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This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (center, color, defense, realize, traveled) and some terms may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.
Benjamin Franklin was a History good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
Latest comment: 1 month ago2 comments2 people in discussion
A strong case can be made that Benjamin Franklin should have a military service section in his Wikipedia infobox because he was not merely a civilian supporter of military affairs—he held an actual military commission and exercised command authority during wartime. During the French and Indian War, Franklin organized and led military forces for the defense of Pennsylvania's frontier, receiving the rank of Colonel in the Pennsylvania militia. He commanded a regiment of militia troops, oversaw the construction and supply of frontier defenses, and directed military operations intended to protect settlements from attack. If a military service section were included, his allegiance would be listed as Colonial Pennsylvania (within British America), his rank as Colonel, his command as a Pennsylvania militia regiment and frontier defense forces, and his conflict participation as the French and Indian War. These military responsibilities were significant enough to distinguish him from many other Founding Fathers who lacked formal military command, making a military service entry a historically justifiable addition alongside his better-known roles as a statesman, diplomat, scientist, and author. Omarmhussieny (talk) 12:32, 15 June 2026 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 9 days ago2 comments1 person in discussion
On mobile, subsections usually collapse, but for whatever reason this is not the case for the «references» section of this article. This necessitates scrolling through the entire list of references to get to the bottom. I’m not familiar with the finer controls on Wikipedia, so if someone of greater technical skill could fix this, that would be great. Henrik242E (talk) 21:53, 23 July 2026 (UTC)Reply
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Please change "Benjamin Franklin thought that slavery was "an atrocious debasement of human nature" and "a source of serious evils."" to "Benjamin Franklin thought that slavery was "an atrocious debasement of human nature.""
The latter part of the current sentence implies Franklin referred to slavery as "a source of serious evils"; however, the quote is from the 1789 "Address to the Public" in which Franklin wrote "Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human nature, that its very extirpation, if not performed with solicitous care, may sometimes open a source of serious evils."
In other words, Franklin was saying that the abolition of slavery, if not done with "care," would be a source of serious evils - it was not a characterization of slavery itself. Aaronbcowan (talk) 19:19, 1 August 2026 (UTC)Reply
level-4 vital article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
