BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Statesman, philosopher, inventor

Benjamin Franklin is best known to most people for his political leadership during the Revolutionary period of United States history. He was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in 1775; a member of the committees that drafted the Declaration of Independence, that forged an alliance with France in 1777, and that negotiated a peace treaty with Great Britain; and a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 where he was instrumental in the compromise between small and large states' representation.

But he also did much toward improving the lives of the average person in much smaller ways. In 1727. He formed the Junto, later to be known as the American Philosophical Society. He helped begin a city police force, a fire company, a lending library, a city hospital, and the forerunner of the University of Pennsylvania. He invented a free-standing fireplace called the Franklin stove, bifocal eyeglasses, and proved that lightning was electricity through the famous kite experiment. And he invented Daylight Savings Time, the odometer, and swim fins!

Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1706. He was the eighth ot ten children of Josiah and Abiah, though Josiah already had seven children from a first marriage. He was apprenticed to his brother James in the printing business, but felt unhappy and decided to leave home.

He left Boston in 1723 at the age of 17 owning nothing, and within seven years was the owner of the newspaper The Pennsylvania Gazette. He also published Poor Richard's Almanac, famous for its witty sayings. He married Deborah Reed Rogers in 1730. They had a son, Francis, who died of smallpox at the age of four, and a daughter Sarah whom he called Sally and remained close to all of his life. He also had an illegitimate son, William, who traveled with him often. During the Revolution, they would become estranged.

Franklin served in the Pennsylvania Legislature, and went to London in 1757 as a representative of the colony. Several more colonies would enlist his aid with their dealing with the English government. He would spend most of his years in London until he returned home in 1775, one year after his wife's sudden death. He was immediately thrust into the events of the Revolution. (See above)

During the Revolution, he was sent to France where he negotiated the Treaty of Alliance, which led to French help in the war. He became the first Minister to France. He died in Philadelphia on April 17, 1790.