BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Boston, Massachusetts
January 17, 1706−April 17, 1790
20,000 Accomplishments

Apprentice… writer… runaway… workaholic… printer… entrepreneur… lover… cartoonist… activist… firefighter… inventor… politician… agitator… spy… signer… ambassador… Francophile… diplomat… delegate… Those are only a few of the words that describe Benjamin Franklin. He was unique among Americans. At various times he was the colonial agent for Georgia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts; a delegate from Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress; a signer of the Declaration of Independence; a commissioner of Congress to the French court; a negotiator and a signer of the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War; an inventor; and a businessman. His eclecticism set him apart from his contemporaries and made him truly unique among the people who established the United States.

A Man for All Reasons

Even though Benjamin Franklin’s early education was limited, he was reading authors like Plutarch, Daniel Defoe, and Cotton Mather by the time he was eleven—which was the age at which he invented a pair of swim fins for his hands. Early signs suggested that Benjamin Franklin would be different from most boys his age. He was.

Quotations to Live (and Die) By!

“THE ESSENCE OF THE WHOLE WILL BE THAT DR. FRANKLIN’S ELECTRICAL ROD SMOTE THE EARTH AND OUT SPRUNG GENERAL WASHINGTON. THAT FRANKLIN ELECTRIFIED HIM WITH HIS ROD AND THENCE FORWARD THESE TWO CONDUCTED ALL THE POLICY, NEGOTIATION, LEGISLATION, AND WAR.”

—JOHN ADAMS

When he was twelve years old, Benjamin apprenticed as a printer in the shop owned by his mean-spirited and physically abusive older brother James. James, who became responsible for Benjamin’s upbringing, beat him physically on occasion. And he would not let Benjamin write for his new paper, the New England Courant, that James founded in 1721. Tired of the mental and physical abuse, Benjamin ran away at age seventeen and ended up in Philadelphia. Since printing was all Benjamin knew, he took up the trade.

REVOLUTIONARY REVELATIONS

Benjamin craftily got around James’s ban on his writing. He wrote advice letters under the name of Silence Dogood, a fictional widow, which James printed. Benjamin pushed the letters under the door of the office at night and pretended he did not know who the writer was. He wrote sixteen letters under Dogood’s name before he admitted that he was she. James was not happy.

Social Engineering in Philadelphia

Franklin’s career took off in Philadelphia. He wrote a number of pamphlets, started his own business, and, in 1727, established the Junto, a society of young men that met on Friday evenings for “self-improvement, study, mutual aid, and conviviality.” The group contributed greatly to his educational and social development. In between, he sired a son, William, out of wedlock.

REVOLUTIONARY REVELATIONS

Benjamin Franklin became a vegetarian in 1722, mainly because he wanted to use the money saved from not buying meat to purchase books.

Over the next few years Franklin was the creator of or advisor to a number of social organizations aimed at improving life in Philadelphia, including a fire department, a library, and an insurance company. His most notable achievement may have been the launching of Poor Richard’s Almanack under the name of Richard Saunders, which was full of pithy sayings that are repeated today: “A penny saved is a penny earned,” “Without justice, courage is weak,” and “In success be moderate.”

Running a business and improving society were not satisfying enough for Franklin. He began dabbling in science and experimentation as well. In 1743, he invented the Franklin stove, a heat-efficient stove that made heating houses easier and less costly. Since it improved society, he refused to take out a patent. In 1752, he flew a kite in his famous experiment that demonstrated lightning was made of electricity.

REVOLUTIONARY REVELATIONS

Benjamin’s son William became the royal governor of New Jersey in 1763. He remained loyal to Britain throughout his tenure, which ended in 1776. The political differences between the two created a rift that they never resolved. It was heartbreaking for Benjamin, especially after William moved to England permanently in 1782.

All his activities drew the attention of his adoring public, and led him into politics. He was as proficient at that as he was in virtually everything else he tried.

Ben the Politician

Although Franklin was not convinced early in his life that the colonies should be free of British rule, he changed his mind as the 1760s progressed.

He lived in London as an agent for several colonies, including Georgia, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. He grew to dislike the way the British people viewed the colonists. As Franklin wrote, “Every man in England seems to consider himself as a piece of a sovereign over America.”

He had an opportunity to oppose the British government in 1775, when he was elected as a delegate from Pennsylvania to the Second Continental Congress. The next year he helped draft the Declaration of Independence, and then signed it.

Quotations to Live (and Die) By!

“THEY WHO CAN GIVE UP ESSENTIAL LIBERTY TO OBTAIN A LITTLE TEMPORARY SAFETY DESERVE NEITHER LIBERTY NOR SAFETY.”

—BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

No one expected Franklin to serve actively in the military during the Revolutionary War. After all, he was sixty-six years old when he signed the Declaration of Independence. Instead, he was dispatched overseas to seek French assistance with America’s war effort. He arrived in Paris on December 21, 1776, as one of the members of the commissioners of Congress to the French court. He did not return until 1785.

Franklin negotiated successfully with the French for aid to the United States. Then, between 1779 and 1781 he was appointed to a commission to negotiate a peace treaty with Britain. He signed the Treaty of Alliance with the French government in 1778 and the peace treaty ending the Revolutionary War in 1783.

REVOLUTIONARY REVELATIONS

Two of Franklin’s cleverest inventions were created in the 1783−86 period: bifocals and a device for pulling books off shelves.

One More Major Assignment

After Franklin returned to the United States, he kept busy. He served as president of the Pennsylvania Executive Council, which was the executive branch of the state’s government, from 1785 to 1788.

In 1787, he served as a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention to debate the merits of the U.S. Constitution, but he did not participate often in the discussions. Nevertheless, he signed the document after it was ratified.

Quotations to Live (and Die) By!

“IF YOU WOULD NOT BE FORGOTTEN, AS SOON AS YOU ARE DEAD AND ROTTEN, EITHER WRITE THINGS WORTHY READING, OR DO THINGS WORTH THE WRITING.”

—BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

He concentrated on the abolition of slavery for the next couple of years. But time caught up with him in 1790. He passed away at age eighty-four. About 20,000 people attended his funeral—seemingly one for every accomplishment in his extremely productive lifetime.