Twelve Mates in a Pub

In 1727, a 21-year-old working in a Philadelphia print shop invited about a dozen mates to meet on Friday nights. His name was Benjamin Franklin. The mates were printers, a surveyor, a cabinetmaker, a clerk, people with regular jobs and no particular claim to fame. They met in a tavern first, then in a room in someone’s house. The only real rule was that each of them took a turn bringing a question for the group to chew on. Morals, politics, business, whatever was bothering them that week. He...