Benjamin Franklin Bache (August 12, 1769 – September 10, 1798) was an
American journalist, printer and publisher. He founded the ''
Philadelphia Aurora'', a newspaper that supported
Jeffersonian philosophy. He frequently attacked the
Federalist
The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''.
History Europe federation
In Europe, proponents of de ...
political leaders, including Presidents
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
and
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
, and historian
Gordon S. Wood
Gordon Stewart Wood (born November 27, 1933) is an American historian and professor at Brown University. He is a recipient of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for History for '' The Radicalism of the American Revolution'' (1992). His book ''The Creation o ...
wrote that "no editor did more to politicize the press in the 1790s." His paper's heated attacks are thought to have contributed to passage of the
Alien and Sedition Acts
The Alien and Sedition Acts were a set of four laws enacted in 1798 that applied restrictions to immigration and speech in the United States. The Naturalization Act increased the requirements to seek citizenship, the Alien Friends Act allowed th ...
by the
5th United States Congress and signed by President
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
in 1798.
The grandson of
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
, Bache was often referred to as "Lightning Rod Junior" after his famous grandfather's experiment. The son of
Sarah Franklin and
Richard Bache
Richard Bache (September 12, 1737 – April 17, 1811), born in Settle, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, immigrated to Philadelphia, in the colony of Pennsylvania, where he was a businessman, a marine insurance underwriter, and later served as ...
, he died at 29 in the
yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...
epidemic
An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time.
Epidemics ...
of 1798.
Early life
Sarah "Sally" Franklin, the only daughter of
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
and
Deborah Read
Deborah Read Franklin ( 1708 – December 19, 1774) was the common-law wife of Benjamin Franklin, polymath and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
Early years
Little is known about Read's early life. She was born around 1708, ...
, met
Richard Bache
Richard Bache (September 12, 1737 – April 17, 1811), born in Settle, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, immigrated to Philadelphia, in the colony of Pennsylvania, where he was a businessman, a marine insurance underwriter, and later served as ...
while on a visit away from her parents. They were married on November 2, 1767. On August 12, 1769, she gave birth to their son, Benjamin Franklin Bache.
From the moment she set eyes on her grandson, Deborah Read Franklin fell in love with Benjamin, whom she called “her little kingbird.” She took to “Benny,” as she called him, as her very own. She and her husband had lost their only son,
Francis Folger Franklin
Francis Folger Franklin (October 20, 1732 November 21, 1736) was the son of Founding Father of the United States Benjamin Franklin and Deborah Read.
In 1736, four-year-old Francis contracted the smallpox virus and died shortly thereafter.
Ben ...
, at the age of four from
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
. She and Benjamin had earlier taken in his illegitimate son,
William Franklin
William Franklin (22 February 1730 – 17 November 1813) was an American-born attorney, soldier, politician, and colonial administrator. He was the acknowledged illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin. William Franklin was the last colonial G ...
, as an infant at the beginning of their marriage, and raised him in their household.
Benjamin Franklin Bache was baptized on August 30, 1769, in
Christ Church in Philadelphia. His godmothers were his paternal aunt and Deborah Read Franklin. His godfathers were his uncle and grandfather Benjamin Franklin, who had a
proxy
Proxy may refer to:
* Proxy or agent (law), a substitute authorized to act for another entity or a document which authorizes the agent so to act
* Proxy (climate), a measured variable used to infer the value of a variable of interest in climate ...
at the ceremony, as he was on an extended diplomatic mission in England.
On December 19, 1774, Deborah Read died. Although he was at her funeral, the boy Benjamin regretted not having been at his grandmother's deathbed. In May 1775, at the age of five, Bache met his grandfather Benjamin Franklin for the first time when he returned from England. His grandfather's arrival brought more tumult to his home, as Franklin had brought with him
William Temple Franklin
William Temple Franklin Jr, known as Temple Franklin, (February 22, 1760, in London – May 25, 1823, in Paris) was an American diplomat and real estate speculator. He is best known for his involvement with the American diplomatic mission in F ...
, his 15-year-old grandson, who was the illegitimate son of William Franklin.
On October 29, 1776, Franklin took his two grandsons along on his diplomatic mission to France to negotiate a firm alliance. Bache was seven when their party boarded the USS ''Reprisal'', and sailed for France. They suffered violent storms, and attacks by hostile British ships. Soon after arriving in France, Benjamin Franklin enrolled Bache in a local boarding school run by Mr. d’Hourville. Without any English speaking students attending the school, Franklin later transferred him to Le Coeur's along with other students from the British North American colonies, such as Charles Cochran, Jesse Deane, and
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States S ...
, son of
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
of Massachusetts. In the spring of 1779, Benjamin Franklin sent Bache to Geneva, as he wanted Bache to gain experience in a Republic. By June 1783, Benjamin Franklin was ready to recall his grandson to Paris, where he would study how to be a printer until they left Europe to return to Philadelphia in 1785.
Bache was a good student at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, having graduated in 1787; later at a school in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, he won the school prize for translating
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
into
French. Perhaps affected by being taken from his family at such a young age, as well as his grandfather's lengthy absences due to his diplomatic work, Bache appeared depressed and shy as an adolescent.
Marriage and children
Bache met
Margaret Hartman Markoe in 1788. In November 1791, they married and she moved into 322 Market Street. In 1792, they moved to 112 High Street in Philadelphia.
They had their fourth child in September 1798. Benny contracted
yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...
about the same time and died.
Before he died, Bache hired
William Duane to help run the business with Margaret.
Her mother died in 1790.
Printing career
![US-Colonial (PA-274)-Pennsylvania-6 Aug 1789](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/US-Colonial_%28PA-274%29-Pennsylvania-6_Aug_1789.jpg)
After a few years at Le Coeur's, Franklin began having Bache trained for a career as a printer-publisher, as he had been. In the early months at Geneva, the youth was under the care of
Philibert Cramer. At the age of 13, he was also learning the classics: he was already interpreting
Telemachus
Telemachus ( ; grc, Τηλέμαχος, Tēlemakhos, lit=far-fighter), in Greek mythology, is the son of Odysseus and Penelope, who is a central character in Homer's ''Odyssey''. When Telemachus reached manhood, he visited Pylos and Sparta in se ...
,
Terence
Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a Roman African playwright during the Roman Republic. His comedies were performed for the first time around 166–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought ...
,
Sallust
Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (; 86 – ), was a Roman historian and politician from an Italian plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became during the 50s BC a partisan o ...
,
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
's
Catiline Orations
The Catilinarian Orations (; also simply the ''Catilinarians'') are a set of speeches to the Roman Senate given in 63 BC by Marcus Tullius Cicero, one of the year's consuls, accusing a senator, Lucius Sergius Catilina (Catiline), of leading a p ...
,
Lucian
Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer
Pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets, unbound (and therefore ...
, and the New Testament in Greek. In 1781, Bache wrote in his diary about the extensive school work which demanded much of his time.
Upon returning to
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, Bache began working as a printer at his grandfather's shop at the family's
Franklin Court
Franklin Court is complex of museums, structures, and historic sites within Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located at the site which American Patriot Benjamin Franklin had his Philadelphia residence from ...
property on Market Street, presaging his future career as a newspaper editor. Bache had learned type-founding as an
apprentice
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
in Paris to
Francois-Ambrose Didot, the first printer to print on
vellum paper. He considered Didot to be the “best printer that now exists and maybe that has ever existed.”
[Smith, Jeffery A. ''Franklin and Bache''. Oxford University Press, 1990, p. 88.] After living abroad for so long, he felt that Philadelphia seemed foreign.
As his grandfather was starting to fade, Bache oversaw the print shop's operations, but under the older man's watchful eye. His first print job was "An Ode in Imitation of Alcaeus," a poem by the linguistic scholar William Jones, who decried England's corruption and the misuse of monarchical power.
Bache's first ventures in commercial publishing were school texts, including Isaiah Thomas’ collection of writings by
Aesop
Aesop ( or ; , ; c. 620–564 BCE) was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as ''Aesop's Fables''. Although his existence remains unclear and no writings by him survive, numerous tales cre ...
and
Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...
.
His early ventures also included reprinting a series of four ''Lessons for Children'' books by
Anna Letitia Barbauld
Anna Laetitia Barbauld (, by herself possibly , as in French, Aikin; 20 June 1743 – 9 March 1825) was a prominent English poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, and author of children's literature. A " woman of letters" who published in mu ...
, an Englishwoman. She used a
Lockean
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism". Considered one of ...
approach of applying behavioral techniques of esteem and disgrace to instill wisdom and virtue. Her works taught children not to cry, mistreat animals, or be idle. In one story, three boys at a boarding school receive cakes from home. Harry greedily eats his cake and becomes sick. Peter hoards his cake until it becomes stale. Billy shares his cake with the other students and eventually with an old blind man. The act of being unselfish made the boy “more glad than if he had eaten ten cakes.”
Newspaper career
Following his grandfather's death in 1790, Bache inherited Franklin's printing equipment and many of his books. He founded ''The Philadelphia Aurora'', a newspaper with an editorial position that surpassed Franklin's fierce pro-French and democratic position. Bache promised, "This paper will always be open, for the discussion of political, or any other interesting subjects, to such as deliver their sentiments with temper and decency, and whose motives appears to be, the public good." He also said, "The strictest impartiality will be observed in the publication of pieces offered with this view."
[Smith (1990), ''Franklin and Bache'', p. 104.]
When he started on October 1, 1790, he called the paper the ''General Advertiser, and Political, Commercial, Agricultural and Literary Journal''. In contrast to other papers, his incorporated articles on the sciences, literature, and the useful arts.
Like Bache, many republican opponents criticized the
Federalist
The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''.
History Europe federation
In Europe, proponents of de ...
policies and practices for ignoring the premises of enlightenment egalitarianism. After three months, on January 1, 1791, Bache dropped the word “Agricultural” from his paper's title and removed the motto – “Truth, Decency, Utility” – from the nameplate. He enlarged the size of the paper's pages. Bache told his readers that he could not offer the variety of material originally intended as long as a “more important matter” was at hand. Later that year, Bache also dropped the words “Political, Commercial and Liberty Journal” from the nameplate. Increasingly
polemic
Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topics ...
al, the paper promoted political reforms in line with republican ideals.
Bache continued to denounce the Federalists and attacked both the current President,
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
, and
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
. He provoked outrage by suggesting that Washington had secretly collaborated with the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
during the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
. After passage of the
Alien and Sedition Acts
The Alien and Sedition Acts were a set of four laws enacted in 1798 that applied restrictions to immigration and speech in the United States. The Naturalization Act increased the requirements to seek citizenship, the Alien Friends Act allowed th ...
in 1798, legislation supported by President Adams, Bache was arrested. The law may have been written to suppress opponents such as Bache. The persistent theme of Republican journalism of the 1790s was that the federal government had fallen into the hands of an aristocratic party aligned with Britain, and that the Federalists (particularly Washington and
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795.
Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...
) were hostile to the interests of the general public while promoting
corporate interests.
[Smith (1990), ''Franklin and Bache'', p. 127.] Bache thought the problem was less the form of governance than the beliefs and behavior of those who governed. He objected to the US Senate's holding its meetings behind closed doors, as he thought that showed contempt for the public. Bache believed discussion about the
Jay Treaty
The Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, commonly known as the Jay Treaty, and also as Jay's Treaty, was a 1794 treaty between the United States and Great Britain that averted ...
, for instance, should have been open to the public.
In November 1794, Bache said that he was renaming his paper to ''The Aurora and General Advertiser''; it was to “diffuse light within the sphere of its influence, dispel the shades of ignorance, and gloom of error and thus tend to strengthen the fair fabric of freedom on its surest foundation, publicity and information.” The name, “Aurora” represented the ascent and accessibility of information promised to its readers. Bache adopted the motto "Surgo Ut Prosim" (I rise to be useful), to honor his grandfather. For Bache, the motto symbolized the dawning, not the setting of the sun on the new republic.
Decline
The ''Aurora'' was regularly filled with articles attacking what Bache considered to be Washington's monarchical tendencies, his hostile actions toward France, contempt for the public, and his friendly relations with Britain. After anti-Federalists accused Washington of being too ready to accept public adulation, Bache increased his attacks. The publisher appeared to lose impartiality as he increasingly favored Jefferson and became more hostile to Adams. Bache had not been equally critical of Washington's presidency. Washington had been a frequent visitor at the Franklin family's home. While still a general, Washington enjoyed a close relationship with Bache's grandfather.
Bache's attacks on the administrations of Washington and Adams provoked equal hostility from their supporters.
[Smith (1990), ''Franklin and Bache'', p. 158.] Bache suffered financially for his position, as Jeffersonians turned elsewhere. At one point, he could not pay a five-dollar fine, and increasingly was unable to pay his own employees in a timely manner. Many Federalists withdrew business from him. While he acquired several hundred new subscribers in 1798, he encountered problems in collecting payment. The newspaper's viability declined.
Increasingly, Bache was attacked by other journalists in print.
William Cobbett
William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) was an English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey. He was one of an agrarian faction seeking to reform Parliament, abolish "rotten boroughs", restrain foreign ...
, known by his
pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
Peter Porcupine, described him as a "stubborn
sans culotte" and proposed that he be treated "as we would a TURK, a JEW, a JACOBIN or a DOG". Even Federalists were taken aback, and his friends became concerned for his safety.
Downfall
In April 1797, while Bache was investigating the construction of the ship '',''
Clement Humphreys, the son of the ship's architect, physically assaulted him. Bache escaped, but heard remarks from the crowd that he deserved the beating. He had printed an accusation that the ship's carpenters were taking bribes. In May 1798, Bache's residence and office were threatened by a mob. They smashed the glass door leading to his office, but refrained from vandalizing his home. His family was terrified.
Soon after, Bache criticized
John Fenno
John Fenno (Aug. 12, 1751 ( O.S.) – Sept. 14, 1798.) was a Federalist Party editor among early American publishers and major figure in the history of American newspapers. His '' Gazette of the United States'' played a major role in shaping the ...
in print. His son John Ward Fenno confronted Bache, demanding that he publicly apologize to his father; when the publisher refused, Fenno assaulted him. Bache fought back and generally refused to be intimidated by such threats.
While the Federalist-dominated Congress passed the
Sedition Act of 1798
The Alien and Sedition Acts were a set of four laws enacted in 1798 that applied restrictions to immigration and speech in the United States. The Naturalization Act increased the requirements to seek citizenship, the Alien Friends Act allowed th ...
to suppress criticism such as Bache's, Bache was arrested in June 1798 for
common-law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...
seditious libel
Sedition and seditious libel were criminal offences under English common law, and are still criminal offences in Canada. Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection a ...
even before the law was passed.
[The Adamant Patriot: Benjamin Franklin Bache as Leader of the Opposition Press](_blank)
Raffi Andonian He quickly posted bail
and continued to publish his paper, condemning the Act in print as a violation of the First Amendment.
Death and legacy
Before being tried, Bache died on September 8, 1798, at the age of 29 from
yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...
during an
epidemic
An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time.
Epidemics ...
; while Philadelphia's worst yellow fever epidemic was in 1793, the disease regularly visited the city.
Bache was buried in the
Christ Church Burial Ground
Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia is an important early-American cemetery. It is the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin and his wife, Deborah. Four other signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried here, Benjamin Rush, ...
in Philadelphia. He is regarded as an early champion of
freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
and the
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
.
His widow, Margaret, relied on the paper's editor
William Duane (whom she maried in 1800) to continue publication of the ''Aurora''.
Duane, who with
United Irish emigrés had led protests against the Alien and Sedition Acts, inherited the hostiliy of Cobbett and Feno. They accused him of advancing principles of interracial democracy in a conspiracy with the French to divide and dismember the United States.
The Aurora ceased publication in 1824.
See also
*
Hartman Bache, son
*
Richard Bache Jr., brother
*
A Syllabical and Steganographical table
''Syllabical and Steganographical Table'' (French: ''Tableau syllabique et stéganographique'') is an eighteenth-century Cryptography, cryptographical work by P. R. Wouves. Published by Benjamin Franklin Bache in 1797, it provided a method for re ...
, printed in 1797
Notes
References
*
*
*
* Wood, Gordon S. (2009). ''Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815''. Oxford University Press.
Bibliography
See Richard N. Rosenfeld, ''American Aurora'' (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bache, Benjamin Franklin
1769 births
1798 deaths
Benjamin Franklin
Deaths from yellow fever
Infectious disease deaths in Pennsylvania
Writers from Philadelphia
Franklin family
Burials at Christ Church, Philadelphia
People of colonial Pennsylvania
American printers
18th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
American newspaper founders