Ralph Waldo Emerson obviously shows examples of self-reliance through his essay...which is actually titled "Self-Reliance", so it is pretty obvious that self-reliance is big for Emerson right from the start. In the essay he wrote about the importance of being able to depend on yourself and to able be to reflect upon yourself as well. Emerson wrote in the Romanticism (Transcendentalism, specifically), which put emphasis on innocence and nature and youth. His idea was that you needed to get away from the world once and a while so that you could self-reflect and think about all of the things going on in your life.
Franklin also showed signs of self-reliance. In his virtues, like the Masonic virtues, Franklin listed some traits that would take some self-reliance to accomplish. Part of Franklin's philosophy was not to lean too much on others. I cannot say if Benjamin Franklin was into self reflection, though. However, the two do not necessarily go together. Emerson wanted his self reflection to be done privately, away from the eyes of the rest of the world. This meant having to have self-reliance to be able to actually be able to "get away". Emerson brought nature into this by saying that a person can relax in and be one with nature, giving them peace so that they can start to reflect upon what has happened in their lives. Franklin, however, definitely did not place as much emphasis on nature and innocence and such. He was more concerned with society and the going on's of society, as well as how he appeared in the public eye. He was much more focused on the ideas of Rationalism, science and knowledge, than of things like nature and youthfulness.
Emerson was much less concerned with society and much more concerned with nature and one's own self. Franklin supported self-reliance to accomplish the virtues that he set out, but he did not place as much faith in it than Emerson did.
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