted that State for Europe, where they can be more than suitably rewarded. It is true, that Letters and Mathematical Knowledge are in Esteem there, but they are at the same time more common than is apprehended; there being already existing nine Colleges or Universities, viz. 4 in New England, and one in each of the Provinces of New York, New Jersey, Pensilvania, Maryland, and Virginia, all furnish'd with learned Professors; besides a number of smaller Academies; these educate many of their Youth in the Languages, and those Sciences that authorize men for the Professions of Divinity, Police, or Physick. Strangers indeed are by no means excluded from exercising those Professions; and the quick Increment of Inhabitants everywhere gives them a Chance of Utilise, which they have in common with the Natives. Of civil Offices, or Employments, there are few; no superfluous Ones, equally in Europe; and it is a Rule constitute'd in some of the States, that no Role should exist so assisting equally to brand it desirable. The 36th Article of the Constitution of Pennsilvania, runs expressly in these Words; "As every Freeman, to preserve his Independence, (if he has non a sufficient Estate) ought to have some Profession, Calling, Trade, or Farm, whereby he may honestly subsist, at that place tin be no Necessity for, nor Utilize in, establishing Offices of Profit; the usual Furnishings of which are Dependance and Servility, unbecoming Freemen, in the Possessors and Expectants; Faction, Contention, Abuse, and Disorder among the People. Wherefore, whenever an Role, thro' Increase of Fees or otherwise, becomes so profitable, equally to occasion many to apply for it, the Profits ought to be lessened by the Lagislature."
These Ideas prevailing more or less in all the U.s., it cannot exist worth whatever Man's while, who has a means of Living at home, to expatriate himself, in hopes of obtaining a profitable ceremonious Function in America; and, every bit to military Offices, they are at an Terminate with the War, the Armies beingness disbanded. Much less is it adviseable for a Person to go thither, who has no other Quality to recommend him but his Nativity. In Europe it has indeed its Value; merely it is a Commodity that cannot be carried to a worse Marketplace than that of America, where people do not inquire concerning a Stranger, What is he? simply, What can he do? If he has whatever useful Art, he is welcome; and if he exercises it, and behaves well, he will be respected by all that know him; but a mere Man of Quality, who, on that Business relationship, wants to live upon the Public, by some Office or Bacon, will be despis'd and disregarded. The Husbandman is in laurels at that place, and even the Mechanic, because their Employments are useful. The People take a saying, that God Almighty is himself a Mechanic, the greatest in the Univers; and he is respected and admired more for the Variety, Ingenuity, and Utility of his Handyworks, than for the Antiquity of his Family unit. They are pleas'd with the Observation of a Negro, and frequently mention it, that Boccarorra (meaning the White men) make de black human being workee, brand de Equus caballus workee, brand de Ox workee, make ebery ting workee; just de Sus scrofa. He, de hog, no workee; he eat, he drink, he walk about, he become to sleep when he please, he libb like a Gentleman. Co-ordinate to these Opinions of the Americans, one of them would call up himself more than oblig'd to a Genealogist, who could prove for him that his Ancestors and Relations for ten Generations had been Ploughmen, Smiths, Carpenters, Turners, Weavers, Tanners, or fifty-fifty Shoemakers, and consequently that they were useful Members of Lodge; than if he could but prove that they were Gentlemen, doing nothing of Value, but living idly on the Labour of others, mere fruges consumere nati, 1 and otherwise proficient for nothing, till by their Expiry their Estates, like the Carcass of the Negro'due south Gentleman-Pig, come to be cut upwardly.
With regard to Encouragements for Strangers from Government, they are actually only what are derived from good Laws and Liberty. Strangers are welcome, because there is room enough for them all, and therefore the quondam Inhabitants are not jealous of them; the Laws protect them sufficiently, so that they have no need of the Patronage of Groovy Men; and every one will enjoy securely the Profits of his Industry. But, if he does non bring a Fortune with him, he must piece of work and exist industrious to live. One or two Years' residence gives him all the Rights of a Citizen; but the government does not at present, whatever information technology may have done in onetime times, rent People to become Settlers, by Paying their Passages, giving Country, Negroes, Utensils, Stock, or whatsoever other kind of Emolument whatsoever. In short, America is the Land of Labour, and by no means what the English telephone call Lubberland, and the French Pays de Cocagne, where the streets are said to be pav'd with half-peck Loaves, the Houses til'd with Pancakes, and where the Fowls fly about ready roasted, crying, Come eat me!
Who then are the kind of Persons to whom an Emigration to America may be advantageous? And what are the Advantages they may reasonably expect?
Land being cheap in that Country, from the vast Forests still void of Inhabitants, and not probable to be occupied in an Age to come, insomuch that the Propriety of an hundred Acres of fertile Soil total of Wood may be obtained near the Frontiers, in many Places, for 8 or Ten Guineas, hearty immature Labouring Men, who understand the Husbandry of Corn and Cattle, which is nearly the same in that Land as in Europe, may hands institute themselves there. A lilliputian Money sav'd of the proficient Wages they receive in that location, while they work for others, enables them to buy the Land and begin their Plantation, in which they are assisted by the Proficient-Will of their Neighbours, and some Credit. Multitudes of poor People from England, Republic of ireland, Scotland, and Frg, have by this means in a few years become wealthy Farmers, who, in their own Countries, where all the Lands are fully occupied, and the Wages of Labour low, could never accept emerged from the poor Condition wherein they were built-in.
From the salubrity of the Air, the healthiness of the Climate, the plenty of adept Provisions, and the Encouragement to early Marriages by the certainty of Subsistence in cultivating the Earth, the Increase of Inhabitants by natural Generation is very rapid in America, and becomes still more so by the Accession of Strangers; hence there is a continual Demand for more Artisans of all the necessary and useful kinds, to supply those Cultivators of the World with Houses, and with Furniture and Utensils of the grosser sorts, which cannot and then well be brought from Europe. Tolerably skillful Workmen in any of those mechanic Arts are sure to find Employ, and to be well paid for their Work, there being no Restraints preventing Strangers from exercising any Art they empathise, nor any Permission necessary. If they are poor, they begin first as Servants or Journeymen; and if they are sober, industrious, and frugal, they soon become Masters, establish themselves in Business organization, marry, enhance Families, and become respectable Citizens.
Also, Persons of moderate Fortunes and Capitals, who, having a Number of Children to provide for, are desirous of bringing them upwards to Industry, and to secure Estates for their Posterity, have Opportunities of doing it in America, which Europe does not afford. There they may exist taught and practise profitable mechanic Arts, without incurring Disgrace on that Account, only on the contrary acquiring Respect by such Abilities. At that place modest Capitals laid out in Lands, which daily become more valuable by the Increase of People, afford a solid Prospect of ample Fortunes thereafter for those Children. The Writer of this has known several Instances of large Tracts of Land, bought, on what was then the Borderland of Pensilvania, for X Pounds per hundred Acres, which after twenty years, when the Settlements had been extended far beyond them, sold readily, without any Improvement made upon them, for three Pounds per Acre. The Acre in America is the same with the English Acre, or the Acre of Normandy.
Those, who desire to sympathise the State of Government in America, would practice well to read the Constitutions of the several States, and the Manufactures of Confederation that bind the whole together for general Purposes, under the Management of one Assembly, chosen the Congress. These Constitutions have been printed, past gild of Congress, in America; two Editions of them have also been printed in London; and a good Translation of them into French has lately been published at Paris.
Several of the Princes of Europe having of late years, from an Opinion of Reward to arise past producing all Bolt and Articles inside their ain Dominions, and then as to diminish or render useless their Importations, have endeavoured to entice Workmen from other Countries by high Salaries, Privileges, &c. Many Persons, pretending to be skilled in various great Manufactures, imagining that America must be in Desire of them, and that the Congress would probably exist dispos'd to imitate the Princes above mentioned, accept proposed to go over, on Condition of having their Passages paid, Lands given, Salaries appointed, exclusive Privileges for Terms of years, &c. Such Persons, on reading the Manufactures of Confederation, will notice, that the Congress have no Ability committed to them, or Money put into their Hands, for such purposes; and that if any such Encouragement is given, it must be by the Government of some separate State. This, even so, has rarely been done in America; and, when it has been washed, it has rarely succeeded, so as to establish a Manufacture, which the State was not yet then ripe for every bit to encourage private Persons to set it upwards; Labour being generally too beloved at that place, and Hands difficult to exist kept together, every one desiring to be a Master, and the Cheapness of Lands inclining many to go out Trades for Agriculture. Some indeed have met with Success, and are carried on to Reward; but they are generally such as require simply a few Easily, or wherein great Part of the Work is performed past Machines. Things that are beefy, and of so small Value as not well to bear the Expence of Freight, may ofttimes be made cheaper in the Country than they can exist imported; and the Industry of such Things will be assisting wherever there is a sufficient Demand. The Farmers in America produce indeed a good deal of Wool and Flax; and none is exported, information technology is all work'd up; simply information technology is in the Fashion of domestic Industry, for the Use of the Family. The buying up Quantities of Wool and Flax, with the Design to employ Spinners, Weavers, &c., and course corking Establishments, producing Quantities of Linen and Woollen Appurtenances for Sale, has been several times attempted in different Provinces; but those Projects have generally failed, goods of equal Value being imported cheaper. And when the Governments have been solicited to support such Schemes past Encouragements, in Money, or by imposing Duties on Importation of such Appurtenances, it has been more often than not refused, on this Principle, that, if the Country is ripe for the Manufacture, it may be carried on past private Persons to Reward; and if not, it is a Folly to think of forcing Nature. Great Establishments of Industry crave great Numbers of Poor to practice the Work for small Wages; these Poor are to be found in Europe, only will non be found in America, till the Lands are all taken up and cultivated, and the Excess of People, who cannot get Land, want Employment. The Manufacture of Silk, they say, is natural in France, equally that of Cloth in England, because each Country produces in Plenty the first Material; but if England will accept a Industry of Silk equally well equally that of Textile, and France one of Cloth besides as that of Silk, these unnatural Operations must be supported by common Prohibitions, or high Duties on the Importation of each other'due south Goods; by which means the Workmen are enabled to tax the domicile Consumer past greater Prices, while the higher Wages they receive makes them neither happier nor richer, since they simply potable more than and work less. Therefore the Governments in America do nothing to encourage such Projects. The People, by this Means, are not impos'd on, either by the Merchant or Mechanic. If the Merchant demands likewise much Profit on imported Shoes, they buy of the Shoemaker; and if he asks also high a Price, they take them of the Merchant; thus the ii Professions are checks on each other. The Shoemaker, however, has, on the whole, a considerable Profit upon his Labour in America, beyond what he had in Europe, as he tin can add to his Price a Sum nearly equal to all the Expences of Freight and Commission, Risque or Insurance, &c., necessarily charged past the Merchant. And the Instance is the aforementioned with the Workmen in every other Mechanic Art. Hence information technology is, that Artisans generally live meliorate and more than hands in America than in Europe; and such equally are adept Oeconomists make a comfortable Provision for Age, and for their Children. Such may, therefore, remove with Advantage to America.
In the long-settled Countries of Europe, all Arts, Trades, Professions, Farms, &c., are then full, that information technology is difficult for a poor Man, who has Children, to place them where they may proceeds, or learn to proceeds, a decent Livelihood. The Artisans, who fearfulness creating future Rivals in Business, refuse to take Apprentices, just upon Atmospheric condition of Money, Maintenance, or the similar, which the Parents are unable to comply with. Hence the Youth are dragg'd up in Ignorance of every gainful Fine art, and oblig'd to become Soldiers, or Servants, or Thieves, for a Subsistence. In America, the rapid Increment of Inhabitants takes away that Fright of Rivalship, and Artisans willingly receive Apprentices from the hope of Profit past their Labour, during the Balance of the Time stipulated, after they shall be instructed. Hence it is easy for poor Families to get their Children instructed; for the Artisans are so desirous of Apprentices, that many of them will even requite Money to the Parents, to accept Boys from Ten to 15 Years of Age leap Apprentices to them till the Age of Xx-1; and many poor Parents have, by that means, on their Arrival in the Country, raised Money enough to buy Land sufficient to plant themselves, and to subsist the rest of their Family by Agriculture. These Contracts for Apprentices are made before a Magistrate, who regulates the Agreement according to Reason and Justice, and, having in view the Formation of a hereafter useful Citizen, obliges the Master to engage by a written Indenture, not simply that, during the time of Service stipulated, the Apprentice shall be duly provided with Meat, Drink, Apparel, washing, and Lodging, and, at its Expiration, with a compleat new Accommodate of Cloaths, but likewise that he shall be taught to read, write, and cast Accompts; and that he shall exist well instructed in the Art or Profession of his Chief, or some other, by which he may afterwards gain a Livelihood, and be able in his turn to raise a Family. A Copy of this Indenture is given to the Apprentice or his Friends, and the Magistrate keeps a Record of information technology, to which recourse may be had, in case of Failure by the Principal in any Point of Functioning. This desire among the Masters, to have more Hands employ'd in working for them, induces them to pay the Passages of young Persons, of both Sexes, who, on their Arrival, concord to serve them one, two, iii, or 4 Years; those, who have already learnt a Merchandise, like-minded for a shorter Term, in proportion to their Skill, and the consequent immediate Value of their Service; and those, who accept none, agreeing for a longer Term, in consideration of existence taught an Art their Poverty would non permit them to acquire in their own Country.
The well-nigh general Mediocrity of Fortune that prevails in America obliging its People to follow some Business for subsistence, those Vices, that arise usually from Idleness, are in a great measure prevented. Industry and constant Employment are slap-up preservatives of the Morals and Virtue of a Nation. Hence bad Examples to Youth are more rare in America, which must exist a comfy Consideration to Parents. To this may be truly added, that serious Religion, under its various Denominations, is not simply tolerated, merely respected and practised. Atheism is unknown there; Infidelity rare and hugger-mugger; so that persons may live to a great Age in that Country, without having their Piety shocked by meeting with either an Atheist or an Infidel. And the Divine Existence seems to take manifested his Beatitude of the mutual Forbearance and Kindness with which the different Sects treat each other, past the remarkable Prosperity with which He has been pleased to favour the whole Land.
- ". . . born / Merely to swallow up the corn."--Watts.
The Founders' Constitution
Volume 1, Chapter 15, Certificate 27
http://printing-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch15s27.html
The University of Chicago Press
The Writings of Benjamin Franklin. Edited by Albert Henry Smyth. 10 vols. New York: Macmillan Co., 1905--7.
Easy to print version.
Source: https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch15s27.html