06/04/2026
At age 83, in poor health and nearing the end of his life, Benjamin Franklin wrote a codicil to his will, making a remarkable bequest that reflects his philosophy and character, establishing trusts that would provide micro-loans to help young craftsmen in Boston and Philadelphia launch businesses, while building principal for future public works projects in those cities.
In his will Franklin had provided generously for his heirs and he began the codicil by explaining: “It has been an opinion, that he who receives an estate from his ancestors is under some kind of obligation to transmit the same to their posterity. This obligation does not lie on me, who never inherited a shilling from any ancestor or relation. I shall, however, if it is not diminished by some accident before my death, leave a considerable estate among my descendants and relations. The above observation is made as merely as some apology to my family for making bequests that do not appear to have any immediate relation to their advantage.”
He next explained why he chose to include Boston in the plan. “I was born in Boston, New England, and owe my first instructions in literature to the free grammar schools established there. I have, therefore, already considered these schools in my will. But I am also under obligations to the State of Massachusetts for having, unasked, appointed me formerly their agent in England, with a handsome salary, which continued some years; and although I accidentally lost in their service, by transmitting Governor Hutchinson’s letters, much more that the amount of what they gave me, I do not think that ought in the least to diminish my gratitude.”
He then explained why the trusts were set up to benefit young men finishing apprenticeships: “I have considered that, among artisans, good apprentices are most likely to make good citizens, and, having myself been bred to a manual art, printing, in my native town, and afterwards assisted to set up my business in Philadelphia by kind loans of money from two friends there, which was the foundation of my fortune, and all the utility in life that may be ascribed to me, I wish to be useful even after my death, if possible, in forming and advancing other young men, that may be serviceable to their country in both these towns. To this end, I devote two thousand pounds sterling (about $300,000 in today’s money), of which I give one thousand thereof to the inhabitants of the town of Boston, in Massachusetts, and the other thousand to the inhabitants of the city of Philadelphia, in trust, to and for the uses, intents, and purposes herein after mentioned and declared.”
“To assist young married artificers (craftsmen) in setting up their business,” the codicil provides for loans of between 15 and 60 pounds sterling for any such persons who are under 25 years old, have faithfully fulfilled the duties of an apprenticeship, and have character references from at least two respectable citizens. Franklin goes on to explain that the continual loans and collection of interest over 200 years should enable to the funds to grow to over four million pounds, which should be used for capital improvement projects in the two cities, with major distributions to the two cities to occur at the end of the first hundred years and with the balance of the funds to be distributed at the end of two hundred years.
For the next hundred years, hundreds of young craftsmen were able to launch their businesses thanks to loans from the Franklin estate. Among them were cabinetmakers, blacksmiths, tailors, painters, printers, tanners, carpenters, bakers, shoemakers, coopers, clockmakers and bookbinders.
Although the funds set aside by Franklin were sometimes mismanaged (particularly in Philadelphia) and in 1890 some of his heirs tried, unsuccessfully, to break the trusts, by 1890 in current dollars the Philadelphia fund contained over $4 million and the Boston fund had over $19 million. Boston used its portion of the funds distributed at that time to establish the Franklin Trade School, which in 1906 became the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology. Philadelphia used its first century distribution to establish its own Franklin Institute.
During the next hundred years, thousands more small loans were made, with eligibility expanded to include loans for education and technical training. When Franklin’s 200-year project finally ended in 1990, the remaining balance was distributed to Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute ($2 million) and Boston’s Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology ($4.5 million).
Between those who received Franklin’s micro-loans and those who received training and education at the institutes created with his bequest, many thousands of young people have benefited from his forward-thinking codicil, just has he had hoped they would.
