Ben Franklin was truly one of the marquee members of the Founding generation. No American spent longer on the world stage nor had more impact in a greater variety of areas than this brilliant man.

Ben Franklin returned to America in September 1785 having been away for eight years. The nation to which he returned was struggling under the Articles of Confederation, and consequently, a convention was called to address these issues. Pennsylvania named Franklin as one of their delegates. Despite being 81 years old and in poor health, Franklin willing gave his services to America.

America declared its independence from England on July 4, 1776, but our leaders knew that success would depend on securing the assistance of France, England’s eternal enemy. In December 1776, Congress sent Ben Franklin to Paris to negotiate with the French. Although Franklin was seventy years old and in poor health, he willingly accepted the post as he was now fully committed to the American cause.

In the decade preceding the American Revolution, Ben Franklin worked to reconcile differences between England and her American colonies. Franklin’s position began to change after John Dickinson published a series of articles entitled Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania. Disillusioned with King George’s policies, Franklin left England for America in March 1775. After arriving home, Pennsylvania chose Franklin as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, then convening in Philadelphia.

Ben Franklin became a member of the Philadelphia City Council in 1748, beginning more than four decades in American politics. As deputy postmaster-general, he began to consider the colonies as one entity instead of thirteen individual parts, and even proposed a plan of union at the Albany Congress in 1754.

Ben Franklin was one of the world’s foremost inventors and scientists, using his creative genius for the betterment of mankind. His most famous discovery came in the field of electricity, which became his all-consuming passion. Amazingly, Franklin refused to patent any of his inventions as he felt they should be shared.

Ben Franklin devoted much of his life to the betterment of mankind. He notably did this in the areas of science and politics, but he also worked to improve his local community.

Ben Franklin wrote two of the greatest treasures of American literature, Poor Richard’s Almanack and his autobiography. Through both, readers had a chance to see the world from the perspective of one of the most talented men America has ever produced.

Ben Franklin got his first taste of the printing business in 1718 when he turned twelve and entered an apprenticeship at his brother’s Boston newspaper, The New-England Courant. He would eventually own eight of the fifteen newspapers in the American colonies, making him one of the richest men in America.

Ben Franklin was one of the most extraordinary men America has ever produced. Born in Boston on January 17, 1706, to a soap and candle maker who emigrated to America in 1683, Franklin had only two years of formal schooling before going to work for his father. After a few years, he went to work as an apprentice printer for his older brother James who owned a newspaper called The New-England Courant. That job would spark an interest that led to a prosperous career in printing.