Franklin’s “Plan of Union,” however, failed to be ratified by the colonies. 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. Philadelphia became his home base for the rest of his life. Source(s): benjamin franklin president: https://shortly.im/W5Or5. Benjamin Franklin was a lover of knowledge; after all, he was the quintessential Renaissance man. He served as that president for three years. And it was his adept diplomacy that led to the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which ended the Revolutionary War. He turned his printing business over to a partner to give himself more time to conduct scientific experiments. Benjamin Franklin is best known as one of the Founding Fathers who never served as president but was a respected inventor, publisher, scientist and diplomat. Watch "Benjamin Franklin: Citizen of the World" on HISTORY Vault. Thomas Jefferson was a Founding Father of the United States who wrote the Declaration of Independence. In 1787, Benjamin Franklin became the president of Pennsylvania’s Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. After Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1726, he discovered that Deborah had married in the interim, only to be abandoned by her husband just months after the wedding. The image of Franklin that has come down through history, along with his 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. He was a man of letters, a publisher, a philosopher, a scientist, and the first major American inventor. Franklin died on April 17, 1790, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the home of his daughter, Sarah Bache. 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. 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. All in all, Franklin had 3 children. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu served the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, dessert in a shoe--highly offensive to Japanese. His investigations into electrical phenomena were compiled into “Experiments and Observations on Electricity,” published in England in 1751. Tired of his brother’s “harsh and tyrannical” behavior, Franklin fled Boston in 1723 although he had three years remaining on a legally binding contract with his master. 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. 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. He bequeathed most of his estate to Sarah and very little to his son William, whose opposition to the patriot cause still stung him. Benjamin Franklin’s Wife and Children. Me and my brother were wondering if Benjamin Franklin was a president. He was a true polymath and entrepreneur, which is no doubt why he is often called the "First American.". Approximately 20,000 people attended his funeral. 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. 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. 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. After Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1762, he toured the colonies to inspect its post offices. However, he did serve as the President of Pennsylvania and head of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, a position equivalent to today’s Pennsylvania governorship. By this time Franklin’s health was fragile and on April 17 he passed away at age 84. It was on January 1st, 1863, during the President Abraham Lincoln’s administration, that the Emancipation Proclamation was signed giving freedom to about 3 million slaves. Benjamin Franklin died from pleuritic attackat his home in Philadelphia on April 17, 1790, at age 84. He helped create the First American Political Cartoon. The fourth U.S. president, James Madison believed in a robust yet balanced federal government and is known as the "Father of the Constitution.". Benjamin Franklin is a Founding Father of the United States. Franklin 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. (Franklin later repudiated this thought and burned all but one copy of the pamphlet still in his possession.). He began to speculate about why the westbound trip always took longer, and his measurements of ocean temperatures led to his discovery of the existence of the Gulf Stream. His first child, William … This knowledge served to cut two weeks off the previous sailing time from Europe to North America. Franklin's Transformation as an Abolitionist: Efforts to Refine Blacks in Colonial America. The couple’s only daughter, Sarah, was born in 1743. 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.”. 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.”. His father, Josiah, was a tallow chandler, candle maker, and soap boiler who had moved to the American Colonies from England. “Don’t throw stones at your neighbors, if your own windows are glass.” - Poor Richard’s Almanack, … We strive for accuracy and fairness. But the scope of things he applied himself to was so broad it seems a shame. Franklin’s later support for the patriot cause put him at odds with his loyalist son. Much has been made of Franklin’s years in Paris, chiefly his rich romantic life in his nine years abroad after Deborah’s death. Benjamin Franklin is best known as one of the Founding Fathers who never served as president but was a respected inventor, publisher, scientist and diplomat. In 1728 he returned to a familiar trade - 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 1775, Franklin was elected to the Second Continental Congress and appointed the first postmaster general for the colonies. In 1730 Franklin was named the official printer of Pennsylvania. Nonetheless, Franklin’s prominence and success grew during the 1730s. Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, Mass., January 17, 1706, into a Puritan household. A moon rock is displayed on the bottom shelf of a nearby bookcase. His scientific pursuits included investigations into electricity, mathematics and mapmaking. Benjamin Harrison is best known as the 23rd president of the United States. In 1748, Franklin acquired the first of several enslaved people to work in his new home and in the print shop. He represented Pennsylvania at the Albany Congress, which adopted his proposal to create a unified government for the 13 colonies. Franklin, and others like Alexander Hamilton, paid special attention to impeachment because British politics didn’t have a structure for impeaching the leader. In 1787, he helped found the Society for Political Inquiries, dedicated to improving knowledge of government. He has also been known as "the First American". Lv 7. A common mistake made by many is the assumption that Benjamin Franklin was President of the United States. Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, a Constitutional Convention delegate, author of the Federalist papers and the first secretary of the U.S. treasury. Silence Dogood, and “her” 14 imaginative and witty letters delighted readers of his brother’s newspaper, The New England Courant. 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. After his return to Philadelphia in 1726, Franklin held varied jobs including bookkeeper, shopkeeper and currency cutter. At the end of 1732, Franklin published the first edition of Poor Richard’s Almanack. Benjamin Franklin was an accomplished revolutionary, but his private life reveals a complex personality. 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. Benjamin Franklin was one of the most important and influential Founding Fathers of the United States of America. 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 enslaved people in the 1760s. As a leader of the Enlightenment, he influenced European scientists.He even was the first thing many Europeans associated with America at the time. Franklin amassed real estate and businesses and organized the volunteer Union Fire Company to counteract dangerous fire hazards in Philadelphia. But he was much more than a statesman. George Washington may rightly be known as the "Father of his Country" but, for the two decades before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin was the world’s most famous American.. Franklin was a celebrated scientist and inventor. 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, it is hardly known what stirred this changed in Benjamin Franklin. After the Peace Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783 Franklin had to wait two more years until he was relieved of his duties as ambassador in Paris.Once in the United States, on October 18, 1785 he was unanimously elected President of the Council of Pennsylvania. 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. But he was one of the major Founding Fathers. He was interred in Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. Benjamin Franklin - Front and back sides of Petition from the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery, signed by Benjamin Franklin, President on February 3, 1790. Elected to four terms, his presidency helped ensure victory in World War II. Franklin’s self-education earned him honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, England’s University of Oxford and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. James grew angry, however, when he learned that his apprentice had penned the letters. Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1752, Franklin conducted the famous kite-and-key experiment to demonstrate that lightning was electricity and soon after invented the lightning rod. What Is the Market Volatility Index, and How Does It Impact Your Investments? As U.S. president, he completed the Louisiana Purchase. Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790) was an American statesman and scientist. It is a mere fact that Benjamin Franklin became the president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery in 1787. His reputation facilitated respect and entrees into closed communities, including the court of King Louis XVI. 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. ), 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 was a prolific inventor and scientist who was responsible for the following inventions: Franklin also discovered the Gulf Stream after his return trip across the Atlantic Ocean from London in 1775. When James refused to publish any of his brother’s writing, 16-year-old Franklin adopted the pseudonym Mrs. George Washington, a Founding Father of the United States, led the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War and was America’s first president. (In 1968, he was inducted as an honorary member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Founding universities and libraries, the post office, shaping the foreign policy of the fledgling United States, helping to draft 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. But if … Franklin sailed to London to negotiate a long-standing dispute with the proprietors of the colony, the Penn family, taking William and his two enslaved people but leaving behind Deborah and Sarah. Franklin was never elected president of the United States. Later in life, he became more vociferous in his opposition to slavery. Franklin returned at a tense time in Great Britain’s relations with the American colonies. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Though in his 80th year, he resumed active roles in the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, the American Philosophical Society, and the University of Pennsylvania.. With the cash Franklin earned from his money-related treatise, he was able to purchase The Pennsylvania Gazette newspaper from a former boss. He had less luck in 1732 when he launched the first German-language newspaper in the colonies, the short-lived Philadelphische Zeitung. After voting for independence in 1776, Franklin was elected commissioner to France, making him essentially the first U.S. ambassador to France. The fact is, unlike his contemporaries George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, Franklin never held the office of the presidency. 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. A self-taught swimmer who crafted his own wooden flippers, Franklin performed long-distance swims on the Thames River.