<P> Although Franklin had mistresses throughout his life (including one still - unknown mistress who bore his only son William Franklin), such circumstances were incompatible with patriotic sensibilities a century afterward . Amy Beth Werbel opines bluntly: </P> <P> At a time when America was scant one hundred years old, Benjamin Franklin was an important part of its founding mythology . Some Americans felt it their patriotic duty to hide the fact that the conqueror of electricity and continental congressman was also a raunchy (and probably unfaithful) lout . </P> <P> By the mid-20th century, United States federal judges were citing the letter in originalist reasoning to overturn obscenity laws . A Jerome Frank appellate opinion of 1957 named "Advice to a Young Man on Choosing a Mistress" along with "The Speech of Polly Baker" as two examples that would have convicted one of the nation's leading founding fathers on federal obscenity charges if they had been written and mailed under subsequent law . </P> <P> The most notable of these citations occurred in the United States Supreme Court case, United States v. 12 200 - ft . Reels of Film . In a dissenting opinion, Justice William O. Douglas states: </P>

Advice on the choice of a mistress pdf