Rewarding Virtue: The Presidency and Benjamin Franklin's Plan for Moral Perfection

by J. A. Walwik

Overview

In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin presents a plan for moral perfection: a set of thirteen virtues for individuals to cultivate. These virtues are meant to aid in one's economic and political successes while contributing to the greater social good. Rewarding Virtue questions whether Franklin's premise—that living virtuously benefits the individual as well as the community—can be judged by historical experience. In this book each of Franklin's famous virtues (temperance, order, silence, etc.) are presented in such a way to determine if living by these maxims do result in enhanced wealth or reputation. With a similar utilitarian spirit this book attempts to judge the worthiness of his ideas in the actual human experience. The subjects for this experiment are some of the best-known Americans. Presidents of the United States are assigned a virtue and then thoroughly investigated (i.e. Ulysses S. Grant and temperance, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and tranquility, etc.) By examining the lives of these selected presidents, the reader is challenged to entertain the possibility that these are lessons that could be applied to contemporary life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761839866
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/06/2008
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.55(d)

About the Author

J.A. Walwik is Associate Professor of History at Dakota State University. He earned his Ph.D. at American University in Washington, D.C. A Fulbright Scholar, he taught at the National University of Kyrgyzstan and has also taught at the University of Latvia and the American University in Cairo. Walwik is also author of The Peeksill, NY Riots (2002).

Table of Contents

Part 1 Preface
Part 2 Acknowledgements
Chapter 3 Introduction
Chapter 4 Temperance
Chapter 5 Silence
Chapter 6 Order
Chapter 7 Resolution
Chapter 8 Frugality
Chapter 9 Industry
Chapter 10 Sincerity
Chapter 11 Justice
Chapter 12 Moderation
Chapter 13 Cleanliness
Chapter 14 Tranquility
Chapter 15 Chastity
Chapter 16 Humility
Part 17 Conclusion
Part 18 Selected Bibliography
Part 19 Index
Part 20 About the Author