A local Philadelphia poet whom Franklin befriends and with whom Franklin travels to England. 11: The Temperance Movement and ProhibitionMost major social reform movements bring substantial and lasting changes in the way people live, think, and behave. Franklin began his list of virtues with temperance because it was the virtue that would develop the self-discipline necessary to adhere to the other 12 virtues. In his famous inaugural address, he outlined his “New Deal” … Is there a less sexy idea today than temperance? All summer long, a group of men huddled in a stifling hot room in Philadelphia (Madison almost passed out from the heat) to develop the framework for a government that would govern the newly independent states of America. Cameron Gunn is an author and prosecutor living in Canada. His explanatory maxims are models of well-turned phrases: pointed, concise, clear, and memorable as balanced aphorisms. Ben Franklin, one of the world s wisest writers and the thinker upon whose advice ETR is based, began his adult life with a very ambitious goal. Temperance calls for a man to avoid overindulgence in food or drink. The way in which Ben ordered his 13 […] Yet when Benjamin Franklin began his pursuit of the virtuous life, it was this virtue he chose to concentrate on first. The temperance movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was an exception in many ways: "Temperance" refers to the moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages. 6. Most of the people I know don t even think in these terms. Here are the virtues that Franklin tracked and reflected upon each day. Discussion Questions Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Cite and explain evidence from the text in your answer. In his autobiography, Franklin recommends that all his readers take the 13 Virtues challenge if they seek moral perfection. Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. He defines each virtue, explains how … If the list suggests why Franklin is no longer consulted as a philosopher, it also illustrates why he is still admired as a prose stylist. Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion. There was… Moral perfection. Why does Franklin begin his program with temperance? Franklin Delano Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd president of the United States. This is the first in a series of posts about living the virtuous life like Benjamin Franklin. His questionable worldview put aside, Franklin's list impresses on a purely literary level. Today, even the idea of it sounds pompous and proud. His attempt to live Ben Franklin’s 13 virtues, was chronicled in BEN & ME: From Temperance to Humility – Stumbling Through Ben Franklin’s Thirteen Virtues, One Unvirtuous Day at a Time, released by Perigee Press in September 2010. However, in the context of the temperance … Franklin tells a story of a time when Ralph, who was often disliked and thus overly criticized by his friends in the realm of poetry, asked Franklin to read one of Ralph's poems as Franklin's own, which Franklin did to … He wanted to achieve moral perfection. His goal was to improve himself with regard to each virtue so that over time he was a better person in that regard, and by being a better overall … 1.