Be n jam i n Fr ank lin

(1706-1790)

Noted polymath
Printer Author Scientist Inventor Musician Politician Diplomat

Birth and childhood

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the tenth son of seventeen children. His parents could only afford to send him to school for two years. As a child, Benjamin was an avid reader.

A Printers Apprentice
Acrostic Sent to Benjamin Franklin, New England, July 15, 1710

Tis time for me to throw aside my pen, When hanging sleeves read, write, and rhyme like men. This forward spring foretells a plenteous crop; For, if the bud bear grain, what will the top! If plenty in the verdant blade appear, What may we not soon hope for in the ear! When flowers are beautiful before they're blown, What rarities will afterward be shown! If trees good fruit un'noculated bear, You may be sure it will afterward be rare. If fruits are sweet before they've time to yellow, How luscious will they be when they are mellow! If first years' shoots such noble clusters send, What laden boughs, Engedi-like, may we expect in the end!

Apprenticeship
In 1718, Franklin began his apprenticeship at his brothers printer shop.

He published his first editorial in The New England Courant under the
pseudonym Silence Dogood. The fourteen letters were intended to mock various aspects of colonial life like religious hypocrisy and excess of alcohol.

September 10, 1722 Silence Dogood #12

I cannot pretend to account for the different Effects of Liquor on Persons of different Dispositions, who are guilty of Excess in the Use of it. 'Tis strange to see Men of a regular Conversation become rakish and profane when intoxicated with Drink, and yet more surprizing to observe, that some who appear to be the most profligate Wretches when sober, become mighty religious in their Cups, and will then, and at no other Time address their Maker, but when they

are destitute of Reason, and actually affronting him. Some shrink in the Wetting, and others
swell to such an unusual Bulk in their Imaginations, that they can in an Instant understand all Arts and Sciences, by the liberal Education of a little vivifying Punch, or a sufficient Quantity of other exhilerating Liquor.


At the age of seventeen, Benjamin ran away to Philadelphia. In 1725, he published his first pamphlet, A Dissertation upon Liberty and

Necessity, Pleasure and Pain.

By 1730, he was already the owner of his own printing shop. The same year, he established an informal marriage with Deborah Read, with whom he had three children.

 In 1732, he published The Pennsylvania Gazette.

He became famous and wealthy with Poor Richards Almanack, for which he used the pseudonym Richard Saunders.

Thirteen virtues
1. TEMPERANCE Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation. 2. SILENCE 3. ORDER 5. FRUGALITY 6. INDUSTRY 7. SINCERITY 8. JUSTICE Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty. 4. RESOLUTION Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

9. MODERATION Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve. 10. CLEANLINESS Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation. 11.TRANQUILLITY Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable. 12. CHASTITY 13. HUMILITY Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of Imitate Jesus and Socrates. your own or another's peace or reputation.

The Scientist
Franklin experimented with many ideas, particularly electricity and nature. The Franklin Experiment He was the first to label electrical charge as positive and negative. He predicted a storms path could be plotted. He charted the Gulf Stream in great detail.

Social innovations
Franklin created the concept of paying it forward. Daylight Savings Time First Public Lending Library First volunteer fire company in U.S. Mapped the postal route for the entire U.S.

Inventions

Odometer Lightning rod Swim fins Glass harmonica

Bifocals Library chair The Franklin Stove The flexible catheter

The Politician
The Pennsylvania Assembly The Albany Plan First Postmaster General Delegate to the Continental Congress U.S. Ambassador to France

Honors
Honorary degrees from Cambridge, Oxford and University of Edinburgh Doctorate of laws from the University of St. Andrews

Member of the Royal Society London

Awarded the prestigious Copley Medal

Member of the Academy of Sciences Paris

Founding Father
Appointed one of the committee of five, including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston, to prepare the

Declaration of Independence (July 4th, 1776)

Constitution (1787)

Alliance Treaty with France

Peace Treaty

Death
Benjamin Franklin died on April 17th, 1790 at the age of 84. Wrote his own epitaph at age 22: The Body of B. Franklin Printer; Like the Cover of an old Book, Its Contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Gilding, Lies here, Food for Worms. But the Work shall not be wholly lost: For it will, as he believ'd, appear once more, In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and Amended By the Author. Approximately 20,000 people attended his funeral.

Legacy

First American The only person to sign all five documents that lead to the future republic His inventions and public service innovations brought new standards of life.

Memorable Quotes
The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself. Honesty is the best policy. Lifes tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late. Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

An investment in knowledge pays the most interest.

Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.

Works Cited

Presented by: Ramona Anghel David Danley