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Brainy Quote ~ Benjamin Franklin 001 Page 1
Brainy Quote ~ Benjamin Franklin 010
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth
writing.” ~ Benjamin Franklin 010 ~ Ok
"Tulislah sesuatu yang layak dibaca atau lakukan sesuatu yang
berharga untuk ditulis." ~ Benjamin Franklin 010 ~ Ok
Anda mampu menulis sesuatu yang menarik untuk dibaca? Apa
tujuannya? Untuk memberi inspirasi bagi pembaca. Apakah Anda mampu
melakukan sesuatu yang berharga untuk ditulis? Untuk apa? Untuk
memberi motivasi sekaligus menginspirasi orang lain. Yang manapun
pilihannya, keduanya baik. Sejauh kita memang layak untuk salah
satunya.
Benjamin Franklin, dikenal sebagai Bapak Pendiri Amerika
Serikat, berkebangsaan Amerika, hidup dalam rentang tahun
1706-1790, pernah memberikan quote, ‘Either write something worth
reading or do something worth writing.’ Secara bebas diterjemahkan,
‘Tulislah sesuatu yang layak dibaca atau lakukan sesuatu yang
berharga untuk ditulis.’
Kita adalah teladan yang hidup, baik lewat tulisan, terlebih
lewat karya perbuatan. Setiap orang memiliki tanggung jawab untuk
berkontribusi sepanjang hidupnya. Setiap orang memiliki talenta
yang darinya, ia akan dikenang oleh generasi setelahnnya. Ada
seorang yang terus dikenang lewat tulisannya. Contohnya, Ibu RA
Kartini. Ia dikenang karena tulisannya lewat buku “Habis Gelap
Terbitlah Terang”. Namun, ada orang yang dikenang karena
perbuatannya. Ia tidak pernah menulis sebuah buku pun. Orang lain
yang menulis tentang karyanya. Contohnya, Bunda Teresa.
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Brainy Quote ~ Benjamin Franklin 001 Page 2
Setiap orang harus memberi karya, agar generasi setelahnya tahu
bahwa pernah ada seorang yang hidup dengan tulisan atau perbuatan
tertentu. Dengan demikian, generasi mendatang memperoleh inspirasi
untuk melakukan hal yang sama atau bahkan melebihinya.
Bila kita memiliki role model sebagai acuan, kita dapat memberi
sesuatu bagi kehidupan banyak orang. Menulislah, bila engkau
memiliki talenta dalam menulis. Berbuatlah sesuatu, sehingga lewat
perbuatanmu, layak untuk dituliskan sebagai warisan bagi generasi
setelahmu.
Mulailah dari hal kecil. Karena, karya yang besar hanya ada
lewat perbuatan atau tindakan kecil yang terakumulasi dalam rentang
waktu yang Panjang.
Indonesia, 31 Oktober 2018
Riset Corporation
---
Benjamin Franklin Biography
Diplomat, Inventor, Writer, Scientist (1706–1790)
Benjamin Franklin is best known as one of the Founding Fathers
who drafted the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of
the United States.
Who Was Benjamin Franklin?
Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 to April 17, 1790) was a
Founding Father and a polymath, inventor, scientist, printer,
politician, freemason and diplomat. Franklin helped to draft the
Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, and he
negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War.
His scientific pursuits included investigations into electricity,
mathematics and mapmaking. A writer known for his wit and wisdom,
Franklin also published Poor Richard’s Almanack, invented bifocal
glasses and organized the first successful American lending
library.
Benjamin Franklin’s Inventions and Discoveries
Benjamin Franklin was a prolific inventor and scientist who was
responsible for the following inventions:
- Franklin stove: Franklin’s first invention, created around
1740, provided more heat with less fuel.
- Bifocals. Anyone tired of switching between two pairs of
glasses understands why Franklin developed bifocals that could be
used for both distance and reading.
- Armonica. Franklin’s inventions took on a musical bent when,
in 1761, he commenced development on the armonica, a musical
instrument composed of spinning glass bowls on a shaft. Both Ludwig
van Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed music for the
strange instrument.
- Rocking chair
- Flexible catheter
- American penny
Franklin also discovered the Gulf Stream after his return trip
across the Atlantic Ocean from London in 1775. He began to
speculate about why the westbound trip always took longer, and
http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/declaration-of-independencehttp://www.history.com/topics/constitutionhttp://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/treaty-of-parishttp://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/treaty-of-parishttp://www.history.com/topics/american-revolutionhttp://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/poor-richards-almanack-is-published
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Brainy Quote ~ Benjamin Franklin 001 Page 3
his measurements of ocean temperatures led to his discovery of
the existence of the Gulf Stream. This knowledge served to cut two
weeks off the previous sailing time from Europe to North
America.
Franklin even devised a new “scheme” for the alphabet that
proposed to eliminate the letters C, J, Q, W, X and Y as
redundant.
Franklin’s self-education earned him honorary degrees from
Harvard, Yale, England’s Oxford University and Scotland’s
University of St. Andrews in Scotland. In 1749, Franklin wrote a
pamphlet concerning the education of youth in Pennsylvania that
resulted in the establishment of the Academy of Philadelphia, now
the University of Pennsylvania.
Benjamin Franklin and Electricity
In 1752, Benjamin Franklin conducted the famous kite-and-key
experiment to demonstrate that lightning was electricity and soon
after invented the lightning rod. His investigations into
electrical phenomena were compiled into “Experiments and
Observations on Electricity,” published in England in 1751. He
coined new electricity-related terms that are still part of the
lexicon, such as battery, charge, conductor and electrify.
Was Benjamin Franklin President of the U.S.?
Benjamin Franklin was never elected President of the United
States. However he played an important role as one of seven
Founding Fathers, helping draft the Declaration of Independence and
the U.S. Constitution. He also served several roles in the
government: He was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly and
appointed as the first postmaster general for the colonies as well
as diplomat to France. He was a true polymath and entrepreneur,
which is no doubt why he is often called the “First American.”
Franklin’s Wife and Kids
In 1723, Benjamin Franklin moved from Boston to Philadelphia and
lodged at the home of John Read, where he met and courted his
landlord’s daughter Deborah. After moving to London in 1724,
Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1726 to find that Deborah had
married in the interim, only to be abandoned by her husband just
months after the wedding.
The future Founding Father eventually rekindled his romance with
Deborah Read and he took her as his common-law wife in 1730. Around
that time, Franklin fathered a son, William, out of wedlock who was
taken in by the couple. The pair’s first son, Francis, was born in
1732, but he died four years later of smallpox. The couple’s only
daughter, Sarah, was born in 1743.
The two times Benjamin Franklin moved to London, in 1757 and
again in 1764, it was without Deborah, who refused to leave
Philadelphia. His second stay was the last time the couple saw each
other. Franklin would not return home before Deborah passed away in
1774 from a stroke at the age of 66.
In 1762, Franklin’s son William took office as New Jersey’s
royal governor, a position his father arranged through his
political connections in the British government. Franklin’s later
support for the patriot cause put him at odds with his loyalist
son. When the New Jersey militia stripped William Franklin of his
post as royal governor and imprisoned him, in 1776, his father
chose not to intercede on his behalf.
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When and Where Was Benjamin Franklin Born?
Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston in
what was then known as the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Childhood
Benjamin Franklin’s father, English-born soap and candle maker
Josiah Franklin, had seven children with first wife, Anne Child,
and 10 more with second wife, Abiah Folger. Ben was his 15th child
and youngest son.
Ben learned to read at an early age, and despite his success at
the Boston Latin School, he stopped his formal schooling at 10 to
work full-time in his cash-strapped father’s candle and soap shop.
Dipping wax and cutting wicks didn’t fire the young boy’s
imagination, however. Perhaps to dissuade him from going to sea as
one of his brothers had done, Josiah apprenticed 12-year-old Ben at
the print shop run by his brother James.
Although James mistreated and frequently beat his younger
brother, Ben learned a great deal about newspaper publishing and
adopted a similar brand of subversive politics under the printer’s
tutelage. When James refused to publish any of his brother’s
writing, 16-year-old Ben adopted the pseudonym Mrs. Silence Dogood,
and “her” 14 imaginative and witty letters delighted readers of his
brother’s newspaper, The New England Courant. James grew angry,
however, when he learned that his apprentice had penned the
letters.
Tired of his brother’s “harsh and tyrannical” behavior, Ben fled
Boston in 1723 although he had three years remaining on a legally
binding contract with his master. He escaped to New York before
settling in Philadelphia and began working with another printer.
Philadelphia became his home base for the rest of his life.
Living in London
Encouraged by Pennsylvania Governor William Keith to set up his
own print shop, Franklin left for London in 1724 to purchase
supplies from stationers, booksellers and printers. When the
teenager arrived in England, however, he felt duped when Keith’s
letters of introduction never arrived as promised.
Although forced to find work at London’s print shops, Franklin
took full advantage of the city’s pleasures—attending theater
performances, mingling with the locals in coffee houses and
continuing his lifelong passion for reading. A self-taught swimmer
who crafted his own wooden flippers, Franklin performed
long-distance swims on the Thames River. (In 1968, he was inducted
as an honorary member of the International Swimming Hall of
Fame.)
In 1725 Franklin published his first pamphlet, "A Dissertation
upon Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain," which argued that
humans lack free will and, thus, are not morally responsible for
their actions. (Franklin later repudiated this thought and burned
all but one copy of the pamphlet still in his possession.)
Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia
Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1726, and over the next few
years he held varied jobs including bookkeeper, shopkeeper and
currency cutter. In 1728 he returned to a familiar trade
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printing paper currency in New Jersey before partnering with a
friend to open his own print shop in Philadelphia that published
government pamphlets and books.
In 1730 Franklin was named the official printer of Pennsylvania.
By that time, he had formed the “Junto,” a social and
self-improvement study group for young men that met every Friday to
debate morality, philosophy and politics. When Junto members sought
to expand their reading choices, Franklin helped to incorporate
America’s first subscription library, the Library Company of
Philadelphia, in 1731.
In 1729 Franklin published another pamphlet, "A Modest Enquiry
into The Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency," which advocated
for an increase in the money supply to stimulate the economy.
With the cash Franklin earned from his money-related treatise,
he was able to purchase The Pennsylvania Gazette newspaper from a
former boss. Under his ownership, the struggling newspaper was
transformed into the most widely-read paper in the colonies and
became one of the first to turn a profit. He had less luck in 1732
when he launched the first German-language newspaper in the
colonies, the short-lived Philadelphische Zeitung. Franklin’s
prominence and success grew during the 1730s.
Franklin amassed real estate and businesses and organized the
volunteer Union Fire Company to counteract dangerous fire hazards
in Philadelphia. He joined the Freemasons in 1731 and was
eventually elected grand master of the Masons of Pennsylvania.
Poor Richard's Almanack
At the end of 1732, Benjamin Franklin published the first
edition of Poor Richard’s Almanack. In addition to weather
forecasts, astronomical information and poetry, the almanac—which
Franklin published for 25 consecutive years—included proverbs and
Franklin’s witty maxims such as “Early to bed and early to rise,
makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” and “He that lies down with
dogs, shall rise up with fleas.”
Scientist and Inventor
In the 1740s, Franklin expanded into science and
entrepreneurship. His 1743 pamphlet "A Proposal for Promoting
Useful Knowledge" underscored his interests and served as the
founding document of the American Philosophical Society, the first
scientific society in the colonies.
By 1748, the 42-year-old Franklin had become one of the richest
men in Pennsylvania, and he became a soldier in the Pennsylvania
militia. He turned his printing business over to a partner to give
himself more time to conduct scientific experiments. He moved into
a new house in 1748.
Benjamin Franklin and Slavery
In 1748, Franklin acquired the first of his slaves to work in
the new home and in the print shop. Franklin’s views on slavery
evolved over the following decades to the point that he considered
the institution inherently evil, and thus, he freed his slaves in
the 1760s. Later in life, he became more vociferous in his
opposition to slavery. Franklin served as president of the
Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and
wrote many tracts urging the abolition of slavery. In 1790 he
petitioned the U.S. Congress to end slavery and the slave
trade.
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Election to the Government
Franklin became a member of Philadelphia’s city council in 1748
and a justice of the peace the following year. In 1751, he was
elected a Philadelphia alderman and a representative to the
Pennsylvania Assembly, a position to which he was re-elected
annually until 1764. Two years later, he accepted a royal
appointment as deputy postmaster general of North America.
When the French and Indian War began in 1754, Franklin called on
the colonies to band together for their common defense, which he
dramatized in The Pennsylvania Gazette with a cartoon of a snake
cut into sections with the caption “Join or Die.” He represented
Pennsylvania at the Albany Congress, which adopted his proposal to
create a unified government for the 13 colonies. Franklin’s “Plan
of Union,” however, failed to be ratified by the colonies.
In 1757 Franklin was appointed by the Pennsylvania Assembly to
serve as the colony’s agent in England. Franklin sailed to London
to negotiate a long-standing dispute with the proprietors of the
colony, the Penn family, taking William and his two slaves but
leaving behind Deborah and Sarah. He spent most of the next two
decades in London, where he was drawn to the high society and
intellectual salons of the cosmopolitan city.
After Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1762, he toured the
colonies to inspect its post offices.
The Stamp Act and Declaration of Independence
After Franklin lost his seat in the Pennsylvania Assembly in
1764, he returned to London as the colony’s agent. Franklin
returned at a tense time in Great Britain’s relations with the
American colonies. The British Parliament’s passage of the Stamp
Act in March 1765 imposed a highly unpopular tax on all printed
materials for commercial and legal use in the American colonies.
Since Franklin purchased stamps for his printing business and
nominated a friend as the Pennsylvania stamp distributor, some
colonists thought Franklin implicitly supported the new tax, and
rioters in Philadelphia even threatened his house. Franklin’s
passionate denunciation of the tax in testimony before Parliament,
however, contributed to the Stamp Act’s repeal in 1766.
Two years later he penned a pamphlet, “Causes of the American
Discontents before 1768,” and he soon became an agent for
Massachusetts, Georgia and New Jersey as well. Franklin fanned the
flames of revolution by sending the private letters of
Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson to America. The letters
called for the restriction of the rights of colonists, which caused
a firestorm after their publication by Boston newspapers. In the
wake of the scandal, Franklin was removed as deputy postmaster
general, and he returned to North America in 1775 as a devotee of
the patriot cause.
In 1775, Franklin was elected to the Second Continental Congress
and appointed the first postmaster general for the colonies. In
1776, he was appointed commissioner to Canada and was one of five
men to draft the Declaration of Independence.
Benjamin Franklin in Paris
After voting for independence in 1776, Franklin was elected
commissioner to France, making him essentially the first U.S.
ambassador to France. He set sail to negotiate a treaty for the
country’s military and financial support. Much has been made of
Franklin’s years in Paris,
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chiefly his rich romantic life in his nine years abroad after
Deborah’s death. At the age of 74, he even proposed marriage to a
widow named Madame Helvetius, but she rejected him.
Franklin was embraced in France as much, if not more, for his
wit and intellectual standing in the scientific community as for
his status as a political appointee from a fledgling country. His
reputation facilitated respect and entrees into closed communities,
including that of King Louis XVI. And it was his adept diplomacy
that led to the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which ended the
Revolutionary War. After almost a decade in France, Franklin
returned to the United States in 1785.
Founding Father: Drafting the U.S. Constitution
Benjamin Franklin was elected in 1787 to represent Pennsylvania
at the Constitutional Convention, which drafted and ratified the
new U.S. Constitution. The oldest delegate at the age of 81,
Franklin initially supported proportional representation in
Congress, but he fashioned the Great Compromise that resulted in
proportional representation in the House of Representatives and
equal representation by state in the Senate. In 1787, he helped
found the Society for Political Inquiries, dedicated to improving
knowledge of government.
When Did Benjamin Franklin Die?
Benjamin Franklin died on April 17, 1790, in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, at the home of his daughter, Sarah Bache. He was 84,
suffered from gout and had complained of ailments for some time,
completing the final codicil to his will a little more than a year
and a half prior to his death. He bequeathed most of his estate to
Sarah and very little to William, whose opposition to the patriot
cause still stung him. He also donated money that funded
scholarships, schools and museums in Boston and Philadelphia.
Franklin had actually written his epitaph when he was 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 Lost; For it will
(as he Believ'd) Appear once More In a New and More Elegant Edition
Revised and Corrected By the Author.” In the end, however, the
stone on the grave he shared with his wife in the cemetery of
Philadelphia’s Christ Church reads simply, “Benjamin and Deborah
Franklin 1790.”
Benjamin Franklin’s Accomplishments and Legacy
The image of Benjamin Franklin that has come down through
history, along with the likeness on the $100 bill, is something of
a caricature—a bald man in a frock coat holding a kite string with
a key attached. But the scope of things he applied himself to was
so broad it seems a shame. Founding universities and libraries, the
post office, shaping the foreign policy of the fledgling United
States, drafting the Declaration of Independence, publishing
newspapers, warming us with the Franklin stove, pioneering advances
in science, letting us see with bifocals and lighting our way with
electricity—all from a man who never finished school but shaped his
life through abundant reading and experience, a strong moral
compass and an unflagging commitment to civic duty. Franklin
illumined corners of American life that still have the lingering
glow of his attention.
Adopted from:
https://www.biography.com/people/benjamin-franklin-9301234
Benjamin Franklin
https://www.biography.com/people/benjamin-franklin-9301234
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AMERICAN AUTHOR, SCIENTIST, AND STATESMAN
WRITTEN BY: Theodore Hornberger; Gordon S. Wood
Benjamin Franklin, also called Ben Franklin, pseudonym Richard
Saunders, (born January 17 [January 6, Old Style], 1706, Boston,
Massachusetts [U.S.]—died April 17, 1790, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, U.S.), American printer and publisher, author,
inventor and scientist, and diplomat. One of the foremost of the
Founding Fathers, Franklin helped draft the Declaration of
Independence and was one of its signers, represented the United
States in France during the American Revolution, and was a delegate
to the Constitutional Convention. He made important contributions
to science, especially in the understanding of electricity, and is
remembered for the wit, wisdom, and elegance of his writing.
Early Life (1706–23)
Franklin was born the 10th son of the 17 children of a man who
made soap and candles, one of the lowliest of the artisan crafts.
In an age that privileged the firstborn son, Franklin was, as he
tartly noted in his Autobiography, “the youngest Son of the
youngest Son for five Generations back.” He learned to read very
early and had one year in grammar school and another under a
private teacher, but his formal education ended at age 10. At 12 he
was apprenticed to his brother James, a printer. His mastery of the
printer’s trade, of which he was proud to the end of his life, was
achieved between 1718 and 1723. In the same period he read
tirelessly and taught himself to write effectively.
His first enthusiasm was for poetry, but, discouraged with the
quality of his own, he gave it up. Prose was another matter. Young
Franklin discovered a volume of The Spectator—featuring Joseph
Addison and Sir Richard Steele’s famous periodical essays, which
had appeared in England in 1711–12—and saw in it a means for
improving his writing. He read these Spectator papers over and
over, copied and recopied them, and then tried to recall them from
memory. He even turned them into poetry and then back into prose.
Franklin realized, as all the Founders did, that writing
competently was such a rare talent in the 18th century that anyone
who could do it well immediately attracted attention. “Prose
writing” became, as he recalled in his Autobiography, “of great Use
to me in the Course of my Life, and was a principal Means of my
Advancement.”
In 1721 James Franklin founded a weekly newspaper, the
New-England Courant, to which readers were invited to contribute.
Benjamin, now 16, read and perhaps set in type these contributions
and decided that he could do as well himself. In 1722 he wrote a
series of 14 essays signed “Silence Dogood” in which he lampooned
everything from funeral eulogies to the students of Harvard
College. For one so young to assume the persona of a middle-aged
woman was a remarkable feat, and Franklin took “exquisite Pleasure”
in the fact that his brother and others became convinced that only
a learned and ingenious wit could have written these essays.
Late in 1722 James Franklin got into trouble with the provincial
authorities and was forbidden to print or publish the Courant. To
keep the paper going, he discharged his younger brother from his
original apprenticeship and made him the paper’s nominal publisher.
New indentures were drawn up but not made public. Some months
later, after a bitter quarrel, Benjamin
https://www.britannica.com/contributor/Theodore-Hornberger/1371https://www.britannica.com/contributor/Gordon-S-Wood/6358https://www.britannica.com/place/Bostonhttps://www.britannica.com/place/Massachusettshttps://www.britannica.com/topic/Founding-Fathershttps://www.britannica.com/place/Franklin-historical-statehttps://www.britannica.com/topic/Declaration-of-Independencehttps://www.britannica.com/topic/Declaration-of-Independencehttps://www.britannica.com/event/American-Revolutionhttps://www.britannica.com/event/Constitutional-Conventionhttps://www.britannica.com/science/sciencehttps://www.britannica.com/topic/Autobiography-by-Franklinhttps://www.britannica.com/topic/grammar-school-British-educationhttps://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Franklinhttps://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Spectator-British-periodical-1711-1712https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Addisonhttps://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Steelehttps://www.britannica.com/topic/magazine-publishinghttps://www.britannica.com/topic/newspaperhttps://www.britannica.com/topic/apprenticeshiphttps://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nominal
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Brainy Quote ~ Benjamin Franklin 001 Page 9
secretly left home, sure that James would not “go to law” and
reveal the subterfuge he had devised.
Youthful Adventures (1723–26)
Failing to find work in New York City, Franklin at age 17 went
on to Quaker-dominated Philadelphia, a much more open and
religiously tolerant place than Puritan Boston. One of the most
memorable scenes of the Autobiography is the description of his
arrival on a Sunday morning, tired and hungry. Finding a bakery, he
asked for three pennies’ worth of bread and got “three great Puffy
Rolls.” Carrying one under each arm and munching on the third, he
walked up Market Street past the door of the Read family, where
stood Deborah, his future wife. She saw him and “thought I made, as
I certainly did, a most awkward ridiculous Appearance.”
A few weeks later he was rooming at the Reads’ and employed as a
printer. By the spring of 1724 he was enjoying the companionship of
other young men with a taste for reading, and he was also being
urged to set up in business for himself by the governor of
Pennsylvania, Sir William Keith. At Keith’s suggestion, Franklin
returned to Boston to try to raise the necessary capital. His
father thought him too young for such a venture, so Keith offered
to foot the bill himself and arranged Franklin’s passage to England
so that he could choose his type and make connections with London
stationers and booksellers. Franklin exchanged “some promises”
about marriage with Deborah Read and, with a young friend, James
Ralph, as his companion, sailed for London in November 1724, just
over a year after arriving in Philadelphia. Not until his ship was
well out at sea did he realize that Governor Keith had not
delivered the letters of credit and introduction he had
promised.
In London Franklin quickly found employment in his trade and was
able to lend money to Ralph, who was trying to establish himself as
a writer. The two young men enjoyed the theatre and the other
pleasures of the city, including women. While in London, Franklin
wrote A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain
(1725), a Deistical pamphlet inspired by his having set type for
William Wollaston’s moral tract, The Religion of Nature Delineated.
Franklin argued in his essay that since human beings have no real
freedom of choice, they are not morally responsible for their
actions. This was perhaps a nice justification for his
self-indulgent behaviour in London and his ignoring of Deborah, to
whom he had written only once. He later repudiated the pamphlet,
burning all but one of the copies still in his possession.
By 1726 Franklin was tiring of London. He considered becoming an
itinerant teacher of swimming, but, when Thomas Denham, a Quaker
merchant, offered him a clerkship in his store in Philadelphia with
a prospect of fat commissions in the West Indian trade, he decided
to return home.
Achievement Of Security And Fame (1726–53)
Denham died, however, a few months after Franklin entered his
store. The young man, now 20, returned to the printing trade and in
1728 was able to set up a partnership with a friend. Two years
later he borrowed money to become sole proprietor.
His private life at this time was extremely complicated. Deborah
Read had married, but her husband had deserted her and disappeared.
One matchmaking venture failed because Franklin
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subterfugehttps://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-Cityhttps://www.britannica.com/place/Philadelphiahttps://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Hyde-Wollastonhttps://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moralhttps://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/repudiatedhttps://www.britannica.com/topic/printing-publishing
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Brainy Quote ~ Benjamin Franklin 001 Page 10
wanted a dowry of £100 to pay off his business debt. A strong
sexual drive, “that hard-to-be-govern’d Passion of Youth,” was
sending him to “low Women,” and he thought he very much needed to
get married. His affection for Deborah having “revived,” he “took
her to Wife” on September 1, 1730. At this point Deborah may have
been the only woman in Philadelphia who would have him, for he
brought to the marriage an illegitimate son, William, just borne of
a woman who has never been identified. Franklin’s common-law
marriage lasted until Deborah’s death in 1774. They had a son,
Franky, who died at age four, and a daughter, Sarah, who survived
them both. William was brought up in the household and apparently
did not get along well with Deborah.
Franklin and his partner’s first coup was securing the printing
of Pennsylvania’s paper currency. Franklin helped get this business
by writing A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a
Paper Currency (1729), and later he also became public printer of
New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. Other moneymaking ventures
included the Pennsylvania Gazette, published by Franklin from 1729
and generally acknowledged as among the best of the colonial
newspapers, and Poor Richard’s almanac, printed annually from 1732
to 1757. Despite some failures, Franklin prospered. Indeed, he made
enough to lend money with interest and to invest in rental
properties in Philadelphia and many coastal towns. He had
franchises or partnerships with printers in the Carolinas, New
York, and the British West Indies. By the late 1740s he had become
one of the wealthiest colonists in the northern part of the North
American continent.
As he made money, he concocted a variety of projects for social
improvement. In 1727 he organized the Junto, or Leather Apron Club,
to debate questions of morals, politics, and natural philosophy and
to exchange knowledge of business affairs. The need of Junto
members for easier access to books led in 1731 to the organization
of the Library Company of Philadelphia. Through the Junto, Franklin
proposed a paid city watch, or police force. A paper read to the
same group resulted in the organization of a volunteer fire
company. In 1743 he sought an intercolonial version of the Junto,
which led to the formation of the American Philosophical Society.
In 1749 he published Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth
in Pennsilvania; in 1751 the Academy of Philadelphia, from which
grew the University of Pennsylvania, was founded. He also became an
enthusiastic member of the Freemasons and promoted their
“enlightened” causes.
Although still a tradesman, he was picking up some political
offices. He became clerk of the Pennsylvania legislature in 1736
and postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737. Prior to 1748, though, his
most important political service was his part in organizing a
militia for the defense of the colony against possible invasion by
the French and the Spaniards, whose privateers were operating in
the Delaware River.
In 1748 Franklin, at age 42, had become wealthy enough to retire
from active business. He took off his leather apron and became a
gentleman, a distinctive status in the 18th century. Since no busy
artisan could be a gentleman, Franklin never again worked as a
printer; instead, he became a silent partner in the printing firm
of Franklin and Hall, realizing in the next 18 years an average
profit of over £600 annually. He announced his new status as a
gentleman by having his portrait painted in a velvet coat and a
brown wig; he also acquired a coat of arms, bought several slaves,
and moved to a new and more spacious house in “a more quiet Part of
the
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Brainy Quote ~ Benjamin Franklin 001 Page 11
Town.” Most important, as a gentleman and “master of [his] own
time,” he decided to do what other gentlemen did—engage in what he
termed “Philosophical Studies and Amusements.”
In the 1740s electricity was one of these curious amusements. It
was introduced to Philadelphians by an electrical machine sent to
the Library Company by one of Franklin’s English correspondents. In
the winter of 1746–47, Franklin and three of his friends began to
investigate electrical phenomena. Franklin sent piecemeal reports
of his ideas and experiments to Peter Collinson, his Quaker
correspondent in London. Since he did not know what European
scientists might have already discovered, Franklin set forth his
findings timidly. In 1751 Collinson had Franklin’s papers published
in an 86-page book titled Experiments and Observations on
Electricity. In the 18th century the book went through five English
editions, three in French, and one each in Italian and German.
Franklin’s fame spread rapidly. The experiment he suggested to
prove the identity of lightning and electricity was apparently
first made in France before he tried the simpler but more dangerous
expedient of flying a kite in a thunderstorm. But his other
findings were original. He created the distinction between
insulators and conductors. He invented a battery for storing
electrical charges. He coined new English words for the new science
of electricity—conductor, charge, discharge, condense, armature,
electrify, and others. He showed that electricity was a single
“fluid” with positive and negative or plus and minus charges and
not, as traditionally thought, two kinds of fluids. And he
demonstrated that the plus and minus charges, or states of
electrification of bodies, had to occur in exactly equal amounts—a
crucial scientific principle known today as the law of conservation
of charge (see charge conservation).
Theodore Hornberger
Gordon S. Wood
Public Service (1753–85)
Despite the success of his electrical experiments, Franklin
never thought science was as important as public service. As a
leisured gentleman, he soon became involved in more high-powered
public offices. He became a member of the Philadelphia City Council
in 1748, justice of the peace in 1749, and in 1751 a city alderman
and a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly. But he had his sights on
being part of a larger arena, the British Empire, which he regarded
as “the greatest Political Structure Human Wisdom ever yet
erected.” In 1753 Franklin became a royal officeholder, deputy
postmaster general, in charge of mail in all the northern colonies.
Thereafter he began to think in intercolonial terms. In 1754 his
“Plan of Union” for the colonies was adopted by the Albany
Congress, which was convened at the beginning of the French and
Indian War and included representatives from the Iroquois
Confederacy. The plan called for the establishment of a general
council, with representatives from the several colonies, to
organize a common defense against the French. Neither the colonial
legislatures nor the king’s advisers were ready for such union,
however, and the plan failed. But Franklin had become acquainted
with important imperial officials, and his ambition to succeed
within the imperial hierarchy had been whetted.
In 1757 he went to England as the agent of the Pennsylvania
Assembly in order to get the family of William Penn, the
proprietors under the colony’s charter, to allow the colonial
legislature to tax their ungranted lands. But Franklin and some of
his allies in the assembly had a larger goal
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Brainy Quote ~ Benjamin Franklin 001 Page 12
of persuading the British government to oust the Penn family as
the proprietors of Pennsylvania and make that colony a royal
province. Except for a two-year return to Philadelphia in 1762–64,
Franklin spent the next 18 years living in London, most of the time
in the apartment of Margaret Stevenson, a widow, and her daughter
Polly at 36 Craven Street near Charing Cross. His son, William, now
age 27, and two slaves accompanied him to London. Deborah and their
daughter, Sally, age 14, remained in Philadelphia.
Before he left for London, Franklin decided to bring his Poor
Richard’salmanac to an end. While at sea in 1757, he completed a
12-page preface for the final 1758 edition of the almanac titled
“Father Abraham’s Speech” and later known as the The Way to Wealth.
In this preface Father Abraham cites only those proverbs that
concern hard work, thrift, and financial prudence. The Way to
Wealth eventually became the most widely reprinted of all
Franklin’s works, including the Autobiography.
This time Franklin’s experience in London was very different
from his sojourn in 1724–26. London was the largest city in Europe
and the centre of the burgeoning British Empire, and Franklin was
famous; consequently, he met everyone else who was famous,
including David Hume, Captain James Cook, Joseph Priestley, and
John Pringle, who was physician to Lord Bute, the king’s chief
minister. In 1759 Franklin received an honorary degree from the
University of Saint Andrews in Scotland, which led to his
thereafter being called “Dr. Franklin.” Another honorary degree
followed in 1762 from the University of Oxford. Everyone wanted to
paint his portrait and make mezzotints for sale to the public.
Franklin fell in love with the sophistication of London and
England; by contrast, he disparaged the provinciality and vulgarity
of America. He was very much the royalist, and he bragged of his
connection with Lord Bute, which enabled him in 1762 to get his
son, William, then age 31, appointed royal governor of New
Jersey.
Reluctantly, Franklin had to go back to Pennsylvania in 1762 in
order to look after his post office, but he promised his friends in
London that he would soon return and perhaps stay forever in
England. After touring the post offices up and down North America,
a trip of 1,780 miles (2,900 km), he had to deal with an uprising
of some Scotch-Irish settlers in the Paxton region of western
Pennsylvania who were angry at the Quaker assembly’s unwillingness
to finance military protection from the Indians on the frontier.
After losing an election to the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1764,
Franklin could hardly wait to get back to London. Deborah stayed in
Philadelphia, and Franklin never saw her again.
He soon had to face the problems arising from the Stamp Act of
1765, which created a firestorm of opposition in America. Like
other colonial agents, Franklin opposed Parliament’s stamp tax,
asserting that taxation ought to be the prerogative of the colonial
legislatures. But once he saw that passage of the tax was
inevitable, he sought to make the best of the situation. After all,
he said, empires cost money. He ordered stamps for his printing
firm in Philadelphia and procured for his friend John Hughes the
stamp agency for Pennsylvania. In the process, he almost ruined his
position in American public life and nearly cost Hughes his
life.
Franklin was shocked by the mobs that effectively prevented
enforcement of the Stamp Act everywhere in North America. He told
Hughes to remain cool in the face of the mob. “A firm Loyalty to
the Crown and faithful Adherence to the Government of this
Nation…,” he said, “will always be the wisest Course for you and I
to take, whatever may be the Madness of the
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Brainy Quote ~ Benjamin Franklin 001 Page 13
Populace or their blind Leaders.” Only Franklin’s four-hour
testimony before Parliament denouncing the act in 1766 saved his
reputation in America. The experience shook Franklin, and his
earlier confidence in the wisdom of British officials became
punctuated by doubts and resentments. He began to feel what he
called his “Americanness” as never before.
During the next four or five years Franklin sought to bridge the
growing gulf between the colonies and the British government.
Between 1765 and 1775 he wrote 126 newspaper pieces, most of which
tried to explain each side to the other. But, as he said, the
English thought him too American, while the Americans thought him
too English. He had not, however, given up his ambition of
acquiring a position in the imperial hierarchy. But in 1771
opposition by Lord Hillsborough, who had just been appointed head
of the new American Department, left Franklin depressed and
dispirited; in a mood of frustration, nostalgia, and defiance, he
began writing his Autobiography, which eventually became one of the
most widely read autobiographies ever published.
In recounting the first part of his life, up to age 25—the best
part of the Autobiography, most critics agree—Franklin sought to
soothe his wounds and justify his apparent failure in British
politics. Most important, in this beginning part of his
Autobiography, he in effect was telling the world (and his son)
that, as a free man who had established himself against
overwhelming odds as an independent and industrious artisan, he did
not have to kowtow to some patronizing, privileged aristocrat.
When the signals from the British government shifted and
Hillsborough was dismissed from the cabinet, Franklin dropped the
writing of the Autobiography, which he would not resume until 1784
in France following the successful negotiation of the treaty
establishing American independence. Franklin still thought he might
be able to acquire an imperial office and work to hold the empire
together. But he became involved in the affair of the Hutchinson
letters—an affair that ultimately destroyed his position in
England. In 1772 Franklin had sent back to Boston some letters
written in the 1760s by Thomas Hutchinson, then lieutenant governor
of Massachusetts, in which Hutchinson had made some indiscreet
remarks about the need to abridge American liberties. Franklin
naively thought that these letters would somehow throw blame for
the imperial crisis on native officials such as Hutchinson and thus
absolve the ministry in London of responsibility. This, Franklin
believed, would allow his friends in the ministry, such as Lord
Dartmouth, to settle the differences between the mother country and
her colonies, with Franklin’s help.
The move backfired completely, and on January 29, 1774, Franklin
stood silent in an amphitheatre near Whitehall while being
viciously attacked by the British solicitor-general before the
Privy Council and the court, most of whom were hooting and
laughing. Two days later he was fired as deputy postmaster. After
some futile efforts at reconciliation, he sailed for America in
March 1775.
Although upon his arrival in Philadelphia Franklin was
immediately elected to the Second Continental Congress, some
Americans remained suspicious of his real loyalties. He had been so
long abroad that some thought he might be a British spy. He was
delighted that the Congress in 1776 sent him back to Europe as the
premier agent in a commission seeking military aid and diplomatic
recognition from France. He played on the French aristocracy’s
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Brainy Quote ~ Benjamin Franklin 001 Page 14
liberal sympathies for the oppressed Americans and extracted not
only diplomatic recognition of the new republic but also loan after
loan from an increasingly impoverished French government. His image
as the democratic folk genius from the wilderness of America
preceded him, and he exploited it brilliantly for the American
cause. His face appeared everywhere—on medallions, on snuffboxes,
on candy boxes, in rings, in statues, in prints; women even did
their hair à la Franklin. Franklin played his role to perfection.
In violation of all protocol, he dressed in a simple
brown-and-white linen suit and wore a fur cap, no wig, and no sword
to the court of Versailles, the most formal and elaborate court in
all of Europe. And the French aristocracy and court loved it,
caught up as they were with the idea of America.
Beset with the pain of gout and a kidney stone, and surrounded
by spies and his sometimes clumsy fellow commissioners—especially
Arthur Leeof Virginia and John Adams of Massachusetts, who disliked
and mistrusted him—Franklin nonetheless succeeded marvelously. He
first secured military and diplomatic alliances with France in 1778
and then played a crucial role in bringing about the final peace
treaty with Britain in 1783 (see Peace of Paris). In violation of
their instructions and the French alliance, the American peace
commissioners signed a separate peace with Britain. It was left to
Franklin to apologize to the comte de Vergennes, Louis XVI’s chief
minister, which he did in a beautifully wrought diplomatic
letter.
No wonder the eight years in France were the happiest of
Franklin’s life. He was doing what he most yearned to do—shaping
events on a world stage. At this point, in 1784, he resumed work on
his Autobiography, writing the second part of it, which presumes
human control over one’s life.
Last Years (1785–90)
In 1785 Franklin reluctantly had to come to America to die, even
though all his friends were in France. Although he feared he would
be “a stranger in my own country,” he now knew that his destiny was
linked to America.
His reception was not entirely welcoming. The family and friends
of the Lees in Virginia and the Adamses in Massachusetts spread
stories of his overweening love of France and his dissolute ways.
The Congress treated him shabbily, ignoring his requests for some
land in the West and a diplomatic appointment for his grandson. In
1788 he was reduced to petitioning the Congress with a pathetic
“Sketch of the Services of B. Franklin to the United States,” which
the Congress never answered. Just before his death in 1790,
Franklin retaliated by signing a memorial requesting that the
Congress abolish slavery in the United States. This memorandum
provoked some congressmen into angry defenses of slavery, which
Franklin exquisitely mocked in a newspaper piece published a month
before he died.
Upon his death the Senate refused to go along with the House in
declaring a month of mourning for Franklin. In contrast to the many
expressions of French affection for Franklin, his fellow Americans
gave him one public eulogy—and that was delivered by his inveterate
enemy the Rev. William Smith, who passed over Franklin’s youth
because it seemed embarrassing.
Following the publication of the Autobiography in 1794,
Franklin’s youth was no longer embarrassing. In the succeeding
decades, he became the hero of countless early 19th-century
artisans and self-made businessmen who were seeking a justification
of their rise and their
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Brainy Quote ~ Benjamin Franklin 001 Page 15
moneymaking. They were the creators of the modern folksy image
of Franklin, the man who came to personify the American dream.
Legacy
Franklin was not only the most famous American in the 18th
century but also one of the most famous figures in the Western
world of the 18th century; indeed, he is one of the most celebrated
and influential Americans who has ever lived. Although one is apt
to think of Franklin exclusively as an inventor, as an early
version of Thomas Edison, which he was, his 18th-century fame came
not simply from his many inventions but, more important, from his
fundamental contributions to the science of electricity. If there
had been a Nobel Prize for Physics in the 18th century, Franklin
would have been a contender. Enhancing his fame was the fact that
he was an American, a simple man from an obscure background who
emerged from the wilds of America to dazzle the entire intellectual
world. Most Europeans in the 18th century thought of America as a
primitive, undeveloped place full of forests and savages and
scarcely capable of producing enlightened thinkers. Yet Franklin’s
electrical discoveries in the mid-18th century had surpassed the
achievements of the most sophisticated scientists of Europe.
Franklin became a living example of the natural untutored genius of
the New World that was free from the encumbrances of a decadent and
tired Old World—an image that he later parlayed into French support
for the American Revolution.
Despite his great scientific achievements, however, Franklin
always believed that public service was more important than
science, and his political contributions to the formation of the
United States were substantial. He had a hand in the writing of the
Declaration of Independence, contributed to the drafting of the
Articles of Confederation—America’s first national constitution—and
was the oldest member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that
wrote the Constitution of the United States of America in
Philadelphia. More important, as diplomatic representative of the
new American republic in France during the Revolution, he secured
both diplomatic recognition and financial and military aid from the
government of Louis XVI and was a crucial member of the commission
that negotiated the treaty by which Great Britain recognized its
former 13 colonies as a sovereign nation. Since no one else could
have accomplished all that he did in France during the Revolution,
he can quite plausibly be regarded as America’s greatest
diplomat.
Equally significant perhaps were Franklin’s many contributions
to the comfort and safety of daily life, especially in his adopted
city of Philadelphia. No civic project was too large or too small
for his interest. In addition to his lightning rod and his Franklin
stove (a wood-burning stove that warmed American homes for more
than 200 years), he invented bifocal glasses, the odometer, and the
glass harmonica (armonica). He had ideas about everything—from the
nature of the Gulf Stream to the cause of the common cold. He
suggested the notions of matching grants and Daylight Saving Time.
Almost single-handedly he helped to create a civic society for the
inhabitants of Philadelphia. Moreover, he helped to establish new
institutions that people now take for granted: a fire company, a
library, an insurance company, an academy, and a hospital.
Probably Franklin’s most important invention was himself. He
created so many personas in his newspaper writings and almanac and
in his posthumously published Autobiography that it is
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Brainy Quote ~ Benjamin Franklin 001 Page 16
difficult to know who he really was. Following his death in
1790, he became so identified during the 19th century with the
persona of his Autobiography and the Poor Richard maxims of his
almanac—e.g., “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy,
wealthy, and wise”—that he acquired the image of the self-made
moralist obsessed with the getting and saving of money.
Consequently, many imaginative writers, such as Edgar Allan Poe,
Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, and D.H.
Lawrence, attacked Franklin as a symbol of America’s middle-class
moneymaking business values. Indeed, early in the 20th century the
famous German sociologist Max Weber found Franklin to be the
perfect exemplar of the “Protestant ethic” and the modern
capitalistic spirit. Although Franklin did indeed become a wealthy
tradesman by his early 40s, when he retired from his business,
during his lifetime in the 18th century he was not identified as a
self-made businessman or a budding capitalist. That image was a
creation of the 19th century. But as long as America continues to
be pictured as the land of enterprise and opportunity, where
striving and hard work can lead to success, then that image of
Franklin is the one that is likely to endure.
Gordon S. Wood
Adopted from:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benjamin-Franklin
Benjamin Franklin Biography
One of the founding fathers of the USA, Benjamin Franklin was a
multi-talented personality. He was a scientist, inventor, author,
musician and a statesman. Check out this biography for detailed
information on his life.
Quick Facts
Birthday: January 17, 1706
Nationality: American
Famous: Quotes By Benjamin Franklin Poorly Educated
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Died at Age: 84
Born In: Boston, Massachusetts Bay
Famous As: Founding Father of The United States
Political Ideology: Independent
Spouse/Ex-: Deborah Read (M. 1730–1774)
Father: Josiah Franklin
Mother: Abiah Folger
Children: Francis Folger Franklin, Sarah Franklin Bache, William
Franklin
Died On: April 17, 1790
Place of Death: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
City, States, Provinces & Districts: Boston,
Massachusetts
Personality: ENTP
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Brainy Quote ~ Benjamin Franklin 001 Page 17
Discoveries/Inventions: Lightning Rod, Bifocals, Franklin Stove,
Carriage Odometer, Glass Armonica, Bifocal Glasses and The Flexible
Urinary Catheter
Benjamin Franklin was a distinguished human being, who possessed
uncanny mind and sharp wit, which he used tirelessly for the
betterment of his country and society at large. Franklin is
credited for many inventions including the swim fins, Franklin
stove, catheter, library chair, step ladder, lightning rod, bifocal
glasses etc; however, he never patented any of them. He did so, as
he believed that his innovations were not mere sources of
moneymaking but would raise the living standards of the masses. His
experiments with the lightning, gained him recognition throughout
the world. Benjamin Franklin played a vital role in American
history as he was a signer of both the Declaration of Independence
as well as the Constitution, thus he is considered as one of the
pivotal personalities, who shaped America. His influence has been
so great on the country that many scholars have gone as far as to
describe him as "the only President of the United States who was
never President of the United States." Though, as a child he was
not able to continue his education beyond elementary level but
there was hardly a renowned university that did not felicitate him
with an honorary degree for his exemplary work.
Childhood & Early Life
• Born in Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin was baptized at Old
South Meeting House. His father, Josiah Franklin, wanted him to
become a clergyman but due to monetary constraints, he was able to
attend school for only two years.
• He was fond of reading, therefore he pretty much self-educated
himself by extensive reading. By the age of 12, under the guidance
of his brother James, who was a printer, he began to learn tricks
of the trade.
• At the age of 17, he ran away from home to start off his new
life in Philadelphia.
Career
• In Philadelphia, Franklin worked in several print shops but
did not find much success, thus moved to London, where he worked as
a typesetter.
• In 1726, he returned to Philadelphia as an employee of Thomas
Denham and began to take care of his business.
• At the age of 21, in 1727 he established a group named the
Junto, which included like-minded people who wanted to bring a
change in the society and express their creativity.
• The group (Junto) loved to read but the availability of books
was scarce at that time, thus, they began to collect books on
various genres and this led to the formation of first subscription
library in America.
• In 1731, he wrote charter for the Library Company of
Philadelphia and thus came in existence first American library.
• He bought a newspaper called the ‘Pennsylvania Gazette’ and
published ‘Poor Richard’s Almanack’ in 1733, a paper that featured
cooking recipes, predictions and weather reports.
• He established the nation’s first volunteer firefighting
organization, Union Fire Company in 1736, which became one of his
many remarkable contributions to the society.
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Brainy Quote ~ Benjamin Franklin 001 Page 18
• He contributed immensely to the initial study of demographics
and noted the phenomena of growing human population.
• His 1751 work ‘Observations concerning the Increase of
Mankind, Peopling of Countries, &c.’ proved inspirational for
Thomas Malthus and Adam Smith.
• He also helped organize the American Philosophical Society in
1743, the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1751 and the Philadelphia
Contribution for Insurance against Loss by Fire in 1752. These
organizations still exist today.
• Franklin received the Copley medal in 1753 from the Royal
society of London and later on was elected as a Fellow of the
Society, in 1756.
• His kite experiment proved that lightning is electricity and
led to the invention of the lightning rod.
• As a politician, he fought for the rights of his country,
working actively for uniting the colonies and for independence.
• He assisted in drafting the ‘Declaration of Independence’ in
1776. The same year he was appointed as the commissioner of the
United States to France, a role he essayed with great finesse and
success.
• He was made the President of the Executive Council of
Pennsylvania, in 1785. Franklin was selected as a delegate to the
Philadelphia Convention, in 1787.
Major Works
• One of his earliest successful literary endeavors was Poor
Richard’s Almanack (1732 to 1758), which was a pamphlet published
and in it Franklin wrote under the pseudonym “Poor Richard”.
• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, which he wrote between
1771 and 1790 (Published posthumously) is revered as a classic in
the genre, even today.
• He published several path breaking works, which included ‘The
Way to Wealth’ (1758), which was an ingenious guide for managing
personal finances and developing entrepreneurial skills.
Awards & Achievements
• He was honored by the Royal Society’s Copley Medal (1753), for
his exemplary work in the field of electricity. In the same year
i.e. in 1753, he received honorary degrees from Harvard as well as
Yale University, for his extraordinary contribution to society
through his scientific innovations.
Personal Life & Legacy
• Franklin married his childhood friend, Deborah Reed, in 1730
and they had two children. The couple also brought up William,
Franklin’s illegitimate son as part of the family.
• His love for humanity led to his involvement in community
affairs and politics, and fighting for the improvement of people’s
life became his motto.
• He finally succumbed to age and health issues, at the age of
84. He took his last breath in Philadelphia and his remains were
buried at Christ Church Burial Ground.
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Brainy Quote ~ Benjamin Franklin 001 Page 19
• Franklin was no less a hero to the American public than George
Washington, therefore, his legacy is ubiquitous around the
nation.
• In Franklin’s honor, the Benjamin Franklin Award is given to
recognize excellence in independent publishing.
• His images can be seen adorning various dollar bills and
postage stamps.
• Many places in the United States of America such as North
Franklin Township, Nebraska and North Franklin, Maine are named
after Benjamin Franklin.
• There is a bridge over the Delaware River in the U.S. named
after Franklin and it is known as Benjamin Franklin Bridge; it
connects Philadelphia and Camden.
Trivia
• He was very fond of chess and also dabbled in music. He could
play several musical instruments. He was also a gifted author and
wrote several essays, satires etc under guise.
• He invented many ingenious apparatuses including the lightning
rod, bifocals, glass harmonica and the ‘Franklin Stove’.
• From middle age onward he was plagued by obesity, which later
on led to development of various other health issues, especially
that of gout.
• His funeral ceremony was attended by 20,000 people
approximately,.
• Electric charge (cgs unit) shares his namesake and is known as
Fr.
• His Maritime Observations published, in 1786 included rough
ideas about sea anchors, catamaran hulls, watertight compartments
and even a soup bowl design which would stay balanced in stormy
weather.
• He is believed to be the first person to have used the
Decision making technique of drawing a pro and con list, an example
of which was seen in a letter he wrote to Joseph Priestley in
1772.
Adopted from:
https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/benjamin-franklin-2986.php
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https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/benjamin-franklin-2986.php