#i realised i didn't have a franklin post

[williamedwardparry]

Sir John Franklin, born 16th April 1786, died 11th June 1847

Left: Lithograph (1837) by Thomas Herbert Maguire, after the portrait of Franklin by Joseph Mathias Negelen (the artist also responsible for this portrait of Sir James Clark Ross). Right: Replica portrait (1828) by Thomas Phillips, a prominent portrait artist whose long list of illustrious sitters included Sir Edward Parry.

[on-partiality]

Okay, so I'm absolutely curious:

I don't know if you've been asked this already, but how would you rank the Founding Fathers (from the ones you like the most to the ones you really don't)?

Sorry for taking forever I got sick and then I had school camp but here's how I'd rank them:

1, Alexander Hamilton: I've studied him the most out of the main founding fathers so I've grown rather attached to him. I still acknowlege his flaws like the fact that the trading charter he worked for when he was younger also sold slaves, the fact that he was sexist just like the typical 18th century man and that he did cheat on his wife. But even with all of those, he's my favourite of the bunch.

2. James Madison: when creating this tier list type thing I realised that I really don't know much about Madison that's why he's higher in the list (because I've studied him so little compared to the others, I don't know as much about his flaws and problematic actions as I do the rest of the bunch) I've read a lot about him doing silly things and supposedly being a good husband but the fact that he got along so well with Jefferson throws me off because I really don't like Jefferson. So yeah, I'd say I'm pretty neutral with Madison.

3. John Adams: I haven't studied him as much as the other founders (still more than Madison though) so I find it difficult to have too strong an opinion on him. I like his stance on slavery and the fact that he never owned any, however, I don't like his thoughts on women and men without property (and just generally the requirements he wanted to make on who should and shouldn't be allowed to vote) and I don't believe he was a very good father from what I've read about how he treated his oldest son, I also don't like his personality.

4. Benjamin Franklin: I know that no one is going to agree with me on this one but something about him just grosses me out, probably because I'm semi-sex-repulsed and hearing about the way he was with so many women makes me want to gag. Additionally, the comment he made about old women being the same in the dark grossed me out heaps. I get that he technically wasn't that bad and he freed his slaves and invented so many things but his personal life throws m

5. George Washington: Look, he did some HORRIBLE things, he owned many slaves, his treatment of Native Americans was terrible and I completely disagree with most of his political views... But I really like him as a military commander and a soldier and I like his personality a lot and that's why he ranks higher than the next person on this tier list, I don't agree with most of his actions. I don't support racism or genocide. But also I have far more fun studying Washington than I do the next founding father on this list.

6. Thomas Jefferson: child rapist, owned more slaves than any of the other people on this list (I think) and was really weird with his pets. He advocated for religious freedom and he was smart, I'll give him that but I don't like his personality, I don't like his political views and he was very hypocritical. Really, with his views, he wouldn't have even liked himself and he didn't do enough to make me like him. He's still interesting to study but I find it far harder to empathise with him than I do the men listed above because I really just can't see him as anything but vile.

Bonus!: I would put Aaron Burr between Adams and Madison because while I agree with most of his views and he's really fun to study, I like Hamilton a little bit too much to rank the man that killed him higher than 3rd.

(note: I wrote this on like an hour of sleep, this may be the worst amrev take ever)

Edited, 24th of February: Got reminded of this post's existence thanks to a comment by @c0ckmuncher pointing out how inaccurate one of these takes was and checked it again and safe to say I'm never posting anything late night ever again, the rankings have now been changed to better suit what I actually think of these men

[on-partiality]

hey :D

first of all: love ur blog <33

second: what's your opinion on Thomas Jefferson? He's such a weird historical figure to think about because he's so conflicting. I know that we shouldn't glorify nor condemn these people, but one moment I see him as a skrunkly, but then I'm reminded of what a monster he is. I just...arghhhhh :/

Oof, if I have to be honest, Thomas Jefferson is one of the only founding fathers that I genuinely hate. I have a few that I feel conflicted with like Washington, I have ones that I dislike because of their personality or actions like Franklin but Jefferson and Monroe? Utterly despise them.

Sometimes I find goofy little anecdotes about him that I laugh at before sobering up and realising that the man I just read about was a hypocritical child rapist. I actually completely disagree with you with the 'we shouldn't condemn these people' in the case of Thomas Jefferson. As I stated in a post of mine about historical relativism, I don't believe it's entirely fair to judge someone by a standard created years after they died that they could never have known would exist in future; Slavery and marrying young were both widely accepted in the 18th century but Thomas Jefferson publicly claimed to be against slavery, he claimed it was wrong, cruel and immoral so he knew. It wasn't some standard that he was unaware of because it didn't exist in his lifetime, no, it was one of his own standards and yet, he didn't release his slaves, he continued to profit off of their suffering when he knew just how horrible what he was doing was. Also 14 is young, even for the 18th century and 14 year olds would still have been considered children, he knew Sally was far too young and he still went ahead and got her pregnant, multiple times. Washington freed his slaves in his will, Franklin freed his as an old man, Thomas Jefferson only freed 10 of his 600+ slaves, 6 of those 10 were his children.

So yeah, looking at history the way Jefferson and just general folk of the 18th century would've looked at it, Jefferson's still a pedophile and a slaveowner. Regardless of how goofy he was at times. I admit the declaration was a revolutionary document for America, literally and a lot of his bills and such have contributed a lot to America's development and creation as a country but he was still a horrible man and we should remember him as such.