As a deputy postmaster, he became interested in the North Altlantic Ocean circulation patterns. While in England, Franklin heard a question about why it took mail longer to reach than RI. He then asked his cousin who told him that merchant ships routinely avouded a strong eastbound mid-ocean current while the mail packets captain sailed dead into it, fighting an adverse current.
Perhaps the biggest hurdle to the success of Reconstruction was the failure of whites to accept the new position blacks had in this country. Why would they have so much difficulty in accepting them?
