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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 ...

was responsible for writing

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

''comedies''. His most notable humorous work is the collection called ''The Bagatelles''.

''The Bagatelles''

''The Bagatelles'', or ''jeux d'espirit'' in French, are a collection of

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

produced in Franklin's Passy Press in France.

''Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One''

''Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One'' is a comedic work that Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1773. Franklin wrote it to insult the colonies' secretary of state, but wrote as if giving

Machiavellian Machiavellianism or Machiavellian may refer to: Politics *Machiavellianism (politics), the supposed political philosophy of Niccolò Machiavelli *Political realism Psychology *Machiavellianism (psychology), a personality trait centered on cold an ...

advice on how to lose an empire. Franklin pretended to advocate the tyranny that many over-imposed rulers desire as necessary to lose support of the people. For instance: to keep colonies under control, "...quarter troops among them, who by their insolence may provoke rising of mobs." (Franklin, 1773) This work also advocated poor representation of the ruler.

''Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America''

''Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America'' was prose, published 1784, which highlighted that just because a culture is different from your own, it shouldn't be considered as something "savage".

References

{{Authority control Works by Benjamin Franklin 1773 works 1784 documents American humor American books American satire