Benjamin Franklin

Franklin was born on Jan. 17, 1706 and he died on April 17, 1790 at the age of 84.
Franklin was born in Boston Massachusetts. He did not graduate from school. He did learn to read and was self taught. At the age of ten he went to work for his father who was a candle maker.
When he went to school his father wanted him to be a minister. Franklin was not real sure about this job prospect. Because of a lack of funds he had to stop his schooling and he was apprenticed to his brother to learn the printing trade. He worked at this trade for several years and fell back on it when he needed employment throughout his adult years.
He was a well known scientist, politician, and writer.
At the age of seventeen, he ran away to Philedelphia where he worked in several printing shops. A few years later he went to England and worked as a printer there. When he returned to the colonies he continued working as a printer. He formed a group of men who liked to discuss the current events of the day. Because the men in this group like to read, Franklin eventually formed the first public library in the colonies. At this time books were very scarce.
Eventually, Franklin would set up and run his own printing press. Here he published the Pennsylvania Gazette. He eventually became wealthy through his publishing of the Poor Richard’s Almanac. Poor Richard’s Almanac was published by him under the pseudonym of Richard Saunders for several years.
He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, Franklin stove, and glass harmonica. Franklin worked with a cousin, who was a ship’s captain, to understand and name the currents known as the “Gulf Stream”, which is found in the Atlantic Ocean.
He formed the first Fire department and the first library in America.
Before the Revolution began Franklin became very popular concerning his opinions about the repeal of the Stamp Act by Parliament. During the American Revolution he was able to work to secure the alliance between the new nation and France which gave the colonist much financial support.
He was also the Post Master General of the Post Office. In his later years of life Benjamin Franklin became an abolitionness.
Franklin was the signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the uS Constitution. Through his life he believed in hardwork and honesty, which were apart of the Puritan beliefs.