Monday night, I watched the first part of the new Ken Burns documentary on Benjamin Franklin.
fairly standard Ken Burns material. Obviously, for Franklin, there are no photographs or film clips to use, so all the background images are paintings, drawings and maps, with some newer photos and re-creations of the various locations being discussed.
the first part covered Franklin's life up to the start of the Revolutionary War. Part II is on tonight (Tuesday).
I suppose the most interesting thing I learned was that Franklin had very close ties to England. he lived there for close to 15 years, acting as a representative of the Colonies. at one point, Franklin tried to talk his wife into moving to England permanently, but she refused. His wife did not accompany him to England, so they lived apart for long periods of time. According to the Doc, Franklin was a very late convert to the idea of Independence - only after the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. He had hoped that the Colonies could remain part of the British Empire.
