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| Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin
Franklin : Biography
Born in Boston in 1706, Benjamin
Franklin organized the United States’ first lending library and volunteer fire
department. His scientific pursuits included investigations into electricity,
mathematics and mapmaking. He helped draft the Declaration of Independence and
the U.S Constitution, and negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which marked the
end of the Revolutionary War.
Benjamin Franklin was born on January
17, 1706, in Boston in what was then known as the Massachusetts Bay Colony. His
father, Josiah Franklin, a soap and candle maker, had 17 children, seven with
first wife, Anne Child, and 10 with second wife Abiah Folger. Benjamin was his
15th child and the last son. Despite his success at the Boston Latin School,
Ben was removed at 10 to work with his father at candle making, but dipping wax
and cutting wicks didn’t fire his imagination. Perhaps to dissuade him from going
to sea as one of his brothers had done, Josiah apprenticed Ben at 12 to his
brother James at his print shop. Ben took to this like a duck to water, despite
his brother’s hard treatment. When James refused to publish any of his
brother’s writing, Ben adopted the pseudonym Mrs. Silence Dogood, and “her” 14
imaginative and witty letters were published in his brother’s newspaper, The
New England Courant, to the delight of the readership. But James was angry when
it was discovered the letters were his brother’s, and Ben abandoned his
apprenticeship shortly afterward, escaping to New York, but settling in
Philadelphia, which was his home base for the rest of his life. Franklin furthered his education in the
printing trade in Philadelphia, lodging at the home of John Read in 1723, where
he met and courted Read’s daughter Deborah. Nevertheless, the following year,
Franklin left for London under the auspices of Pennsylvania Governor William
Keith, but felt duped when letters of introduction never arrived and he was
forced to find work at print shops there. Once employed, though, he was able to
take full advantage of the city’s pleasures, attending theater, mingling with
the populace in coffee houses and continuing his lifelong passion for reading.
He also managed to publish his first pamphlet, "A Dissertation upon
Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain." Franklin returned to
Philadelphia in 1726 to find that Deborah Read had married. In the next few
years he held varied jobs such as bookkeeper, shopkeeper and currency cutter.
He also fathered a son, William, out of wedlock during this time. In late 1727,
Franklin formed the “Junto,” a social and self-improvement study group for
young men, and early the next year was able to establish his own print shop
with a partner.
Prominent Citizen
After publishing another pamphlet,
"The Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency," Franklin was able to
purchase The Pennsylvania Gazette newspaper from a former boss, and was elected
the official printer of Pennsylvania.
He was also able to take Deborah Read
as his common-law wife in 1730, after her husband disappeared after stealing a
slave. Their first son, Francis, was born in 1732 (although he died four years
later of smallpox). Franklin’s prominence and success grew during the 1730s,
especially with the publication of Poor Richard’s Almanack at the end of 1732.
Franklin amassed real estate and businesses, organized the Union Fire Company
to counteract dangerous fire hazards, established a lending library so others
could share his passion for reading, and was elected Grand Master of the
Pennsylvania Masons, clerk of the state assembly and postmaster of Philadelphia.
The 1740s saw Franklin expanding into entrepreneurship with invention of the
Franklin stove, and also into scientific pursuits. His pamphlet "A
Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge" underscored his interests. His
beloved daughter Sarah was born in 1743. He became a soldier in the
Pennsylvania militia at the age of 42, but his abiding interest in electricity
was ignited at this time, too. He conducted the famous kite-and-key experiment
in 1752 after some of his theories on electricity were published in England the
previous year.
Public Service
Franklin was tapped as a foreign
diplomat and represented the Pennsylvania Assembly, and subsequently
Massachusetts, Georgia and New Jersey, in England, but he continued to work
toward colonial union and in 1766 supported the repeal of the Stamp Act. In 1775, Franklin was elected to the Second
Continental Congress and as postmaster general for the colonies, having mapped
the postal routes in 1762. And in 1776, he was one of five men to draft the
Declaration of Independence. Franklin was also one of the 13 men who drafted
the Articles of Confederation.
Later Years
Much has been made of Franklin’s life
in Paris as essentially the first U.S. ambassador to France, chiefly his
romantic life. Deborah, his wife of 44 years, died in 1774, two years before he
accepted the post, and Franklin had a rich romantic life in his nine years abroad.
He even proposed marriage, to a widow named Madame Helvetius, at the age of 74,
but she rejected him. Franklin was
embraced in France as much, if not more, for his intellectual standing in the
scientific community and for his wit, as for his status as a political
appointee from a fledging country. His reputation facilitated respect and
entrees into closed communities, including that of King Louis XVI. And it was his adept
diplomacy that led to the peace treaty with England in 1783 and other foreign
alliances and trade treaties. After almost a decade in France, Franklin
returned to America in 1785. He was elected to represent Pennsylvania at the
Constitutional Convention, which drafted and ratified the new U.S Constitution,
and participated in electing George Washington as the country’s
first president, inaugurated in April 1789.
He also served as president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting
the Abolition of Slavery, wrote many tracts urging the abolition of slavery and
petitioned the U.S Congress for it in 1790.
Successes and Failures
With so many of America’s early
heroes, successes take the spotlight, while failures are rarely mentioned. But
with any great entrepreneur the failures are just paving stones to the
triumphs. Franklin himself said, “Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure.
Continue to reach out.” He took his own
advice. Franklin mapped the Gulf Stream, invented swim fins, the lightning rod
and musical instruments, established colleges, and amassed scores of other
accomplishments. His self-education earned him honorary degrees from Harvard,
Yale, Oxford University in England, and the University of St. Andrews in
Scotland. But he also began a magazine
that failed, devised a new “scheme” for the alphabet that proposed to eliminate
the letters C, J, Q, W, X and Y as redundant, and made disastrous political
decisions that involved the leaking of letters, called the “Hutchinson Affair.”
He also made an ill-advised recommendation for Pennsylvania’s stamp
distribution that caused the public to misconstrue where he stood on American
support. His own son William, whom he helped to achieve the governorship of New
Jersey, opposed him on the unification of the colonies, which stung Franklin to
the point where he mentioned it in his will almost 25 years later. Franklin’s
voracious capacity for knowledge, investigation and finding practical solutions
to problems was his primary focus, as was his commitment to “doing good,” which
led to the concept of paying it forward.
Death and Legacy
Benjamin Franklin died on April 17,
1790, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the home of his daughter, Sarah Bache.
He was 84, suffered from gout and had complained of ailments for some time,
completing the final codicil to his will a little more than a year and a half
prior to his death. Franklin had actually written his epitaph when he was 22: The
body of B. Franklin, Printer (Like the Cover of an Old Book Its Contents torn
Out And Stript of its Lettering and Gilding) Lies Here, Food for Worms. But the
Work shall not be Lost; For it will (as he Believ'd) Appear once More In a New
and More Elegant Edition Revised and Corrected By the Author. In the end,
however, the stone on the grave he shared with his wife read simply, “Benjamin
and Deborah Franklin 1790.” The image of
Benjamin Franklin that has come down through history, along with the image on
the $100 bill, is something of a caricature—a bald man in a frock coat holding
a kite string with a key attached. But the scope of things he applied himself
to was so broad it seems a shame. Founding universities and libraries, the post
office, shaping the foreign policy of the fledgling United States, drafting the
Declaration of Independence, publishing newspapers, warming us with the
Franklin stove, pioneering advances in science, letting us see with bifocals
and, yes, lighting our way with electricity—all from a man who never finished
school but shaped his life through abundant reading and experience, a strong
moral compass and an unflagging commitment to civic duty, and an overall wit,
good humor and integrity. Franklin illumined corners of American life that
still have the lingering glow of his attention. He was a true polymath and
entrepreneur, which is no doubt why he is often called the First American.
Perhaps it is a fitting image after all.
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