Conclusion: The American Creed

Abstract

The Conclusion sums up how, after Franklin’s death, his reputation rested on contemporaries and then historians and other writers. He had limited appeal to prominent Protestants even as business leaders and pastors later embraced Franklin’s understanding of religion in relation to the way to wealth. Historians recognized his remarkable career even while granting other American statesmen, no more devout than Franklin, were more profound than the Founder in their interpretations of divine providence. Franklin did not produce a set of reflections on the tragic aspects of human existence the way that other notable Americans did with the help of Protestant teaching. But he was no less a Protestant culturally than these other figures.