1706–1790 · Printer, scientist and diplomat

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was never President, yet few Americans did more to found the country. He was a printer, writer, scientist, inventor, civic builder and diplomat, and the only founder who signed all four of the key documents of the nation's founding.

A runaway apprentice

Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706, the son of a candle and soap maker. He was apprenticed to his brother James, a printer. As a teenager he secretly slipped letters under the shop door signed "Silence Dogood," a fictional middle-aged widow, and James printed them without knowing who wrote them. At 17 Franklin ran away to Philadelphia, arriving with a few coins and famously buying three puffy rolls.

Printer and writer

Franklin built a printing business that made him wealthy enough to retire at 42. From 1732 to 1758 he published Poor Richard's Almanack under the name Richard Saunders, filled with proverbs that are still quoted. He also kept a little book tracking thirteen virtues, starting with temperance and ending, after a friend's teasing, with humility.

A builder of institutions

In 1731 Franklin helped found the Library Company of Philadelphia, a subscription library where members pooled money to buy books. He also helped organize a fire company, a hospital and an academy that became the University of Pennsylvania.

Scientist and inventor

Franklin's kite experiment of 1752 showed that lightning is electricity, and it led to his lightning rod, which saved countless buildings from fire. He invented bifocals, the Franklin stove and the glass armonica, and he worked with a cousin who was a ship captain to chart the Gulf Stream for sailors.

Uniting the colonies

In 1754 Franklin printed "Join, or Die," a cartoon of a snake cut into pieces, each standing for a colony, to promote colonial union. In 1775 the Continental Congress made him the first Postmaster General. He served on the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence.

Diplomat in Paris

Sent to France in 1776, Franklin became a celebrity there. After the American victory at Saratoga, his diplomacy won the 1778 alliance with France, whose money, troops and ships proved decisive. He also helped negotiate the 1783 Treaty of Paris, in which Britain recognized American independence.

The Constitution

At 81, Franklin was the oldest delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. When debates deadlocked he proposed opening each day with prayer, and his humor often calmed tempers. Asked what the delegates had created, he reportedly answered, "A republic, if you can keep it."

Quick facts

• Born: January 17, 1706, Boston
• Died: April 17, 1790, Philadelphia
• Signed: the Declaration, the French alliance, the Treaty of Paris and the Constitution
• On money: the one-hundred-dollar bill

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