How the Revolution Tore Apart the Franklin Family

"On the whole, the Founding Fathers, those towering patriarchs, fared poorly when it came to sons. George Washington and James Madison had none. Thomas Jefferson's only legitimate one died in infancy. Samuel Adams also outlived his. With the exception of John Quincy Adams, no other son of a Founder rose to his father's stature. The unluckiest of all may have been Benjamin Franklin, who, in the course of a deeply familial contest, lost a cherished son the hardheaded way: to politics."

"The two were for years each other's closest confidant. As one associate noted, William Franklin had, by his late 20s, become his father's "friend, his brother, his intimate and easy companion." Franklin raised his son with all the advantages he had not enjoyed. Where he had only briefly attended school, William studied with a private tutor. He kept a pony. He signed no indenture papers."

"Similarities surfaced early. Around the time he turned 15, William ran off to join the crew of a ship docked in Philadelphia, from which his father retrieved him. Franklin could hardly argue with the dash for freedom, having made his own at 17. He too had longed, as a youth, for the sea. Shortly after his escapade, William was allowed to enlist in the British army."

Many Founding Fathers fared poorly with sons, with several lacking surviving male heirs or seeing sons fail to match their stature. Benjamin Franklin maintained a close, indulgent relationship with his son William, providing education, comforts, and social access denied in his own youth. William and Franklin shared experiments, clubs, and early intimacy, but William's youthful yearning for the sea and brief military service presaged an independent path. Franklin retrieved him after a runaway episode and supported his enlistment in the British army. The familial closeness ultimately fractured as political loyalties diverged, costing Franklin a cherished familial bond.

Read at The Atlantic