Benjamin Franklin and the Sartorial Identity of Early America: 2
Margot Rashba
Citation: Rashba, Margot. “Benjamin Franklin and the Sartorial Identity of Early America.” The Coalition of Master’s Scholars on Material Culture, November 18, 2020.
Summary of Part 1: This paper centers on Benjamin Franklin’s choice of clothing as a vehicle to shape the political connections and sartorial identity of the Early American Republic. Part I of this research explored the nature of luxury and fashion as Benjamin Franklin had already been writing about luxury as early as 1722. In the wake of the 1765 Stamp Act, Franklin came before Parliament to discuss its ramifications, as consumer goods from Britain had become the target of rebellious colonists’ ire. Domestic manufacturing became a powder keg of public debate during the Revolution, particularly in Philadelphia, the seat of war effort and of consumer goods. Homespun clothing transformed to a visual sign of rebellion. Franklin’s political and sartorial role intensified as he travelled to France to negotiate a treaty with France, using his own sartorial image by dressing as a Quaker, an identity that he altogether did not embody. Portraits and medallions that were passed around France with his likeness conveyed the image of a simple American, one that embraced actions instead of appearances to show their status. Franklin subsequently became the belle of Paris society, disguising the true motives of his mission with social calls and parties. By 1778, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce was completed. Franklin had successfully utilized his image to secure social and political connections while acquiring crucial support for the Americans. Part II of this research explores the aftermath of the Treaty with the arrival of John Adams…
Key Words: Benjamin Franklin, Revolutionary War, France, fashion, John Adams
In 1778, a voice of observation, and sometimes criticism, came to France as John Adams arrived April 1st of 1778 to replace Silas Deane. There were distinct contrasts between the two men, as John Adams was on high alert to the influence of Europe on the new nation, especially coming from the French. He was disconcerted and a little peeved upon arrival, given that the alliance had already been signed, and especially given that the treaty was based on a model that Adams wrote in 1776.[1] John Adams was quite a bit jealous of the awe that the French had for Franklin, as he noted, “On Dr. Franklin the eyes of all Europe are fixed…neither Lee nor myself are looked upon of much consequence.”[2] Adams could not understand the importance of parties and French culture, having a hard time engaging with the social elite in a way that seemed to come naturally to Franklin. When Adams first arrived, Franklin immediately brought him on rounds to important people before Adams felt properly attired. This contrast would highlight their differences as, “one of them [was] self-conscious about his attire, the other confident that fashion would follow him, both of whom were right.”[3] Adams was irritated that while he struggled with basic French, Franklin was open to his own error, speaking with frequent mistakes but nevertheless conversing well. Adams remained a stranger to the ease and manner of French culture. Adams’ observations and arrival in France illustrated the extent to which Franklin fit in with French luxury while Adams was the one who more embodied the image of the simple American.
Adams would witness firsthand the admiration of the French for Franklin at the end of April 1778 at the Académie des Sciences where Voltaire and Franklin met together in front of their colleagues. Franklin could credit Voltaire with his image as well given that Voltaire in his writings established the legend of the good Quaker. It was not even enough for the two to just be in public, as the crowd shouted for them to embrace.[4] This meeting represented the coming together of two icons as, “What Voltaire was to France, Franklin was to America, the symbol of mankind’s triumphal arrival at modernity.”[5] Even for this occasion Franklin kept up his appearance of simplicity, wearing a yellow suit with a white hat that hardly fit in with the fashion of France.[6] Adams commented on this meeting in his diary as he noted, “The two Aged Actors upon this great Theatre of Philosophy and frivolity then embraced each other by hugging one another in their Arms and kissing each other’s cheeks, and then the tumult subsided.”[7]
In spite of witnessing the admiration of the French for Franklin firsthand, Adams continued to disagree with Franklin’s work ethic and life of apparent luxury despite his cultivated image of rustic simplicity. Adams commented that Franklin was, “a great Phylosopher, a great Moralist…a great Statesman is more questionable.”[8] Adams immediately noted the quality of his apartments, which were no doubt similar to Franklin’s own. He commented, “Dr. Franklin had shewn me the Apartements and Furniture left by Mr. Deane, which were every Way more elegant, than I desired..”[9] This observation was made by yet another American visitor, Elkanah Watson, during dinner at Franklin’s apartments. He stated that he, “felt that Franklin’s domestic establishment breathed grace and luxury.”[10] This dinner included fine foods, wines, and company: hardly the behavior of a simple rustic American. In a letter to his cousin Samuel Adams, John Adams noted that, “Your old Friend is a Man of Honour and Integrity, although to be very frank and very impartial….he has some Notions of Elegance Rank and Dignity that may be carried rather too far.”[11] These differences become more apparent when contrasting the daily behaviors of the two men.
While Adams woke up early to start with the demands of work, Franklin would take a more leisurely approach to starting the day. Franklin was the one of the pair that conjured that admiration of the ladies of Paris while Adams was woefully incapable of flattery and was fiercely loyal to his wife. Franklin dined with the social elite most of the week and was continuously overwhelmed with social calls the rest of the day, hardly attentive to his work. For Adams the concerts, the marble, silk, and velvet were far too much for his plainer sensibilities. Thus, “it remained to be seen who the more authentic puritan was: Franklin, who seemed never to notice those splendors, or Adams, ur-wowser, who railed against them and who bragged…that no one could live as cheaply as him.”[12] Adams was the one who found the overwhelming experience of French living unbearable. Franklin found the intrigues of the social elite easy to navigate, while Adams could only bumble along. While Franklin himself may have believed in the value of little luxury and simple living he nonetheless took part in French luxuries with ease and gusto. Franklin’s actions that were observed by Adams revealed the extent to which he used the image of simplicity while simultaneously engaging in the frivolities of French culture. While the French had equated Franklin with Poor Richard it was Adams who truly embodied the persona.[13]
Franklin’s simple Quaker appearance even had its flaws. Quaker dress emphasized clothing that was plain to avoid luxury and vanity in appearance. The colors usually tended towards grays, tans, and yellows, retaining this plainness even as other fashions became the norm. However, the clothing itself was often composed of the finest materials, such as high quality cotton and wool. Thus, while the appearance may be plain, the quality of the materials was high. Franklin commented specifically on the Quaker sect noting that, “their mode of instruction has the advantage; for it is always delivered in language adapted to audience, and consequently is perfectly intelligible.”[14] This could apply to Quaker sartorial language as well, as Franklin used their plain and simple attire as a social language to convey his own virtuous appearance. The fur hat that was so signature to Franklin’s original attire also contains more nuance. For, by the eighteenth-century, fur was associated with elegance and was worn for its appearance. In French society, fur was used for decoration rather than for comfort.[15] While Franklin’s choice of hat may have been intended to convey a rustic appearance, the work that would have gone into creating such a luxury item would have been expensive. Franklin believed in the value of virtue and simplicity and discouraged excess of luxury. Yet Franklin utilized fashion, luxury, and a disingenuous identity in order to achieve an alliance that would only serve to make these contradictions more difficult to navigate. These conflicts would manifest in the way in which Americans would also struggle to reconcile the influence of French culture and fashions after the alliance.
Early Americans viewed French fashion quite negatively before the alliance in 1778. In England and then British America, fashion was associated with women and therefore was metaphorically feminized. As a result, there were groups that threatened the masculine social order, “fops, fools, the French---all grotesquely effeminate in their characteristics.”[16] Fops were defined as those that had an excessive devotion to dress, and this preoccupation hinted to a moral failing or foolishness. This extreme devotion to fashion marked an individual as suspicious.[17] The Macaronis that characterized the 1770s, although exaggerated, symbolized the climate of display and excess that defined the French to these early Americans. The French were tied to their culture which was equated with frivolity and depravity. However, the alliance with France, “complicated the relationship between fashion and political allegiance.”[18] The French that used to be the picture of effeminacy and of the fop would now be the ones who militarily saved the Revolution from utter failure. Franklin was aware of the nature of this ingrained prejudice and knew that there would be significant divides between the two peoples.[19] Yet, given the extravagance of Philadelphia there was a considerable inclination to latch onto a new European power as a reference point for culture and refinement. These ingrained prejudices would prove to waver upon the arrival of French troops to America.
The French troops were met with great enthusiasm with massive parties thrown for them throughout Philadelphia. The excitement around French troops extended well beyond Philadelphia, for the French officers that mingled with wealthy Americans dazzled the colonists and became the prototype for a new type of refinement. The French language of culture as well as the literal language became the hallmark of a new kind of gentility.[20] When Lafayette arrived in 1780 to take his post, there would be much the same reaction to him as there was to Franklin’s celebrity in France. Crossing the ocean did much for the two men, as for each the trip mitigated the less savory parts of their personality. Yet there is irony in their fame as well, as France would center around Franklin who was supposedly the philosopher and rustic countryman, while Americans would prop up Lafayette as the face of republican liberty, a man that was at bottom a French aristocrat.[21] This idolization of Lafayette and the French aristocracy more broadly was only a small portion of what was to come. The alliance would bring problems for the Americans given that the refinement and luxury of France was at odds with its republican virtue and homespun simplicity that was not only the face of the war but also of national allegiance itself.
In the 1780s and 90s, the influx of French culture and fashion was only increased and accentuated due to refugees fleeing the more radical wave of the French Revolution. Nowhere was this felt more acutely than Philadelphia, for as a wealthy major port city, refugees would be drawn there. The arrival of these refugees served as a catalyst, accelerating a cultural reorientation that was already under way. There were other aspects that contributed to this including the influence of wealthy Philadelphia families like the Binghams and the growing trade with France and its colonies.[22] The break with Britain and subsequent alliance with France would cause the United States to look to their new ally for cultural cues and fashions.
The 1790s saw the complete immersion of French culture in Philadelphia life, particularly in the elite. French designs and imagery were imported into the homes of the wealthy. The refugees that came from radical France included famous high-born aristocrats like Talleyrand, Noailles, and Moreau. These refugees may have lacked money but they were rich in the language of cultural refinement and luxury. The refugees, including those that were not as high-status, “were mobilizing their national reputation for culture, fashion, and gentility; they were marketing French refinement.”[23] In early days of the Revolution the elite of Philadelphia were hesitant to cast off their European goods in favor of the simplicity of homespun clothing. Ultimately the culture of non-consumption was ineffective in the 1760s and 70s as the appeal of Europe’s luxury items proved to be too great.[24] Philadelphia was thus primed for the arrival of French luxury and the culture of gentility that came along with it. This new reliance on French culture would change the sartorial image of the new republic.
The debate over consumer goods continued in the public forum after the war in newspapers like The Pennsylvania Gazette that sought to rid the early republic of the perils of fashion. The Pennsylvania Gazette was full of economic, political, and cultural anxieties that centered on clothing.[25] Further, it was used as a, “mouthpiece for local manufacturing societies and advertised their domestic products.”[26] It is ironic that Franklin himself had been the owner of the newspaper, though not in this time period, that released the very debates on consumer goods that he had helped to create. The statements in the Gazette centered on fashion and foreign consumer goods as detrimental to not only the economy but also the moral health of the nation. On May 25th 1786 the Gazette published, “We might have been a very flourishing country had not the love of luxury, the desire of engrossing land, the general disregard to virtue and moral obligation prevented.”[27] A piece from 1779 noted that, “disinterested patriotism and public spirit were vanished, and a selfish principle of love of riches…luxury and dissipation succeeded them.”[28] These articles point to fashion and luxury as being the direct cause of the moral degradation of the republic. At a time where the republic itself was still a very fragile entity, these concerns were quite palpable.
This rhetoric is reminiscent of Franklin’s own comments on the nature of virtue and luxury, namely that it corrupts the moral fortitude of its population. A piece from August of 1787 noted, “A refined civilization is not principally an immense apparatus of wealth and luxury: such a corrupt national taste will indeed be fatal.”[29] This article targets effeminate fops in particular stating that if people will not restrain themselves than the government should do it for them.[30] This comment is notable as it calls for the government policing of national taste for the purpose of cultivating patriotism and virtue in its citizens. Yet this was already proven to be largely ineffective in the Philadelphia population in the early days of the Revolution. The intervention of French taste and culture after the alliance allowed for vices, in this writer’s view, to persist.
The Pennsylvania Gazette also assessed the effect that the preference for foreign tastes had on the domestic economy and manufacture. A piece from January of 1787 noted, “the usual manufactures of the country have been little attended to,” arguing that the nation itself had enough to sustain it without indulging in “fantastical and expensive fashions, and intemperate living; by these means our property has been lessened, and immense sums in specie have been exported.”[31] In some ways this backlash stemmed from the postwar economic hardship that affected the new nation.[32] Consumer goods like fashion items from Europe were an easy scapegoat for these domestic problems. The alliance and the subsequent influx of European capital and goods was thus jeopardizing, in the minds of some, the domestic economy that had been fought for during the Revolution. Franklin had held fast to the belief in avoiding luxury and the importance of virtuous living for the moral health of the republic. Yet his own political actions in France that were in part shaped by his choice of clothing unleashed a whole new image and debate for the early republic.
This debate even emerged in a discussion of Washington’s appearance before Congress in 1789. The author of this piece in the Gazette was particularly concerned about Washington’s dress as a poor reflection of a nation’s leader given that he was clothed in foreign manufacture. They comment, “When we see a citizen, who has frequently exposed his life in the cause of freedom, dress in the manufactures of foreign nations, have we not reason to suppose, that he either does not understand the welfare of his country, or that he totally disregards it?”[33] This accusation associates the wearing of foreign dress as a slight against the people themselves and the labor that goes into the creation of domestic goods. If the leader of the nation makes the choice to wear clothes from a foreign nation, it sends a negative message to the public. Franklin’s simple clothing sent a message of a serene, American, Quaker philosopher to the people of France. Yet Washington’s foreign attire instead was associated with a disregard for the welfare of the American people. The author continued to note the benefits of simple clothing as it is associated with wisdom and by virtue the lifting up of America as a nation. They comment, “How glorious will be the triumph of free America, when we shall behold the guardians of the union appareled in the produce and labour of their country!”[34] The leaders of the nation itself if clothed in simple manufacture contributed directly to the political health of the republic. These deeper associations of clothing with certain personality traits are reflected in Franklin’s own actions in France.
The conversation around clothing ultimately reveals inherent contradictions in the early republic’s attitude towards luxury and foreign dress. On one hand, the new nation espoused homespun republicanism in order to generate unity for the cause of independence. Domestic manufacture was a means of promoting a patriotic image that worked directly against the British imperial machine of consumer goods. Yet on the other hand, the Philadelphia elite simultaneously cultivated an environment of conspicuous consumption centered around European goods. This early time of luxury was only accentuated after the alliance with France which brought with it both French dress and refinement. The debates that played out in the public press, “exposed a central paradox of American economic thought: though imported goods were necessary to the growth of the economy…by the end of the 18th century the consumption of certain goods, specifically apparel, came to be perceived as a sinister force threatening the economy and endangering the nation.”[35] These debates over fashion were then anything but trivial.
Benjamin Franklin could have hardly predicted the sartorial debates that would emerge due to his political machinations in France. His arrival was built on image, one that he carefully crafted, distributed, and maintained his entire stay in France. Franklin’s writings on virtue and luxury are clear, yet even he noted in a letter to Benjamin Vaughan in July of 1784, “I have not, indeed yet thought of a Remedy for Luxury I am not sure.”[36] While Franklin may have embodied the persona of Poor Richard to the French, he fit in quite well with the refinement and luxuries of a fashionable and intellectual celebrity. Franklin knew the importance of the gaze of others as he observed, “But the Eyes of other People are the Eyes that ruin us. If all but myself were blind, I should want neither fine Clothes, fine houses, nor fine Furniture.”[37] Franklin understood that it was the opinion of others that shaped the need for clothing as social hierarchy, economics, politics, and even morality were wrapped up in the nature of one’s attire.
These contradictions in Franklin’s own character reflect the tensions that the early republic faced when confronted with foreign goods and influence after the alliance with France. Franklin intentionally planned his own actions in France but unintentionally shaped the debates on luxury and fashion in the early republic due to the alliance that he directed. America was a part of imperial Britain, once this influence was removed, the nation latched onto their ally as a source of refinement. This affected the very social fabric of the elite that orchestrated many of the political landmark events in early American history. Clothing can send very distinct messages and these messages are, in the words of Rhys Isaac, the ‘tableaux vivants’ of a culture. For these implicit messages can communicate even more than words do, working to create a powerful collective identity.[38]
Other founding fathers would recognize the importance of the identity of the republic as Jefferson would seek to create an empire of virtuous farmers who would consume little but the bare necessities and who manufactured most goods from the household. Hamilton provided a very different image, one that recognized the importance of global trade and the benefits of a, “stylish, civilized republic.”[39] America would continue to struggle over the nature of its sartorial identity, a struggle that was reflected in these ongoing disputes over the nature of the new nation. Benjamin Franklin’s actions in France would prove to be the beginning of these discussions of luxury and the influence of foreign powers in America. His actions and distinct choice of clothing highlight the importance of fashion as a political tool that has the ability to shape and affect the decisions of key political actors. Benjamin Franklin became a propagator of American identity as the treaty, which he had worked to secure utilizing a somewhat disingenuous image of himself, directly impacted the evolving nature of the early republic’s own national and sartorial identity. Fashion and dress provide a methodology to analyze how key figures were able to impact the views of others with simple decisions like the wearing of spectacles, or the addition of a coonskin hat. A focus on fashion elucidates new narratives in the early republic that emphasize the level to which consumer goods and sartorial imagery shaped and molded the identity of early America.
Endnotes
[1] “Treaty of Alliance with France – Benjamin Franklin Historical Society.”
[2] William B. Evans, “John Adams’ Opinion of Benjamin Franklin,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 92, no. 2 (1968), 226.
[3] Schiff, A Great Improvisation, 156.
[4] Schiff, A Great Improvisation, 137.
[5] Joseph J. Ellis author, Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, First edition. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000), 109.
[6] Schiff, A Great Improvisation, 137.
[7] Hayes and Bour, Franklin in His Own Time, 65.
[8] Hayes and Bour, Franklin in His Own Time, 65.
[9] Hayes and Bour, Franklin in His Own Time, 57.
[10] Aldridge, Franklin and His French Contemporaries, 109.
[11] “From John Adams to Samuel Adams, 7 December 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives.
[12] Schiff, A Great Improvisation, 187-88.
[13] Schiff, A Great Improvisation, 88.
[14] Hayes and Bour, Franklin in His Own Time, 89-90.
[15] Delpierre, Dress in France in the Eighteenth Century, 47, 71.
[16] Haulman, The Politics of Fashion in Eighteenth-Century America, 49.
[17] Haulman, The Politics of Fashion in Eighteenth-Century America, 73-75.
[18] Haulman, The Politics of Fashion in Eighteenth-Century America, 175.
[19] Schiff, A Great Improvisation, 166.
[20] Furstenberg, When the United States Spoke French, 130-131.
[21] Schiff, A Great Improvisation, 174.
[22] Furstenberg, When the United States Spoke French, 199.
[23] Furstenberg, When the United States Spoke French, 104.
[24] Haulman, “Fashion and the Culture Wars of Revolutionary Philadelphia,” 628.
[25] Brekke, “The ‘Scourge of Fashion,’” 125.
[26] Brekke, “The ‘Scourge of Fashion,’” 132.
[27] Pennsylvania Gazette, June 7th, 1786.
[28] Pennsylvania Gazette, March 31st,1779.
[29] “An Essay on the Means of promoting Federal Sentiments in the US by a Foreign Spectator,” Pennsylvania Gazette, August 29th, 1787.”
[30] “An Essay on the Means of promoting Federal Sentiments in the US by a Foreign Spectator,” Pennsylvania Gazette, August 29th, 1787.
[31] Pennsylvania Gazette, January 3rd ,1787.
[32] Brekke, “The ‘Scourge of Fashion,” 123.
[33] Pennsylvania Gazette, April 15th , 1789.
[34] Pennsylvania Gazette, April 15th, 1789.
[35] Brekke, “The ‘Scourge of Fashion,” 119.
[36] Benjamin Franklin to Benjamin Vaughan, July 26th, 1784 in The Writings of Benjamin Franklin. Macmillan, 1906, 243
[37] Benjamin Franklin to Benjamin Vaughan, July 26th, 1784, in The Writings of Benjamin Franklin. Macmillan, 1906, 248.
[38] Rhys Isaac, The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790 (University of North Carolina Press, 1982), www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9780807838600_isaac, 255.
[39] Brekke, “The ‘Scourge of Fashion,’” 121.
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