Benjamin Franklin

When we think of Benjamin Franklin we often associate him with being an inventor and scientist. We think about the lightening story where he flew a kite in a lightning storm which led him to inventing the lightening rod. The large part that is typically left out in his story is that Ben Franklin was much more than just an inventor he was a politician, printer, musician, statesman, diplomat and what a lot of people call the first American.

Benjamin Franklin came into the world on January 6, 1706 and was the brother to eleven other brother and sisters. His dad was a candle maker while his mom stayed home and took care of the children. When he was just eight years old his father, Josiah sent him to school to become a minister. After a while Ben's father could not pay the tuition for him to become a minister but not long after leaving that school he attended George Brownell's English School and finished in a year. Ben wanted to go further in school but his parents just didn't have the money 1.

Ben Franklin ended up becoming an apprentice and worked for his brother in a printing shop. After working for his brother for a while Ben and his brother had some disagreements and Ben moved on to working in a print shop in Philadelphia 1. After working in a number of printing shops from Philadelphia to London, Franklin and a business partner bought the Pennsylvania gazette 2. Not long after Franklin and his business partner took over the newspaper they were quickly writing the colonies official paper. Franklin loved writing so much and was so good at it that he was able to financially retire at the age of forty-two 2.

Although many people knew Franklin as an excellent printer he was also a great scientist. From inventing bifocals to the lightning rod Franklin had a large impact on developing the new world. He also helped design a stove to help burn wood more effectively. Franklin also wrote an essay that helped to develop the first scientific society of the Americas; the essay was called "A Proposal to Promoting Useful Knowledge" 3. One of Bens most well known scientific experiments was with electricity and discovering that lightning is electrical. This came after a pamphlet was written by a merchant in London about German experiments on electricity. This made Franklin eager to discover more about electricity so he did. After experimenting with electricity Bens results were published as Experiments and Observations in Electricity 2.

After dabbling in Science, and being a printer Franklin started getting into politics. While there was a threat of attacks from the French and Indian war on the Delaware River Franklin helped in starting a militia 1. When they met the militia decided Franklin should be the Commander. Since he did not have much military experience he turned down the position but served as a soldier. Not long after starting the militia the threat on the Delaware river the threat