| Term Paper Title | Benjamin Franklin |
| # of Words | 1116 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 4.46 |
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin, was one of the greatest leaders and most important people in History.
His contributions to science, literature, and to the growth and history of the USA was
unmatched by anyone else. Ben Franklin (Jan. 17, 1706) was the youngest son, and 15th
child in a family of 17 children. In about 1723, Franklin worked for various printers in
Philadelphia and in London, England where he was sent to buy printing presses. When
he was 22 years old, he became part of owner of a print shop. About two years later, he
became owner of the business. About the same time he started publishing The
Pennsylvania Gazette, where he wrote much of the material by himself. Even though
Franklin’s newspaper was a great success, he achieve much more success with Poor
Richard’s Almanac. From a period from 1733 to about 1758, Franklin wrote and
published the almanac every year. The almanac was so famous due to the very clever
and witty quotes Franklin would put in, such as ‘early to bed and early to rise, makes a
man healthy, wealthy, and wise” or “God helps them that help themselves”.
Franklin never really wanted to be in public office, but he did enjoy hearing about
public affairs. In 1736, he became clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly. In 1737,
Franklin became the Philadelphia Postmaster, only because he wanted to make changes
to the colonial post service. He did such a good job at his position that the British
government promoted him to deputy postmaster general in 1753. He worked very hard at
this position, and helped set up the first delivery system and the first Dead Mail Office.
Franklin also help set up Canada’s first regular postal service. He then setup a messenger
service between Montreal and New York.
Franklin was public spirited and worked constantly to make Philadelphia a better
city. He helped set up the first subscription library in the American Colonies. In
Philadelphia, fire loss was one of the city’s biggest concerns, so Franklin organized a fire
department. He also reorganized the city’s police department when he noticed that many
of the criminals were getting off easy without any punishment. The streets in the city
were unpaved, dirty, and dark, so he started a program to pave, clean, and light them.
Philadelphia really neglected the sick, and insane, during Franklin’s time, so he raised
money for the city to make a hospital. Scholars in the American Colonies had no
professional organizations, so Franklin, helped establish the American Philosophical
Society, with headquarters in Philadelphia. The city didn’t have a school for higher
education, so Franklin helped found the academy that grew into the University of
Pennsylvania. As a result of projects such as theses, Philadelphia became the most
advanced city in the 13 colonies.
Franklin was once of the first people in history to experiment with electricity. He
conducted his most famous electrical experiment at Philadelphia in 1752. he flew a
homemade kite during a thunderstorm, and proved that lightning is electricity. A bolt of
lightning struck a pointed wire fastened to the kite, and traveled down the kite string to a
key fastened at the end, where it caused a spark. Franklin had many other scientific
contributions, and also had some inventions, such as bifocal lenses, the Franklin stove,
and the lightning rod.
In spring of 1754, war broke out between the British and French in America.
Franklin felt that the colonies would have to unite, in order for them to have a defense
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