Benjamin Franklin :: Biography Biographies Benjamin Franklin Essays

Benjamin FranklinIn his many careers as a printer, moralist, essaylist, civicleader, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, andphilosopher, Benjamin Franklin Became both a spokesmanand a model for the national address of subsequent generationsof Americans. After less than two years of hammeralschooling, Franklin was pressed into his fathers trade. Atthe age of 16, Franklin wrote some pieces in acourant,Silence Dogwood. Though hard up andunknown, Franklin soon found a job as a printer. Aafter ayear he went to England, where he became a masterprinter, sowed some wild oats, amaze Londoners withhis swimming feats, and lived among the famous writers ofLondon. In 17227, Franklin began his career as a civicleader by organizing a club of aspiring tradesmen called theJJunto, which met each week for sermon and planning.Franklin began yet another career when in 1740 heinvented the Pennsylvania fireplace, later called the Franklinstove, which soon heated buildings all over Europe andNorth America. He overly read treaties on electricity and andbegan a series of experiments with his friends inPhiladelphia. Experiments he proposed, first tried in Francein 1752, showed that lightning was in fact a form of electricity. Later that year his famous kite experiment, inwhich he flew a kite with the wire attached to a key duringa thunderstorm. His later achievements included formulatinga theory of heat absorption, measuring Gulf Stream,designing ships, tracking storm paths, and inventing bifocallenses. In 1751, Franklin was elected to the PennsylvaniaAssembly, causing the antecedent of nearly 40 years as apuublic official. At home from 1762 to 1764, Franklintraveled throghout the colonies, reorganizing theAAmerican postal system. He also built aa new house onMarket Street in Philadelphia, now reconstructed and opento visitors, and otherwise provided for his family. FromApril 1775 to October 1776, Franklin served on thePennsylvania Committee of Safety and in the ContinentalCo ngress, submitted articles of confederation for the linkedcolonies, proposed a new constitution for Pennsylvania,and helped draft the Decclaration of Independence.