Benjamin Franklin :: Biography Biographies Benjamin Franklin Essays

Benjamin FranklinIn his many careers as a printer, moralist, essaylist, civilleader, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, andphilosopher, Benjamin Franklin Became both a spokesmanand a model for the national percentage of later generationsof Americans. After less than two years of formalschooling, Franklin was press into his fathers trade. Atthe age of 16, Franklin wrote about pieces in acourant,Silence Dogwood. though penniless andunknown, Franklin soon found a job as a printer. Aafter ayear he went to England, where he became a masterprinter, sowed some wild oats, astonished 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 aim tradesmen called theJJunto, which met each week for discussion and planning.Franklin began yet another career when in 1740 heinvented the Pennsylvania fireplace, later called the Franklinstove, which soon heated buildings all everyplace Europe a ndNorth America. He also read treaties on electrical energy 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. ulterior that year his famous increase experiment, inwhich he flew a kite with the wire attached to a key duringa thunderstorm. His later achievements include 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 commencement exercise of nearly 40 years as apuublic official. At firm from 1762 to 1764, Franklintraveled throghout the colonies, reorganizing theAAmerican postal system. He also built aa new firm onMarket Street in Philadelphia, now reconstructed and aerofoilto visitors, and otherwise provided for his family. FromApril 1775 to October 1776, Franklin served on thePennsylvania Committe e of Safety and in the ContinentalCongress, submitted articles of confederation for the unitedcolonies, proposed a new constitution for Pennsylvania,and helped draft the Decclaration of Independence.