Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 [O.S.

January 6, 1705] – April 17, 1790) is one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

A noted polymath, Franklin is a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat.

As a scientist, he is a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity.

He invents the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, a carriage odometer, and the glass 'armonica'.

He forms both the first public lending library in America and the first fire department in Pennsylvania.

Franklin earns the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity; as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies, then as the first United States Ambassador to France, he exemplifies the emerging American nation.

Franklin is foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical and democratic values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism both political and religious, with the scientific and tolerant values of the Enlightenment.

In the words of historian Henry Steele Commager, "In a Franklin could be merged the virtues of Puritanism without its defects, the illumination of the Enlightenment without its heat."

To Walter Isaacson, this makes Franklin "the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become.

"(Isaacson, Walter (2003).

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life.

p. 41 & p. 492 New York: Simon & Schuster.)

Franklin, always proud of his working class roots, becomes a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies.

He is also partners with William Goddard and Joseph Galloway, the three of whom publish the Pennsylvania Chronicle, a newspaper that is known for its revolutionary sentiments and criticisms of the British monarchy in the American colonies.

He becomes wealthy publishing Poor Richard's Almanack and The Pennsylvania Gazette.

Franklin gains international renown as a scientist for his famous experiments in electricity and for his many inventions, especially the lightning rod.

He plays a major role in establishing the University of Pennsylvania and is elected the first president of the American Philosophical Society.

Franklin becomes a national hero in America when he spearheads the effort to have Parliament repeal the unpopular Stamp Act.

An accomplished diplomat, he is widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris and is a major figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations.

For many years, he is the British postmaster for the colonies, which enable him to set up the first national communications network.

He is active in community affairs, colonial and state politics, as well as national and international affairs.

From 1785 to 1788, he serves as governor of Pennsylvania.

Toward the end of his life, he frees his slaves and becomes one of the most prominent abolitionists.

His colorful life and legacy of scientific and political achievement, and status as one of America's most influential Founding Fathers, have seen Franklin honored on coinage and money; warships; the names of many towns, counties, educational institutions, namesakes, and companies; and more than two centuries after his death, countless cultural references.

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