Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was an American founding father, statesman, diplomat, inventor, writer, and newspaperman who pioneered many civic institutions in the American colonies, such as the postal service, volunteer fire department, and libraries. Franklin believed in the virtues of contributing to the community and being a model of an upstanding citizen through one's actions. He's famous for having edited Thomas Jefferson's first draft of the "Declaration of Independence" and his kite experiment that proved lightning is electricity. He was mostly self-educated and received many honorary degrees throughout his lifetime.

Benjamin Franklin was a learned man of papers. Wikimedia Commons.

Benjamin Franklin: Biography

On January 17, 1706, Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Josiah Franklin and Abiah Folger. Benjamin Franklin was their tenth child and last son to Josiah, who fathered over a dozen children. As a child, he worked at his father's soap shop and finished his formal schooling at age ten. Young Franklin was an avid reader and writer. From an early age, Benjamin Franklin proved himself a resourceful and capable learner.

At his father Josiah Franklin's urging, he apprenticed at his older brother James' print shop. Franklin wanted to submit writing for his brother's newspaper but James declined, feeling the young Benjamin Franklin was too young to work as a columnist. Franklin persisted anyways and wrote a series of letters under the pseudonym Mrs. Silence Dogood. The letters were popular in his brother's latest paper, the New England Courant, and were openly discussed in town. When his brother learned the truth, their relationship soured, and Franklin ran away to Philadelphia at age seventeen.

In Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin met Governor Sir William Keith who offered to send him to England to buy printing equipment. Keith ultimately didn't follow through on his offer, and the teenage Franklin found work as a typesetter in London. After a couple of years of working and saving money, he returned to Philadelphia in 1726. In 1729, Franklin started a printing business with a friend and bought the paper The Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin regularly submitted his own column, establishing his reputation as a witty and knowledgable intellectual, frequently commenting wryly on local social movements and events. It became one of the most popular newspapers in the British American colonies.

On September 1, 1730, Franklin married Deborah Read. They had two children, and additionally, Franklin recognized his illegitimate son William, and he raised him with the rest of his family.

Franklin continued to publish under different pseudonyms. His most popular effort was Poor Richard's Alamanac (1732-1758) under his pseudonym Richard Saunders.

Benjamin Franklin had a prolific career and was heavily invested in his community. His status as a newspaperman gave him far-reaching access and influence. He was a proponent of public services and was known for the founding of the first of many organizations that are now commonplace. Franklin started the Library company in 1731, which became the colonies' first library. Investors bought books, and customers could subscribe to borrow books at the fraction of the cost to buy one. In 1736 he assisted with the Union Fire Company, the first volunteer fire department in Philadelphia. In 1743, he organized the American Philosophical Society that promoted scientific research and public education. In 1740 he founded the University of Pennsylvania.

Benjamin Franklin was recognized for his civic engagement and public intellectualism, earning several honorary degrees. In 1753 Harvard and Yale separately awarded him a Master of Arts degree. In 1756 he received a Master of Arts degree from the College of William and Mary. And in 1762, Oxford University of England awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Facts About Benjamin Franklin's Death and Legacy

On April 17, 1790, Benjamin Franklin died from complications of pleurisy at his home in Philadelphia.

Despite not going to church, Franklin was a major proponent of the Puritan virtues of good character and hard work. Throughout his books, newspapers, and columns Franklin emphasized the importance of these virtues. So much so that they are now very much considered American traits. Many adages from his Poor Richard's Almanac are still in use today.

While Benjamin Franklin did own a few slaves throughout his lifetime, he ultimately freed them and renounced slavery, and became an early abolitionist.

Benjamin Franklin is the only person to have signed four crucial American documents: the "Declaration of Independence" in 1776, Treaty of Alliance with France in 1778, the Treaty of Paris in 1783, and the U.S. Constitution in 1787. Franklin is considered one of the Founding Fathers, along with George Washington. Franklin's likeness, since 1928, has adorned American $100 bills, among other issued money.

"It's all about the Benjamins" is a famous rap song by Puff Daddy because of the iconic image of Benjamin Franklin. Wikimedia Commons.

Benjamin Franklin: Political Career

Benjamin Franklin's success as a newspaper editor and printer built his reputation in the Philadelphia community. As his wealth grew, so did his interest in confronting local power. Pennsylvania was a proprietary colony. The Penn family were the sole proprietors and selected their government officials. The Pennsylvania Assembly, a body of elected officials, could be easily overturned by the Penn family's influence. The assembly elected Benjamin Franklin as a representative and sent him to England. He ultimately failed to reduce the power of the Penn family but built his reputation as a champion of American interests. He was sent back to England to protest the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act sought to pay for Britain's wars by forcing colonists to pay higher stamp prices on various documents. He testified before the House of Commons, where the British parliament scrutinizes the government. While he was unable to prevent the passage of the Stamp Act initially, his testimony, among others, later persuaded the British parliament to repeal the act.²

In 1773, Benjamin Franklin wrote a series of pro-American satirical essays. His most famous was "Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One", in which he created a fictional address to the ruler. The rules were thinly disguised grievances of the American colonies to the British Crown. In short, the British Empire would lose its American colonies if it persisted in taxes and regulations without the colonists' consent. It was well-received and further propelled Franklin into national politics. His contemporaries noted he would be an ideal example to represent American colonies' interests.

In July 1775, Benjamin Franklin was elected to draft the "Declaration of Independence" barely after a month having returned to America from England. While Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft, Benjamin Franklin, with his decades of editorial experience, made key changes to the document.

On July 26, 1775, the Second Continental Congress established the United States Post Office and elected Benjamin Franklin as the first United States postmaster general. Franklin had served as postmaster in Philadelphia for decades. He instituted reforms and raised more funding to increase the network and reliability of the post office, resulting in unprecedented weekly mail delivery.

While abroad, Benjamin Franklin used London as a base to travel around Europe. He took trips to Scotland, Ireland, Germany, and France. His reputation preceded him, so he was easily introduced into influential social circles of power. As an ambassador to France, he secured a military alliance in 1778. In 1783, he helped formed the terms for ending the American War for Independence from Great Britain in the Treaty of Paris.

When he returned to America, he was celebrated as a champion of American independence.

Benjamin Franklin is known for creating many inventions. In accordance with his philosophy of civic duty and providing public goods, he did not patent any of his inventions. Many are still in use today and remain relatively unchanged.

Lightning Rod

Benjamin Franklin had previously done experiments with electricity and theorized that lightning was electricity. He proved his theory right with his famed kite experiment to catch an ambient electrical charge. Lightning was an unmitigated threat in Franklin's time, frequently destroying buildings, with townspeople at a complete loss in fighting the hazard. Franklin learned one could use a rod of iron positioned on the highest point of a building to attract lightning, grounded by a copper wire leading to the ground, to avoid catching fire.

Franklin Stove

In colonial America, a person heavily relied on wood to build their home and a fireplace to heat it. Fireplaces are not very energy efficient nor effective, as most of the heat is lost through the chimney. The Franklin stove is essentially an iron container that can radiate heat from all directions, can be placed within the home for more effective heating, and it safely keeps the fire from spreading. Furthermore, one can control the rate of burning by controlling the airflow. The basic framework is still in use today in many cabins and homes. If you see a standalone metal stove, it's very likely using the basic framework of the Franklin stove.

Franklin stoves are still common today. Wikimedia Commons.

Bifocals

To see off into the distance and up close, one had to have a pair of glasses for each view. Benjamin Franklin was the first to merge the two glasses into one pair—then called "double spectacles". Bifocal glasses have lenses with two parts. The upper portion allows the user to see farther distances, while the lower part is for objects close up, such as reading, when one typically glances downward.

Franklin literally merged two sets of lenses, as seen by the line. Nowadays the line on bifocals is invisible to the naked eye. Wikimedia Commons.

Pro & Con List

While it's very possible that such a decision-making tool existed before Franklin, he was the first known published example.³ He divided a piece of paper into two columns. One considers the possible positive and negative impacts of a particular decision on each side.

Urinary Catheter

Previously, catheters were inflexible, rigid metal tubes that were painful to insert into the urethra. His brother frequently had to use one and Franklin wanted to lessen his discomfort. Franklin had the insertion tube modified by a silversmith for more flexibility and comfort.

Benjamin Franklin Quotes

In Benjamin Franklin's time, proverbs and adages were sources of wisdom. People felt that if someone had a saying for every situation, they were wise. While Franklin toyed with the notion of an Almanac as a source of wisdom, he also delighted in using them as a source of humor.

Benjamin Franklin liked to take action and believed in civic duty. Even though he spent much of his career expressing his thoughts through his newspaper and books, he was quite active in his civic duty. The founder of many institutions, community service was a virtue and value he sought to propagate through his words and actions.

Later in life, Benjamin Franklin became very involved in the national politics of the British American colonies. He understood the direction that momentum was moving, and believed it almost inevitable for the colonies to break away from British rule. He figured it was better that they all "hang" together instead of separately. Hanging was the punishment for treason under the British Crown, and technically the signing of the "Declaration of Independence" was an act of treason under British rule.

1. Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2004)

2. Thomas J. Fleming, Benjamin Franklin: an informal portrait (2004).

3. Benjamin Franklin, "From Benjamin Franklin to Joseph Priestley, 19 September 1772". National Archives.