1726 1730 1732 1736 1737 1742 1749 1752. 1753 1757-1762 1764-1775 1775. 1776 1776-1785 1787. Returned to Philadelphia. Married Deborah Read. Clerk of the General Assembly. Burgess to the General Assembly. Postmaster-general for all the colonies. In England as Agent for the Colonies. Signed the Declaration of Independence. Signed the Constitution. 1790, April 17. Died in Philadelphia. Parentage. Benjamin Franklin's father, Josiah, 66 came to Boston from England in 1685. In the mother country he had followed the occupation of a dyer; but, since he found his trade unprofitable in his new home, he assumed the business of a tallow-chandler and soap-boiler. He had an excellent constitution of body," said Benjamin, "was of middle stature, but well set, and very strong." He was considered a man of unusually good judgment, and commanded the respect of all who knew him. Youth and Education. - Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, January 17, 1706, in a house on Milk Street. He was the youngest son in a large family and was at first destined for the church, although all his brothers had been apprenticed to different trades. His education at school lasted but two years. At the end of that time, owing to the straitened circumstances of his father, he was compelled at an early age to work in his father's shop, where he was kept busy cutting wicks for the candles, filling the molds, waiting on customers, running errands, and making himself generally useful. At the end of two years' service with his father he was apprenticed to his elder brother James who was a printer. This was one of the most important events in his life, for it changed his entire career. The education that Franklin received was not such as is derived from books in school, but from practical life. Although his school life was ended at the age of ten, his education was broad and liberal. He was constantly reading and studying. At the age of twenty-seven he began the study of French, Italian, Spanish, and Latin, and many years of his life were zealously devoted to the study of science. Some of the books which influenced him very much in his youth were Plutarch's Lives, Mather's Essays to Do Good, and Addison's Spectator, which had just been published. He took Addison for his literary model and strove to imitate him as closely as possible. Philadelphia. - Benjamin remained in his broth er's shop until 1723, but, being unjustly treated, the lad determined to strike out for himself. In his Autobiography, Franklin gives an account of his voyage from Boston to Philadelphia at the age of seventeen, and this pen picture of him as he landed is worth repeating, for it shows such a marked contrast between the almost penniless youth who was without a friend in the town, and the man who later became Philadelphia's most distinguished citizen. "I was in my working dress," says he, "my best clothes being to come round by sea. I was dirty from my journey; my pockets were stuffed out with shirts and stockings, and I knew no soul nor where to look for lodging. I was fatigued with traveling, rowing, and want of rest; I was very hungry; and my whole stock of cash consisted of a Dutch dollar and about a shilling in copper." As he walked along he inquired for a baker's shop, and having procured three large rolls he put one under each arm and trudged up the street, eating the third. As he went up Market Street he passed the house of a Mr. Read, whose daughter happened to be standing in the door. Little did she imagine that this tired and hungry boy was to become her husband eight years later, or that in the future his entrance into the city, which to-day passed unnoticed, would be greeted with the firing of guns and the booming of cannon. In 1724 he went to London to buy type and a press, but, being disappointed in securing financial help, he was obliged to earn money by working with a London printer. In 1726 he made his way back to Philadelphia, and established himself as a successful printer, and proprietor of the Pennsylvania Gazette. Public Offices. In 1736 he entered active political life, and was made clerk of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania. From this time on he became a conspicuous figure in colonial affairs, being sent first to England and then to France, as envoy, to plead the cause of the colonies. Very few Americans have held as many positions of public trust as Franklin, for he served not only his city and state in many capacities, but the whole country at a time when his aid was most needed. When he returned from France, where he had accomplished so much for his country during nine years, he was chosen president of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In reference to this Franklin wrote: "I have not firmness enough to resist the unanimous desire of my country folks, and I find myself harnessed again to their service another year. They engrossed the prime of my life. They have eaten my flesh, and seem resolved now to pick my bones." Public Services. Franklin was constantly seeking to render some service to his fellow-men. A mere enumeration of his public services is sufficient to prove the worth of the man. He was one of the founders of the American Philosophical Society and the University of Pennsylvania; he was the chief promoter of the first subscription library in the United States; the "Junto," a debating society, was organized by him. He helped to regulate the police department; organized a fire company; was colonel of a regiment of militia; was one of the founders of the first masonic society in the United States in 1730; instituted a better system of cleaning and lighting the streets; invented the open stove, for which he even refused to take out a patent; and identified lightning with electricity. He was instrumental in having the Stamp Act repealed, and, upon his return from England, the citizens of Philadelphia celebrated the occasion with a grand procession, of which the chief feature was "a barge, forty feet long, named Franklin, from which salutes were fired as it passed along the streets.” It is said that he was the only man whose name was attached to the Declaration of Independence, as well as to the Constitution, the Treaty of Peace with England, and the Treaty of Alliance with France. Public Honors. Besides the public offices which Franklin held, many other honors were conferred upon him. He was made M.A. by Harvard |