Benjamin Franklinand Apprenticeshipin the 18th Century

FEATURE

by Susan E. Klepp

Background: Indenture of John Henry Coats as an apprentice cordwainer, May 23, 1750. Society Miscellaneous Collection.

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enjamin Franklin learned to be a printer through the apprenticeshipsystem. However, he gained his independence at age 17, not bycompleting his apprenticeship, but by running away from his master andleaving his family and hometown behind. He worked for wages inPhiladelphia and London before setting out on his own. His life reflectsboth the benefits and the potentials for conflict in this most common18th-century form of vocational education.

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One of the major responsibilitiesof parents in the 18th century wasto dispose of their children. This wasnot as ominous as it might sound tomodern ears. To “dispose” meantnot to get rid of troublesomeoffspring, but to settle dutifulchildren in a particular occupation,and to make sure that they acquiredthe skills that they would need tosupport themselves as adults. Forgirls, rich or poor, this usually meantinformal training in the domesticarts that would help bring offers ofmarriage. For the wealthy thedisposition of male childrenincreasingly involved an academiceducation, a tour abroad, and aclerkship with a prominentmerchant or lawyer. For the poor itwas being inured to a life of hardlabor in dead-end, low-paying, andoften dangerous jobs. For themajority of colonists who livedon farms, disposing of sonsmeant acquiring land or cash;training in agriculture camelargely through daily practice,finding a place to farm was thedifficulty. It was primarily theparents of the urban middlingsorts, those who were neithervery rich nor very poor, whodisposed of their sons throughapprenticeships.

Traditionally, a boy of 12to 15 years of age, having hada basic education in reading,writing, and simple arithmetic,would express an interest in aspecific trade. His father wouldnegotiate the terms of theapprenticeship with theappropriate master craftsmanwho charged a fee for training,housing, clothing, and feedingthe boy. The cost of anapprenticeship wasproportionate to the status andpotential profitability of thetrade. A silversmith might charge aconsiderable fee for taking on anapprentice, a shoemaker very little.The initial fee, the length of theapprenticeship (usually aroundseven years), the additional formalschooling to be provided (generally

not more than one year and oftenless), housing, diet, clothing,opportunities to visit parents,freedom dues on completion of theapprenticeship (tools of the trade,one or two changes of clothing,and/or cash) were all debated. Thefather and master then drew up acontract or indenture, which wassigned by all the parties involved.The consent of the child as well asthe parents had to be obtained, butonce the contract was in effect, theapprentice owed obedience to hismaster and the master stood in theplace of the father, supporting andadvancing the apprentice as if hewere a son.

By serving a master, anadolescent would learn the mysteriesof his trade. A new apprentice didgrunt work. He might sweep floors,

clean tools, cart supplies. The new,young, and often homesickapprentice might also be hazed byolder apprentices in the shop.Gradually he would become moreacclimated and begin to learnsomething of the trade by observing.

As he grew more knowledgeable, hisformal education in the trade wouldbegin. By the end of theapprenticeship, the 19 to 21 year oldwould know the basics of his chosencraft. At the end of the contract, hismaster would give him theappropriate tools so that he mightbegin to earn his way. The formerapprentice could then hire himselfout for wages as a journeyman whilepolishing his skills and eventuallyproducing a master piece—forexample, a watch with the latest

technological innovations, atailored suit in the latestfashion, a pair of elaborateshoes, or an extraordinarycabinet. The master pieceproved to fellow craftsmenthat the young man wascompetent in the art ofwatchmaking, tailoring,shoemaking, or joinery. Hewould then be admitted intothe appropriate guild (tradeorganization), and he couldestablish his own workshop asa master, marry, and take onapprentices and journeymen ofhis own. This was the ideal.

This ideal, however, wasrarely achieved in practice,even in England. WilliamMoraley, for example, wasapprenticed to hiswatchmaker father in a townwithout a watchmakers’ guild.When his father diedsuddenly, Moraley had noopportunity for furthertraining and few prospects. In

the colonies conditions were moreirregular. The colonies could notsupport the guild system. Becauselabor, and, in particular, skilledlabor, was far scarcer in the NewWorld than in London, young mencould often find work without

Benjamin Franklin and Apprenticeship in the 18th Century

A career choice had to beappropriate to thefamily’s social rank.

Franklin’s Youthful, Industrious Habits, working for his father, a soap boilerand tallow chandler, from John Bigelow, Autobiography of BenjaminFranklin (Philadelphia, 1868; illustrated and inlaid by Joseph M. P. andEmily Price, 1887).

completing an apprenticeship.Journeymen, if they had some accessto capital, could set up as masterswithout having to ask permissionfrom a trade group and withoutproviding anyone evidence ofmastering the necessary skills.

Benjamin Franklin’s memoir ofhis childhood illustrates otherproblems with the system. First,there was the potential for conflictbetween father and son over theson’s career choice. As a child,Benjamin was intended for aprofessional career in the clergy. Headvanced through two levels of agrammar school (a collegepreparatory institution stressing thelearned languages of Greek andLatin) in a single year and wouldhave gone on to study theology atHarvard College. However, hisfather worried about “the Expenseof a College Education,” especiallyas he had 17 children to dispose of,and pulled Benjamin from thegrammar school and placed him in acommon school. At about 10 yearsof age, Franklin expressed “a strongInclination for the Sea.” Again, his

father exercised his authority andsaid no. If the first choice was bettersuited for young men who couldexpect a sizable inheritance, thesecond, shipping out as a cabin boy,would have been too closelyassociated with the fate of the sonsof the poor. Seafaring would havebeen entirely inappropriate for afamily whose ancestors had beenboth freeholders and “ingenious”workmen and writers for manygenerations back in England. Acareer choice had to be appropriateto the family’s social rank.

Josiah Franklin was otherwise amoderately indulgent father. WhenBenjamin turned 12 and indicatedthat he “dislik’d” his father’s tradeof candle and soap making, Josiahtook him to “see Joiners,Bricklayers, Turners, Braziers, etc. attheir work.” Benjamin settled ontrying the cutler’s trade with arelative, but an argument over thefee ended that experiment. Finally,his father played on Benjamin’s“Bookish Inclination” and proposedan apprenticeship with Benjamin’solder brother James, a printer. James

Franklinseems not tohave beenenthusiasticabout takingon hisyoungerbrother andwrangled anespeciallylong-termcontract thatrequired nineyears ofboundservice, fromage 12 to 21,with only one

year’s journeyman’s wages duringthe last year of the term. Normallyby age 21 the apprentice would havebeen free for two or three years,earning wages on his own account.Benjamin recalled that he “stood outsome time, but at last waspersuaded and signed theIndentures.” He felt, however, thathe had been taken advantage of,because, he recalled, “I was yet but12 Years old,” and he still wouldhave preferred to go to sea. A 12year old might technically have theright to consent to being bound asan apprentice, but few childrencould overcome societal expectationsof duty and obedience to parents.

If teenagers would be teenagersand inclined to get into trouble, itwas also the case that masters wouldbe masters and anxious to protecttheir authority. The result was oftentension, anger, and resentment that,at least according to many accountsby former apprentices, often led tomistreatment. Franklin deeplyresented his brother’s conduct,especially the beatings that the elderbrother inflicted on his headstrongyounger sibling. Benjamin creditedhis later “aversion to arbitraryauthority” to this experience(although his aversion was notstrong enough to prevent him frombecoming a slaveowner as soon as hecould afford to buy humanproperty). Other apprentices faredworse. Eliza Chadwick’s brother wasapprenticed to a tailor in New YorkCity in the early 1790s. When hewas uncertain how to undertake anew project, his master hit him onthe head with a board, breaking hisskull. He died a month later of hisinjury, but the tailor was neverprosecuted. John Fitch’s twoConnecticut masters apparentlynever struck him, although boththreatened to do so, but they nevertaught him the trade ofwatchmaking either. He left his lastmaster early but he remainedcontractually indebted for eightpounds for the last four months ofservice. If apprenticeships wereideally familial and supportive, in

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Franklin familygenealogical chart.Benjamin and his16 siblings appearat the bottom of thechart, thoughBenjamin’s circlehas been torn.Franklin Papers.

Benjamin Franklin and Apprenticeship in the 18th Century

practice they were often exploitativeand potentially violent.

In a system where fathers, sons,and masters were carefully consultedat the onset, no one ever consideredconsulting the craftsman’s wife. Itwas she who had another mouth tofeed, another person to clothe,another bed to prepare. It is notsurprising then that mostapprentices complained about harshmistresses, scanty food, waterysoups, spoiled meat, and dirtylinens. Franklin was lucky: hisbrother was unmarried and residedat a boardinghouse.

Franklin, like Fitch, tired of hisapprenticeship before his term wasover, but Franklin was cannyenough not to fall into debt. Insteadhe took advantage of his brother’spolitical troubles. James Franklinpublished a newspaper that offendedthe Massachusetts Assembly. He wasordered to cease publication. Jamescircumvented this order by cancelinghis brother’s contract and publiclydeclaring the very young Benjaminto be the editor. James was carefulto hold on to Benjamin by havinghim sign a secret indenture, butBenjamin absconded anyway,counting on the fact that his brotherdare not reveal his subterfuge.

When Franklin arrived inPhiladelphia in 1723 the printingbusiness reflected the breakdown ofcraft education in the colonies, atleast according to Franklin’srecollections. Of the two printersthere, one “had not been bred to itand was very illiterate,” and theother was “a mere compositor,

knowing nothing of presswork.”Franklin, the runaway apprentice,was hired as a journeyman by a“master craftsman” who was lessskilled than his employee. WhenFranklin left the colonies to advancehis career in London, he found thatthe traditional career path was notpossible for the vastmajority of workersthere either,although fordifferent reasons.Franklin readilyfoundjourneywork,but it was notin a familialsetting, nor wasit considered astepping stone to

advancement to master. Largeprinting firms, one employing 50men—a scale of operation that theAmerican economy would not beable to support until well into the19th century—dominated. Of those50 men only one, named Wygate,apparently aspired to become amaster printer and establish his ownshop. If Wygate had superior skillsas a printer, Franklin did notmention it. What Wygate did havewas “wealthy relations.” Access tomoney, not training in the craft, waswhat counted both in the Old Worldand the New.

Franklin tried a number oftactics to raise money once he

returned to Philadelphia: he clerkedfor a merchant, did journeyworkwith a printer, took on a partner,bought out his partner, failed torepay a debt, callously tried towrangle a large dowry duringcourtship, and polished his publicimage as much as possible. He didnot always succeed in his attemptsto acquire the capital to open hisown shop, but by 1729, still a youngman, he was his own master, and in1730 he entered a common-lawmarriage with a woman who sharedhis marketing skills and politicalinterests. He succeeded throughcompetition with other printers, notthrough cooperative assessments oftraining and skill.

Not all former apprentices didso well as Franklin: William Moraleyand John Fitch faced underemploy-

ment for much of their lives.Eliza Chadwick eventually

opened a millinery shop,but it was not a trade shehad apprenticed in. Oneof Franklin’s mastersended up working forhis former apprentice.The system thatgoverned the trainingof boys was in serious

decay even in the early18th century. Soon

apprenticeships no longereven pretended to offer

advancement from rawadolescence to master of tradethrough the medium of a fatherlymaster. Nineteenth-centuryapprentices were older and hadspent more time in school, they didnot live in a family, but boarded out,they served far shorter terms, andthey were destined to be skilledworkingmen—wage earners—notself-employed. It is perhapsindicative of the changing economyand aspirations for middling-sortchildren that Benjamin Franklin didnot dispose of his son in anapprenticeship, but gave him agrammar school education. t

Benjamin Franklin and Apprenticeship in the 18th Century

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Right: Benjamin Franklin’s wife,Deborah Read Rogers Franklin,Simpson Plates, no. 91.

Susan Klepp teaches history at Temple Universityand is the co-editor of The Infortunate: The Voyageand Adventures of William Moraley (1992).

If teenagers would be teenagers andinclined to get into trouble, it was alsothe case that masters would be mastersand anxious to protect their authority.The result was often tension, anger, andresentment that, at least according tomany accounts by former apprentices,often led to mistreatment.