Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin

Who is Benjamin Franklin?

Benjamin Franklin was one of the preeminent Founding Fathers of America. He was also an inventor, a publisher, a scientist, and a diplomat. He is known for being one of the most important figures in early American history, despite the fact that he never served as president.

Early Life

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17^th, 1706 in Massachusetts, which was at the time, known as the “Massachusetts Bay Colony.” He was the 15^th child of soap and candlemaker Josiah Franklin. Benjamin’s mother, Abiah Folger, was Josiah Franklin’s second wife. Benjamin Franklin was the youngest young in the Franklin family.

When Benjamin was a young boy, he excelled at school and helped his father with his candle-making business. When he was twelve, however, he started to apprentice for his older brother, James, who ran a print shop. Franklin wanted to write articles for his brother’s newspaper, but James wouldn’t allow it. So, Benjamin wrote articles under the pseudonym, Mrs. Silence Dogood. These letters were very popular with readers. But, James eventually found out about it and was very angry. This caused Benjamin Franklin to flee Massachusetts and eventually move to Philadelphia, which would be his primary home for the rest of his life.

Career

In the mid-1720s, Benjamin Franklin worked a number of jobs around Philadelphia including bookkeeper, shopkeeper, and currency cutter. Eventually, he partnered with a friend to open a print shop that primarily printed government pamphlets and books. This endeavor was a success. Franklin soon had an even bigger success though, when he bought the Philadelphia Gazette newspaper. He turned this newspaper into the most widely-read newspaper in the colonies.

Building on his success, Franklin started buying real estate and other businesses while also making valuable contributions to Philadelphia society. He also published Poor Richard’s Almanack, which provided weather predictions in addition to poetry, astronomical information, and proverbs, many of which Franklin personally contributed. This almanac too was a success and was published for 25 consecutive years.

Scientist and Inventor

After Franklin became one of the richest men in Pennsylvania through his printing business, he started to focus more on science and invention. He made all of the following inventions:

·         Bifocal glasses

·         The Franklin Stove

·         Armonica

·         Rocking Chair

·         American Penny

·         The Lightning Rod

In addition to making all of these incredibly valuable contributions to society, Franklin also discovered the gulf stream, proved that lightning was electricity, and coined the terms, “battery,” “positive charge,” and “negative charge.”

Politics 

Benjamin Franklin was elected to the city council of Philadelphia in 1748. A few years later, he became a Philadelphia alderman and representative to the Pennsylvania Assembly. After this, he became the deputy postmaster general of North America. As tensions between the colonies and Great Britain rose, Franklin found himself becoming more and more of an American patriot.

In 1775, Franklin participated in the Second Continental Congress and was one of the five men who drafted the Declaration of Independence. After this, Franklin was named the first postmaster general of the United States. Benjamin spent much of the Revolutionary War period serving as America’s first ambassador to France, a crucial diplomatic role. After helping to negotiate the Treaty of Paris in 1783 that ended the Revolutionary War, Franklin returned back to America. When he came back, he helped to draft the U.S. Constitution at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

Death

Benjamin Franklin died of complications from pleurisy on April, 17^th, 1790. He was 84 years old at the time of his death.