Part 1

Part 1 of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin begins as a letter with the salutation, "Dear Son." The setting and date noted at the top, "Twyford, at the Bishop of St. Asaph's 1771," mark the location of Franklin's week-long vacation, a respite dedicated to setting down his memoirs for his son William, then royal governor of New Jersey. He writes that he enjoyed "obtaining any little Anecdotes of my Ancestors" and so believes William might like to "know the Circumstances of my life." Franklin writes that if he could, he would repeat his life, correcting the errors he had made along the way. Acknowledging the impossibility of such an experience, he writes, "the next Thing most like living one's Life over again, seems to be a Recollection of that Life; and to make that Recollection as durable as possible, the putting it down in Writing." He thanks God for...