Although Benjamin Franklin was one of the leading figures in the history of colonial America and The United States his autobiography also reveals a great deal about European society in the eighteenth-century. Franklin can be said to have played a role in several aspects of the development of eighteenth-century English society. Such themes include The Industrial and Commercial revolutions, as well as urbanization and the enlightenment. However, his role in The Republic of Letters will turn out to be the role that had the most important and widespread consequences.
             Franklin had a hand in many matters concerning the theme of a Republic of Letters. Some of the more influential and crucial achievements of his were the management of several printing houses during his lifetime, the formation of the JUNTO, and his role of Deputy Post Master and ultimately, Post Master of the entire United States.
             Franklin had a firm belief in the power of the press. He used his printing press as a tool to bring new and knowledge to all walks of life. He even included cartoons and pictures in his Pennsylvania Gazette so that everyone would be able to understand what was happening in the world, even those people who had not yet learned to read and write.
             Around the time that Franklin left New Jersey to return to Philadelphia begins testing his own intellectualism and decides that he will fully covert to deism. He adopts the ideals of "truth, sincerity, and integrity." As a method of questioning these standards he forms a group he calls the Junto. "In the autumn of the preceding year, I had form'd most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club of mutual improvement, which we called the JUNTO" (Franklin, 71). This JUNTO was brought about in the spirit of "inquiry after truth, without fondness for dispute" (Franklin, 72). This statement exemplifies the idea of a Republic of Letters. People were thinking more,...