Benjamin Franklin knew the way to wealth, the way directly to the top. Through hard work, diligence, and positive thinking he made a fortune in early America. Benjamin Franklin's life shows us the ideal examples of the very beginnings of work ethic in America and how early protestant sects provided a foundation for how we strive to accomplish work tasks today. Franklin was many things besides wealthy, one could say he was a Founding Father, statesman, diplomat, teacher, inventor, the list continues in a multitude of labels which reinforce his way to wealth. One of the most famous pre-Revolutionary works in Which Benjamin Franklin published is Poor Richard's Almanac in which he composed several popular sayings which gave him a reputable title. The Way to Wealth was published in the last edition of the almanac in 1758 and is still regarded today as a powerful piece of American literature.
             Ethic was predestined and first a real issue during the classical period. The ideas of work ethic in this period lay a foundation and basis for ethic during the early American period of Franklin, and even work ethic today. The idea that man was placed in the Garden of Eden to "work and take care of it" (NIV, 1973, Genisis 2:15) was disrupted by sin and man was ejected from the garden. Since this period, hard work had been necessary to survive as a human race. The Hebrew belief system views work as a "curse devised by God explicitly to punish the disobedience and ingratitude of Adam and Eve (Rose 28). It has been long regarded that work has been seen as a way to obtain material needs and wants. Throughout the centuries work ethic has changed, but the underlying fact that it is necessary, and that wealth is both wanted and obtainable provides the content for Franklin to formulate a work ethic for Americans.
             The work ethic in America was formed by our founders. The New England Puritans and Pennsylvania Quakers eventually settled in America in the 17...