Benjamin Franklin Research Paper

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Benjamin Franklin is one of America’s most famous and recognized political figures in American history. Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. He is much more than the only man who signed all four of the key documents establishing the U.S.: the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Treaty of Alliance with France (1778), the Treaty of Paris establishing peace with Great Britain (1783) and the U.S. Constitution (1787). He was scientist, author, publisher, statesman, inventor and diplomat. With little to no education Ben became one of the most important and successful people in American history Franklin was born into a Boston family of “modest means”, Ben’s father Josiah Franklin (1657-1745), was a Boston native who made …show more content…

He did so well at his new job that the governor of Pennsylvania promised to set him up in business for himself if Franklin would just go to London to buy fonts and printing equipment. Unfortunately the governor didn’t follow through with his promise and Ben was forced to live in London for several months doing Print work. Upon returning to Philadelphia, Franklin attempted helping to run a shop, but soon went back to being a printer's helper. Franklin was a better printer than the man he was working for, so he borrowed some money and set himself up in the printing business. Franklin appeared to work all the time, and the citizens of Philadelphia began to notice the diligent young businessman. Soon he began getting the contract to do government jobs and started doing very well in his …show more content…

He organized the Junto, a young working-man's group dedicated to self- and-civic improvement. He also joined the Masons and was a very busy man socially. Franklin thoroughly enjoyed working and was very good at it. In an era where almanacs were very popular and printed annually, Ben decided to make his own under the name Richard Saunders who was a poor man trying to make some money to take care of his carping wife. “Poor Richard’s Almanac” contained things like weather reports, recipes, predictions and homilies. The only thing that made Ben’s almanac stand out from the rest was is writing style and witty aphorisms such as “A penny saved is a penny earned”. Ben also was the founder of modern Fire Prevention. Fires were very dangerous threat to Philadelphians, so Franklin set about trying to remedy the situation. In 1736, he organized Philadelphia's Union Fire Company, the first in the city. His famous saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," was actually fire-fighting

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