The incredible story of Benjamin Franklinās parting gift to the working-class people of Boston and Philadelphiaāa deathbed wager that captures the Founderās American Dream and his lessons for our current, conflicted age.
Benjamin Franklin was not a gambling man. But at the end of his illustrious life, the Founder allowed himself a final wager on the survival of the United States: a gift of two thousand pounds to Boston and Philadelphia, to be lent out to tradesmen over the next two centuries to jump-start their careers. Each loan would be repaid with interest over ten years. If all went according to Franklinās inventive scheme, the accrued final payout in 1991 would be a windfall.
In Benjamin Franklinās Last Bet, Michael Meyer traces the evolution of these twin funds as they age alongside America itself, bankrolling woodworkers and silversmiths, trade schools and space races. Over time, Franklinās wager was misused, neglected, and contestedābut never wholly extinguished. With charm and inquisitive flair, Meyer shows how Franklinās stake in the āleather-apronā class remains in play to this day, and offers an inspiring blueprint for prosperity in our modern era of growing wealth disparity and social divisions.