This was obviously directed at an audience beyond that of his son, who was already 40 and the governor of New Jersey. There was, however, a subtext directed at him: William had taken on airs since becoming governor, and he was far more enamored of the aristocracy and establishment than his father. The autobiography would be reminder of their humble origins and a paean to hard work, thrift, shopkeeping values, and the role of an industrious middle class that resisted rather than emulated the pretensions of the well-born elite.
-Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
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