Essay - Inner Truth and Outer Truth the Forefathers of Our Country...

Inner Truth and Outer *****

The forefathers of our country were not known for their emotional clarity. Neither were they known for expressing publicly their private sense of self. Those who became known at all were known ***** their hard work and dedic*****ion to the public causes meant ***** benefit the common good. We can perceive them only through our own eyes, much changed by the passage ***** time.

***** is ***** for us to judge them, but to seek to understand as we hope that those who come after ***** will seek to ***** us. The writings ***** his*****rical figures have left us reveal their lives in guarded ways, ***** styles ***** had been taught were good and proper. If we search closely we may know something of what went on in ***** inmost hearts. John Woolman sat beside Newbegun Creek and listened quietly for Truth to "open the way to speak a little in much pla*****ness and simplicity" (467). ***** must listen ***** Truth to "open ***** way" in these autobiographical materials. If we can keep *****selves from jumping to conclusions and remember that personal truth is always relative to the person experiencing it, then we ***** hear Truth speaking and in some "l*****tle" way know our ances*****rs.

In their autobiographical writ*****gs, Benjamin Franklin and John Woolman each wrote ***** *****al perspectives that reveal the sense of self at which they ***** arrived at the time of writing. Both speak in formal language that seems to create distance between author and reader. Products of their times, they did not ***** intimate personal details with ease, as is common today with the proliferation ***** scandal sheets and pulp fiction.

If we look closely we can find in ***** a sense of pride ***** how he contri*****es to the sh*****ping ***** his ***** and a sense of deep caring for the son to *****m he addresses ***** **********. We must, however, look beyond the prose style of ***** he was so proud to the Truth ***** lies beneath, ***** Franklin's words are shaped by the t*****ings of his time, molded more, for our ears in ways of obfuscation than of clarity.

***** word must pass through the sieve ***** mind before the sauce is served. John Woolman's self revelations ***** of a vastly different nature, pouring forth from a purer pitcher in service to God ***** fellow man ra*****r than *****.

Both men were ***** educated and both contributed greatly to the ***** thought processes of their time. Wool***** ***** a major influence in the anti-slavery movement in the Quaker community which quietly provided a philosophical basis upon which our national concepts ***** liberty ***** founded, and Franklin in a much more public w*****y, put unending energy into self improvement and self enlightenment with the end result of contributing vastly to the public ***** and providing inspiration to multitudes. Both offered moral influence to *****ir countrymen. ***** was more ***** conscious in ***** *****fluence and became a well known figure