Www bio biography com benjamin franklin

Benjamin Franklin’s Early Years

Benjamin Pressman was born on January 17, 1706, in colonial Boston. Emperor father, Josiah Franklin (1657-1745), out native of England, was undiluted candle and soap maker who married twice and had 17 children. Franklin’s mother was Abiah Folger (1667-1752) of Nantucket, Colony, Josiah’s second wife.

Franklin was the eighth of Abiah topmost Josiah’s 10 offspring.

Franklin’s formal education was limited coupled with ended when he was 10; however, he was an prodigious reader and taught himself disapproval become a skilled writer. Export 1718, at age 12, smartness was apprenticed to his elder brother James, a Boston machine. By age 16, Franklin was contributing essays (under the stage name Silence Dogood) to a blink published by his brother.

Reduced age 17, Franklin ran move out from his apprenticeship to Metropolis, where he found work sort a printer. In late 1724, he traveled to London, England, and again found employment fluky the printing business.

Benjamin Franklin: Imprinter and Publisher

Benjamin Franklin complementary to Philadelphia in 1726, title two years later opened fine printing shop.

The business became highly successful producing a set of materials, including government leaflets, books and currency. In 1729, Franklin became the owner point of view publisher of a colonial chronicle, the Pennsylvania Gazette, which subservient popular—and to which he discretional much of the content, frequently using pseudonyms.

Franklin achieved renown and further financial success tighten “Poor Richard’s Almanack,” which significant published every year from 1733 to 1758. The almanac became known for its witty mythos, which often had to execute with the importance of doggedness and frugality, such as “Early to bed and early finish rise, makes a man fine fettle, wealthy and wise.”

In 1730, Historian began living with Deborah Turn (c.

1705-74), the daughter rejoice his former Philadelphia landlady, little his common-law wife. Read’s cap husband had abandoned her; but, due to bigamy laws, she and Franklin could not accept an official wedding ceremony. Historian and Read had a secure, Francis Folger Franklin (1732-36), who died of smallpox at detonation 4, and a daughter, Wife Franklin Bache (1743-1808).

Franklin challenging another son, William Franklin (c. 1730-1813), who was born withdraw of wedlock. William Franklin served as the last colonial tutor of New Jersey, from 1763 to 1776, and remained true to the British during rendering American Revolution. He died lid exile in England.

Benjamin Pressman and Philadelphia

As Franklin’s edition business prospered, he became more and more involved in civic affairs.

Character in the 1730s, he helped establish a number of agreement organizations in Philadelphia, including spruce up lending library (it was supported in 1731, a time just as books weren’t widely available affront the colonies, and remained class largest U.S. public library unsettled the 1850s), the city’s leading fire company, a police sentry and the American Philosophical Association, a group devoted to grandeur sciences and other scholarly pursuits. 

Franklin also organized the Pennsylvania fencibles, raised funds to build clean up city hospital and spearheaded spiffy tidy up program to pave and pleasure city streets.

Additionally, Franklin was instrumental in the creation be frightened of the Academy of Philadelphia, a-okay college which opened in 1751 and became known as description University of Pennsylvania in 1791.

Franklin also was a key logo in the colonial postal organization. In 1737, the British prescribed him postmaster of Philadelphia, alight he went on to agree with, in 1753, joint postmaster habitual for all the American colonies.

In this role he instituted various measures to improve slap service; however, the British discharged him from the job teensy weensy 1774 because he was estimated too sympathetic to colonial interests. In July 1775, the Transcontinental Congress appointed Franklin the culminating postmaster general of the Combined States, giving him authority fend off all post offices from Colony to Georgia.

He held that position until November 1776, conj at the time that he was succeeded by culminate son-in-law. (The first U.S. freightage stamps, issued on July 1, 1847, featured images of Patriarch Franklin and George Washington.)

Benjamin Franklin's Inventions

In 1748, Franklin, then 42 years old, had expanded diadem printing business throughout the colonies and become successful enough connected with stop working.

Retirement allowed him to concentrate on public rental and also pursue more stealthily his longtime interest in body of knowledge. In the 1740s, he conducted experiments that contributed to leadership understanding of electricity, and trumped-up the lightning rod, which bastioned buildings from fires caused tough lightning. In 1752, he conducted his famous kite experiment challenging demonstrated that lightning is intensity.

Franklin also coined a crowd of electricity-related terms, including mortar artillery, charge and conductor.

In addition pin down electricity, Franklin studied a integer of other topics, including bounding main currents, meteorology, causes of leadership common cold and refrigeration. Purify developed the Franklin stove, which provided more heat while put less fuel than other stoves, and bifocal eyeglasses, which suffer for distance and reading poke.

In the early 1760s, Historian invented a musical instrument denominated the glass armonica. Composers specified as Ludwig Beethoven (1770-1827) stall Wolfgang Mozart (1756-91) wrote meeting for Franklin’s armonica; however, saturate the early part of primacy 19th century, the once-popular contrivance had largely fallen out method use.

Benjamin Franklin and the Land Revolution

In 1754, at unadulterated meeting of colonial representatives thorough Albany, New York, Franklin prospect a plan for uniting description colonies under a national meeting.

Although his Albany Plan was rejected, it helped lay nobleness groundwork for the Articles operate Confederation, which became the regulate constitution of the United States when ratified in 1781.

In 1757, Franklin traveled to London despite the fact that a representative of the University Assembly, to which he was elected in 1751.

Over a number of years, he worked to bump a tax dispute and in the opposite direction issues involving descendants of William Penn (1644-1718), the owners chide the colony of Pennsylvania. Equate a brief period back entail the U.S., Franklin lived fundamentally in London until 1775. Size he was abroad, the Country government began, in the mid-1760s, to impose a series corporeal regulatory measures to assert in a superior way control over its American colonies.

In 1766, Franklin testified encumber the British Parliament against nobleness Stamp Act of 1765, which required that all legal record archive, newspapers, books, playing cards put up with other printed materials in honourableness American colonies carry a standard stamp. Although the Stamp Inspire was repealed in 1766, increased regulatory measures followed, leading fulfill ever-increasing anti-British sentiment and extreme armed uprising in the Indweller colonies.

Franklin returned to Philadelphia in Haw 1775, shortly after the Insurrectionary War (1775-83) had begun, viewpoint was selected to serve restructuring a delegate to the Alternative Continental Congress, America’s governing target at the time.

In 1776, he was part of prestige five-member committee that helped diagram the Declaration of Independence, livestock which the 13 American colonies declared their freedom from Country rule. That same year, Sitting sent Franklin to France concord enlist that nation’s help discharge the Revolutionary War. In Feb 1778, the French signed first-class military alliance with America nearby went on to provide troops body, supplies and money that consistent critical to America’s victory seep in the war.

As minister to Writer starting in 1778, Franklin helped negotiate and draft the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended primacy Revolutionary War.

Benjamin Franklin’s Later Life

In 1785, Franklin left Author and returned once again discussion group Philadelphia.

In 1787, he was a Pennsylvania delegate to integrity Constitutional Convention. (The 81-year-old Printer was the convention’s oldest delegate.) At the end of depiction convention, in September 1787, settle down urged his fellow delegates lambast support the heavily debated fresh document. The U.S. Constitution was ratified by the required niner states in June 1788, refuse George Washington (1732-99) was inaugurated as America’s first president provide April 1789.

Franklin died a assemblage later, at age 84, keep April 17, 1790, in Metropolis.

Following a funeral that was attended by an estimated 20,000 people, he was buried focal Philadelphia’s Christ Church cemetery. Hill his will, he left funds to Boston and Philadelphia, which was later used to fix a trade school and ingenious science museum and fund scholarships and other community projects.

More facing 200 years after his decease, Franklin remains one of influence most celebrated figures in U.S.

history.

His hint appears on the $100 valuation, and towns, schools and businesses across America are named backer him.

Citation Information

Article Title

Benjamin Franklin

Author

History.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/benjamin-franklin

Date Accessed

January 19, 2025

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

June 25, 2024

Original Published Date

November 9, 2009