In 1723, at the age of 17, Benjamin Franklin walked into Philadelphia with one dollar in his pocket. Carrying three rolls of bread (his only food) and dressed in shabby, working-class clothes, he made a poor impression. No one would have expected this young fellow to become one of the most respected men, not just in Philadelphia, but in the great nation he helped found and in the rest of the world. His bold democratic spirit and numerous accomplishments made him one of the most revered figures in American history.
In Philadelphia, Franklin took a job at a local printer. He had worked at his brother’s printing business in Boston since the age of 12 and was good at his job. Within five years, he had traveled to London to buy printing equipment, found a business partner, and started his own Philadelphia printing company. In 1729, at the young age of 23, he became the publisher of the Pennsylvania Gazette.
Franklin had an unshakable belief in fairness, open discussion, and the free exchange of ideas. At a time when most newspapers promoted one political or private point of view, Franklin ensured freedom of speech in his paper. If people had opposing viewpoints on an issue, for instance, the Gazette would publish articles from both sides of the debate. If readers disagreed with something they read, they were encouraged to submit an article saying why they disagreed. This democratic stance helped the Pennsylvania Gazette become the most widely read newspaper in the American colonies.
Franklin was the leading figure of an intellectual club called the Junto, which he founded at the age of 21. The club members met every Friday to discuss books they had read and essays they had written. The only qualification for attending was "a thirst for knowledge and an open mind." As a result, the club was diverse: shoemakers, poets, merchants, and others from a variety of backgrounds all met to talk about philosophy, science, and politics.
Reading was an important activity of the Junto, but books were rare and expensive. At Franklin’s suggestion, the members pooled their money to buy books for a library. This was the birth of the Library Company of Philadelphia, which is now one of the most important research libraries in the United States. Franklin was always active in his city’s public life; he organized Philadelphia’s first fire brigade, started a public program to clean the streets, and later helped establish a hospital.
In addition to his many other pursuits, Franklin was a prolific writer. He wrote essays on the popular issues of the day as well as humorous and entertaining stories. His most popular work was written under a pseudonym. Poor Richard’s Almanac was an annual publication that gave information about the weather, the tides, the cycles of the moon, and the major events of the year. It was filled with practical advice and words of wisdom. Many of the sayings Franklin penned, such as "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise," "A penny saved is a penny earned," and "Fish and visitors stink after three days," are commonly quoted to this day.
Franklin enjoyed great success as a printer. In 1730, his company was named the official printer of the then colony of Pennsylvania, and the popularity of the Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richard’s Almanac made the business profitable. At the age of 42, he retired, but Franklin’s idea of retirement was not, of course, to sit around and rest.
He had always shown an interest in science. As a young man, he had demonstrated, for example, that dark material heats up faster than light material. After leaving the printing business, he devoted much of his time to science. He discovered the principle of cooling by evaporation and charted the flow of the Gulf Stream; he invented bifocal glasses, the Franklin stove, and a new musical instrument called the glass harmonica.
Franklin is best known for his most famous discovery: that lightning is electricity. For years, he had followed developments in the new field of electricity and conducted his own experiments. To test his theory about lightning, he devised an experiment in which a kite on a wet string is flown in storm clouds. At the lower end of the string, a metal key becomes electrified by the charge conducted down the string. Other experiments led to his invention of the lightning rod, which prevents homes from burning when hit by lightning. Franklin’s electrical discoveries were widely published and discussed by scientists of the day. In 1753, in recognition of his work, he was elected to Britain’s Royal Society, an organization that promotes scientific research, becoming one of the few eighteenth-century Americans to receive that honor.
For all his scientific successes, Franklin’s greatest contributions to history came in the political arena. In his early forties, he was selected as a councilman and became a justice of the peace for Philadelphia. In 1751, he was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly, and two years later, was appointed joint postmaster-general of the colonies. The years leading up to the American War of Independence were a time of increasing conflict between the 13 American colonies and Great Britain, and in 1757, Franklin was sent to London as an envoy. In England, he spoke against Britain’s unfair taxes on the colonies and became known as a respected statesman.
Franklin was one of the first to propose a union of the colonies, and in 1776, as war with England broke out, he returned to America and helped draft the Declaration of Independence. When representatives from the 13 colonies met to decide the constitution that established the United States of America, Franklin was a key delegate. In fact, they met in the rooms of the Library Company of Philadelphia, started by Franklin years before. During the War of Independence, Franklin served his new country as a diplomat once again. He traveled to Paris, where he negotiated France’s support for the United States; this alliance played a decisive role in the United States’ victory. During his many years in England and Europe, Benjamin Franklin’s fame grew. He spoke six languages, and met easily with the leading scientists, writers, and politicians of the day.
Franklin’s belief in fairness and equality was demonstrated throughout his life. He spoke out for the fair treatment of Native Americans, and negotiated a treaty with the Iroquois nations. He wrote that women had the intellectual ability to be as successful as men, if only society would allow them. Although Franklin became very wealthy from his inventions, he never protected them with patents. The point of learning, he wrote, was not to amass wealth; rather, it was to "serve mankind, one’s country, friends, and family." Benjamin Franklin’s extraordinary life was one of service and accomplishment that touched the lives of people from every race, class, and religion. It is no surprise that many call Benjamin Franklin the greatest man of his time.