Benjamin Franklin

Famous Birthdays Datebook: January 17

American diplomat and statesman, one of America's greatest inventors

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston, Massachusetts Bay. He was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A world-renowned polymath, he was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. He published the popular and witty Poor Richard's Almanac. He made a number of inventions, and initiated a great many improvements in Philadelphia, including a fire company, a university, and a library. He facilitated many civic organizations.

As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the  lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions. 

Franklin earned 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 exemplified the emerging American nation. He was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical 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.

Always proud of his working class roots, Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, then the  leading city in the colonies. He became wealthy publishing Poor Richard's Almanac and The Pennsylvania Gazette. He was also the printer of books for the Moravians of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. 

As a statesman, Benjamin Franklin helped draft and sign the American Declaration of Independence. He was also one of the signatories of the peace treaty in Paris, France, that ended the Revolution.  As a statesman, Franklin represented Philadelphia at the Albany Congress, where he proposed that the colonies unite under an elected council, among others. He spent many years in England as a diplomat before the American Revolution, in an attempt to reconcile differences between Britain and the colonies.  From 1785 to 1788, he served as Governor of Pennsylvania. Toward the end of his life, he freed his own slaves and became one of the most prominent abolitionists.

As an accomplished diplomat, he was admired among the French as American minister to Paris and was a major figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations. His efforts in supporting the American Revolution by shipments of crucial munitions proved vital for the American war effort. He was the British postmaster for the colonies for many years, which enabled him to set up the first national communications network. He became a national hero in America when as agent for several colonies he spearheaded the effort to have Parliament in London repeal the unpopular Stamp Act.

As an educator, Franklin played a major role in establishing the University of Pennsylvania and was elected the first president of the American Philosophical Society.

Franklin died on April 17, 1790, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). 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 with cultural references, on coinage and the $100 bill; warships, names of towns, counties, educational instiiitutions, and companies.



Resources:


Benjamin Franklin: Glimpses of the Man. Franklin Institute. Accessed January 17, 2012

Benjamin Franklin. History: American Revolution. Accessed January 17, 2012 

Brands, H.W.  The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin (2010) 

The Electric Ben Franklin. www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/. Accessed January 17, 2012


Image Credit:

Benjamin Franklin. National Portrait Gallery. en.wikipedia.org. Public Domain

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