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Primary sourceNewspaper article1722

Silence Dogood, No. 1

Benjamin Franklin · 1722

Franklin's first Silence Dogood letter, published in the New-England Courant in 1722 under a pseudonym.

Franklin's first essay under his teenage pseudonym Silence Dogood, launching a famous writing series.

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Source: Wikisource

About this source

What it is

This is the text of the first 'Silence Dogood' letter, published in the New-England Courant in 1722. It was written by the teenage Benjamin Franklin under a fictional persona, that of a widow named Silence Dogood, and introduces her supposed life story to readers.

Why it matters

This letter marks the start of a famous series Franklin wrote secretly while working for his brother's newspaper. It shows his early talent for writing, humor, and the use of invented characters to comment on society — skills that shaped his later career as a writer and public figure.

Look closer

  • Why might Franklin have invented a detailed backstory for Silence Dogood rather than writing plainly as himself?
  • What does the opening paragraph suggest about how readers judged a piece of writing in this period?
  • How does inventing a fictional author change the way an argument might be received?

This newspaper article is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Benjamin Franklin on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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