Benjamin Franklin was America’s scientist, inventor, politician, philanthropist and business man. He is best known as the only Founding Father who signed all three documents that freed America from Britain. Franklin is credited with drafting the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution. He also negotiated the Treaty of Paris which ended the Independence War against Britain.
Born in a middle class family, he was the 15th of 17 children and the youngest son. With only 2 years of formal education he rose to the highest level of society. He never forgot where he started and always referred to himself as “B.F. of Philadelphia, Printer” as in the opening of his will and testament. He had the talent of being at ease with any company, from tradesmen to scholars, merchants and the European elite.
Unlike the other Founding Fathers, Franklin began as an artisan, with minimal formaleducation, and was the architect of his own fortune. He was a self-made man representing American social mobility through frugality and industriousness. According to historian Perry Miller, Benjamin Franklin has become the most “massively symbolic” figures in American history.
He strove to improve himself by cultivating personal virtues and taking on public projects for the benefit of society. One of his first public projects was to organize a block watch and raise money to pave and clean Philadelphia’s roads. His projects gradually became more ambitious and included creating pensions and insurance companies and providing welfare for widows. He helped build the University of Pennsylvania to educate middle class children. He raised funds to build the nation’s first hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital, for those who could not afford care and institutions for the mentally disabled. The nation’s first lending library and the Union Fire Company were among his othercontributions. This was long before governments began to provide services to their citizens.
Scientist
Benjamin Franklin was also a scientist. He proved by flying a kite that lighting was electricity and invented a rod to prevent it from hitting buildings. He invented bifocal glasses, charted the Gulf Stream, invented a clean burning stove and proposed theories on the contagiousness of the common cold. His approach was more practical than theoretical. His training as a craftsman made him more accomplished as an inventor.
Journalist
As a journalist his most important journalistic influence was his brother James who is considered the first fighter for journalistic freedom in America. Franklin wrote: “Printers are educated in the belief that when men differ in opinion, both sides ought equally to have the advantage of being heard by the public, and that when Truth and Error have fair play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter”. This legacy is framed and hanged in many newsroom walls in America.
Franklin was an ambitious entrepreneur, disciplined and industrious, working hard until late at night. He nurtured his appearance and reputation “I took care not only to be in reality industrious and frugal but to avoid all appearances of the contrary”.He used the skills he had learned to open his own printing business. He acquired the Pennsylvania Gazette from his previous employer and created Poor Richard’s Almanac.
Politician
As a politician he was the first one to propose the union of the colonies for common defense. He was accused as a royalist but when the time came he stood up for freedom becoming one of the Founding Fathers. Franklin negotiated theend of the war with Englandand was one of the signers of the Treaty of Paris. He was chosen to represent the Union as the first minister plenipotentiary to France, the equivalent of today’s ambassador.
Benjamin Franklin genius is centered on the use of his network of business and social connections. He leveraged this network to the benefit of his variety of interests from science and politics to business and journalism.He was against slavery as an institution. For part of his life he held the usual prejudices against African Americans but he came to realize that they were “in every respect equal” to his own.
Benjamin Franklin died at age 84, on April 17, 1790. The cause of his death was empyema brought by attacks of pleurisy, which he had suffered earlier in his life. During his later years Franklin’s health gradually deteriorated. He suffered from gout and had a large kidney stone which confined him to bed.
Benjamin Franklin was America's scientist, inventor, politician, philanthropist and business man. He is best known as the only Founding Father
Founding Father
George Washington, a key Founding Father, was commanding general of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and a Revolutionary hero, presided over the Constitutional Convention and became the nation's first president in April 1789.
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who signed all three documents that freed America from Britain. Franklin is credited with drafting the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution.
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), printer, inventor, scientist, and statesman, occupies a distinguished place in U.S. history. He not only played an influential role in the Revolutionary War era and the fight for American independence, but also helped to shape the U.S. Constitution and vision for the new nation.
Benjamin Franklin was a member of many learned societies. Among these were the Royal Society of London, which in 1753 awarded him its prestigious Copley Medal for his work in electricity, and the American Philosophical Society, of which he was a founder.
He showed his intelligence and interest early on in reading and writing. At the age of ten though, he was taken out of school to learn his father's trade of candle making. Young Benjamin hated this work and two years later became an apprentice in his brother James' print shop.
Benjamin Franklin primarily served as the editor of the Declaration of Independence. His changes were believed to have been minimal, but, when the document went before the entire Continental Congress, the draft was more thoroughly changed by the larger body from Jefferson's original text.
Although Benjamin Franklin is best known as a Founding Father, he held this role later in his life. Franklin served on the Committee of Five that was tasked with drafting the Declaration of Independence.
Franklin was one of the first leaders. He was ambassador to France, and was responsible for France's assistance in the War of Revolution in the US. He was also ambassador to Sweden as well. He was the first Postmaster General of the US.
He helped save property from destruction and aided insurance plans against fire. As an inventor, his accomplishments were unusual. He also aided in changing our standards of life by the invention of the Franklin Stove and started the pioneer work to harness electricity to be an agent for the benefit of mankind.
Almost single-handedly he helped to create a civic society for the inhabitants of Philadelphia. Moreover, he helped to establish new institutions that people now take for granted: a fire company, a library, an insurance company, an academy, and a hospital.
Franklin/Pennsylvania stove (1741)Lightning rod (1750)Flexible catheter (1752)24-hour, three-wheel clock that was much simpler than other designs of the day (1757)
The $100 note features a portrait of Benjamin Franklin on the front of the note. The vignette on the back of the note changed in 1929 to feature Independence Hall.
The fact is, unlike his contemporaries George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, Franklin never held the office of the presidency. He was the governor of Pennsylvania, the first United States ambassador to France and Sweden and the first ever United States Postmaster General.
In spite of his early success as a satirist and social critic, the younger Franklin grew restless under the strict control and abuse of his brother and master. In September 1723, with four years remaining in his apprenticeship, Benjamin escaped, first to New York and then to Philadelphia.
Benjamin Franklin is the only Founding Father to have signed all four of the key documents establishing the U.S.: the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Treaty of Alliance with France (1778), the Treaty of Paris establishing peace with Great Britain (1783) and the U.S. Constitution (1787).
Franklin had a very significant role in the Revolutionary War as a delegate and diplomat. He represented the U.S. at meetings to finalize the end of the War with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. In 1787, Franklin attended the Constitutional Convention where he signed the U.S. Constitution.
Franklin had scant military experience but was asked to provide military leadership and was chosen as their commander. His son William was his aid-de camp. William had served in King George's War against Spain. Franklin left on a winter January day toward Gnadenhutten.
Benjamin Franklin is the only Founding Father to have signed all four of the key documents establishing the U.S.: the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Treaty of Alliance with France (1778), the Treaty of Paris establishing peace with Great Britain (1783) and the U.S. Constitution (1787).
Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1775. There he served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he was instrumental in drafting the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation to form a new union.
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He strove to improve himself by cultivating personal virtues and taking on public projects for the benefit of society. One of his first public projects was to organize a block watch and raise money to pave and clean Philadelphia’s roads. His projects gradually became more ambitious and included creating pensions and insurance companies and providing welfare for widows. He helped build the University of Pennsylvania to educate middle class children. He raised funds to build the nation’s first hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital, for those who could not afford care and institutions for the mentally disabled. The nation’s first lending library and the Union Fire Company were among his othercontributions. This was long before governments began to provide services to their citizens.
Benjamin Franklin was also a scientist. He proved by flying a kite that lighting was electricity and invented a rod to prevent it from hitting buildings. He invented bifocal glasses, charted the Gulf Stream, invented a clean burning stove and proposed theories on the contagiousness of the common cold. His approach was more practical than theoretical. His training as a craftsman made him more accomplished as an inventor.
As a journalist his most important journalistic influence was his brother James who is considered the first fighter for journalistic freedom in America. Franklin wrote: “Printers are educated in the belief that when men differ in opinion, both sides ought equally to have the advantage of being heard by the public, and that when Truth and Error have fair play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter”. This legacy is framed and hanged in many newsroom walls in America.
Franklin was an ambitious entrepreneur, disciplined and industrious, working hard until late at night. He nurtured his appearance and reputation “I took care not only to be in reality industrious and frugal but to avoid all appearances of the contrary”.He used the skills he had learned to open his own printing business. He acquired the Pennsylvania Gazette from his previous employer and created Poor Richard’s Almanac.
As a politician he was the first one to propose the union of the colonies for common defense. He was accused as a royalist but when the time came he stood up for freedom becoming one of the Founding Fathers. Franklin negotiated theend of the war with Englandand was one of the signers of the Treaty of Paris. He was chosen to represent the Union as the first minister plenipotentiary to France, the equivalent of today’s ambassador.