Franklin's Junto: The 24 Standing Questions for Intellectual Growth

Benjamin Franklin’s Junto was a small Philadelphia “club of mutual improvement”, founded in the fall of 1727. At every meeting its members read and answered a fixed list of 24 “Standing Queries”. The questions turned each evening into an exchange of reading, practical knowledge and mutual help. Below is the full list in its historical wording, with notes on where it comes from and how its spirit can still guide a discussion circle today.

Where the questions come from

The text below follows The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, the scholarly edition published on Founders Online by the U.S. National Archives. Its editors explain that:

The rules are lost, but the questions survive. Franklin’s original rules for the club survive only as partial drafts. What does survive is part of the club’s routine: the 24 Standing Queries and four questions put to every new member.
First printed in 1779. The queries first appeared in Political, Miscellaneous, and Philosophical Pieces (London, 1779), edited by Benjamin Vaughan, who probably received them from Franklin. A draft in Franklin’s hand is held by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Probably written in 1732. Some older editions date the list to 1728. The editors consider 1732 more likely, and note that the Junto had existed for some time before the queries were drafted.
Vaughan’s order is the final one. In the margin of his draft, Franklin noted that the queries were “not plac’d in the order I design ’em”. The edition follows Vaughan’s improved order.
A source of inspiration. The editors trace the idea partly to Cotton Mather’s Essays to Do Good (1710), which suggested that voluntary societies consider a list of questions at each meeting. Franklin, they write, secularized the idea and gave it a practical purpose.

For the story of how the club began and what it achieved, see How entrepreneurs and visionaries benefit from exchanging ideas.

The 24 Standing Queries

Before the questions, members were asked: “Have you read over these queries this morning, in order to consider what you might have to offer the Junto [touching] any one of them?” Square brackets mark the modern editors’ insertions. Spelling follows the source.

Have you met with any thing in the author you last read, remarkable, or suitable to be communicated to the Junto? Particularly in history, morality, poetry, physic, travels, mechanic arts, or other parts of knowledge.
What new story have you lately heard agreeable for telling in conversation?
Hath any citizen in your knowledge failed in his business lately, and what have you heard of the cause?
Have you lately heard of any citizen’s thriving well, and by what means?
Have you lately heard how any present rich man, here or elsewhere, got his estate?
Do you know of any fellow citizen, who has lately done a worthy action, deserving praise and imitation? or who has committed an error proper for us to be warned against and avoid?
What unhappy effects of intemperance have you lately observed or heard? of imprudence? of passion? or of any other vice or folly?
What happy effects of temperance? of prudence? of moderation? or of any other virtue?
Have you or any of your acquaintance been lately sick or wounded? If so, what remedies were used, and what were their effects?
Who do you know that are shortly going voyages or journies, if one should have occasion to send by them?
Do you think of any thing at present, in which the Junto may be serviceable to mankind? to their country, to their friends, or to themselves?
Hath any deserving stranger arrived in town since last meeting, that you heard of? and what have you heard or observed of his character or merits? and whether think you, it lies in the power of the Junto to oblige him, or encourage him as he deserves?
Do you know of any deserving young beginner lately set up, whom it lies in the power of the Junto any way to encourage?
Have you lately observed any defect in the laws of your country, [of] which it would be proper to move the legislature for an amendment? Or do you know of any beneficial law that is wanting?
Have you lately observed any encroachment on the just liberties of the people?
Hath any body attacked your reputation lately? and what can the Junto do towards securing it?
Is there any man whose friendship you want, and which the Junto or any of them, can procure for you?
Have you lately heard any member’s character attacked, and how have you defended it?
Hath any man injured you, from whom it is in the power of the Junto to procure redress?
In what manner can the Junto, or any of them, assist you in any of your honourable designs?
Have you any weighty affair in hand, in which you think the advice of the Junto may be of service?
What benefits have you lately received from any man not present?
Is there any difficulty in matters of opinion, of justice, and injustice, which you would gladly have discussed at this time?
Do you see any thing amiss in the present customs or proceedings of the Junto, which might be amended?

The four questions for new members

A candidate stood, laid his hand on his breast and was asked four questions. The expected answers are given in the source:

“Have you any particular disrespect to any present members?” (I have not.)
“Do you sincerely declare that you love mankind in general; of what profession or religion soever?” (I do.)
“Do you think any person ought to be harmed in his body, name or goods, for mere speculative opinions, or his external way of worship?” (No.)
“Do you love truth for truth’s sake, and will you endeavour impartially to find and receive it yourself and communicate it to others?” (Yes.)

These four questions sum up the club’s ideals: respect among members, goodwill toward people of every profession and religion, tolerance of differing opinions, and an honest search for truth.

What the questions were designed to do

Read as a whole, the list is a practical program for growing together. The groupings below are our reading of the text, not Franklin’s own:

Sharing knowledge (1, 2). Every member brought something from his reading or conversation, from history and poetry to medicine and the mechanical arts.
Learning from experience (3–8). Members examined why ventures failed or thrived and what effects virtue and folly had, drawing lessons from real cases rather than theory.
Helping one another (9–13, 17, 20–22). Several questions asked how the club could support a member, a newcomer to town or a “deserving young beginner”.
Caring for public life (11, 14, 15). Members considered how to serve their community and which laws might be improved.
Protecting good names (16, 18, 19). The club stood by its members and expected them to defend one another fairly.
Open questions (23). Any difficult question “of opinion, of justice, and injustice” could be raised for discussion.
Improving the group itself (24). The final question invited members to find what could be done better.

The tone of the discussions mattered as much as the questions. In his Autobiography, Franklin recalls that the Junto’s debates were “to be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without fondness for dispute, or desire of victory”.

Using the spirit of the Junto today

The original wording reflects eighteenth-century Philadelphia: its references to “citizens”, voyages and a club of men belong to their time. The underlying habits translate easily. A modern discussion circle might adapt the questions like this. These adaptations are our own, not Franklin’s:

What have you read or learned recently that is worth sharing? (from 1)
What has someone near you achieved recently, and what made it work? (from 4 and 6)
What lesson has a recent mistake taught you or someone you know? (from 3 and 6)
How could our group be useful to someone this month? (from 11 and 13)
Is there a question of fairness or principle you would like us to think through together? (from 23)
Who might enjoy joining our conversations, and how can we welcome them? (from 12)
What could make our meetings better? (from 24)

A few practical habits help:

Choose three or four questions per meeting. The original list was answered in full every time, which suits a small, long-standing group. Newer circles may prefer a few at a time.
Prepare in advance. The Junto’s opening question asked members to read the queries beforehand. Preparation turns conversation into real exchange.
Agree on the spirit before the topic. The four membership questions show what a healthy circle needs: respect, goodwill, tolerance and a shared love of truth.

The Junto and Illuminati Voice

Franklin’s Junto was a historical club in colonial Philadelphia. Illuminati Voice has no connection to it, and the Junto had no connection to the Bavarian Illuminati, which was founded decades later in 1776. We share the Junto’s questions because they remain one of history’s clearest examples of people improving themselves by exchanging ideas, the same value at the heart of our community.

To explore this tradition further, read The value of intellectual communities in modern society and The power of independent thinking. If you would like to exchange ideas with us, see how to join.

What remains uncertain

The exact date. The queries were first printed without a date. The scholarly edition prefers 1732 over the 1728 given in some older editions, but the date is an editorial judgment.
How strictly the list was used. The queries are known from a draft and Vaughan’s printed version. How consistently they were answered at every meeting over the club’s long life is not recorded in these sources.