In 1725, when Ben Franklin was 19 years old, he wrote a pamphlet titled, “A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain.”
In it he talks about what he observes to be the general state of things in the universe.
Since we have the benefit of seeing his life as a whole (born in 1705, died in 1790) it might be useful to read this pamphlet and understand the foundational philosophy which he articulated at a young age.
If you don’t have time to read the whole text, here is a YouTube video containing a 2 sentence summary of my understanding of it.