The Ideal American Vision Benjamin Franklin Vs. John...

Olena Nikitska Professor Petterson–Tutschka Gov 113, Section 2 14 May 2015 The Ideal American Vision: Benjamin Franklin vs. John Winthrop Billions of people all over the nation and world have heard of the ideal American vision to be defined as a perfect set of rules and regulations that provide the ideal conditions for living life. Though many people to this day may still argue their understanding of these idealistic views, there is an ideniable truth that it was two most influential figures in history from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Benjamin Franklin and John Winthrop, who helped shape this vision through their strong and very different opinionated perspectives. God’ role and form of government, social classes gradation, nature and moral laws, individualism or collectivism and virtues of success are all important aspects that have helped shape the American vision, in which also the opinions of Franklin and Winthrop stand divided between the leaders. Franklin emphasized the importance of the science and reason, which explains the struc ture of the world its affect of life on every nation. Winthrop presented his â€Å"a City on a hill† model, where everything depends on God’s will.† (The Puritan Vision Altered, John Winthrop, â€Å"A Model of Christian Charity†, 1630, pp. 6-7). Unlike Franklin’s democracy and liberty, he believed in state of brotherhood. However, Winthrop shares Franklins’ nature norms in relationship between people, but Winthrop also builds his vision