Rebellion - How Ben Franklin and Frederick Douglass bettered themselves through education

When the topic of rebellion is brought up, the first definition that comes to mind is an attempt to revolutionize or change the status quo, examples being the American Revolution, Russian Revolution, or Chinese Revolution. However, the topic of individual rebellion is often overlooked or forgotten. In both Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglass recount their very different lives, they often speak of times when they took risks and rebelled against authority figures in their lives and how it shaped them into the men they became. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, they both discuss their desires to educate themselves, be free from arbitrary or oppressive powers, or XYZ. When Mrs. Auld began teaching Frederick how to read was Douglass’s first real foray into rebellion. It was illegal to teach a slave how to read and write and after Mr. Auld reprimanded Mrs. Auld, Douglass realized that “to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man” (Douglass 20). The seed of rebellion had been planted and he had discovered his path to freedom. He was proud of his new ability and tried to practice it as often as he could by challenging children to writing letters (Douglass 26). Douglass cultivated this new ability and treats it as the reason he was able to become free. After Franklin had started working for his brother, his brother began publishing a newspaper. He believed his brother would not accept or approve of him writing for the paper, but he still wished to make an attempt at writing. He determined his best course of action was to subvert his brother’s approval by “writing an anonymous paper, I put it in at night under the door of the printing-house” (Franklin 14). This was no major rebellion, but he was able to practice his writing and gained feedback while listening to his brother’s colleagues critique the paper. After rubbing some politicians the wrong way, James Franklin was censored and jailed for