Ben Franklin
(1706–1790)

Ben Franklin's distinguished career as a diplomat was only one facet of his remarkable and varied life. Printer, scientist, inventor, and politician, Franklin was also an important and quintessentially American writer. His famous Autobiography brings to life the exciting and tumultuous era that led to the American Revolution.

Franklin's father, Josiah, came to New England seeking the freedom to practice his religion. He, his wife, and their three young children settled in Boston, where Benjamin was born in 1706. Franklin left school after only two years to work first in his father's candlemaking shop, then, at age 12, in his older brother's printing shop.

What Franklin lacked in formal schooling, he made up through voracious reading. In addition to John Locke and other philosophers, he studied the essays of Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, as well as books on navigation, arithmetic, and Greek philosophy. By age 16, Franklin was publishing essays in his brother's weekly newspaper under the pseudonym "Silence Dogood." One of his essays contained this plea for freedom of speech:

"Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as publick liberty, without freedom of speech; which is the right of every man, as far as by it, he does not hurt and control the right of another: and this is the only check it ought to suffer, and the only bounds it ought to know."

Franklin worked for his brother's paper from 1718 to 1723, during which time he mastered the printing trade and honed his writing skills. He left his apprenticeship and ran away to Philadelphia, where he found work as a printer.

By 1729, Franklin was publishing and writing for his own newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette. It became the most popular newspaper in the colonies. In 1730, he entered into a common-law marriage with Deborah Read. Their relationship lasted forty-four years, until she died. She and Franklin had three children.

In 1732, Franklin began publishing Poor Richard's Almanack, which introduced readers to the fictional homespun philosopher Poor Richard. The almanac was published annually until 1757. In addition to facts about tides and phases of the moon, it included such practical proverbs as "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

Franklin's interest in social and political matters found its voice in his publications. In pamphlets and articles, he argued for a public library, a voluntary fire company, and increased communication among scientists throughout the colonies. He often reported on his own scientific experiments and inventions, including his fascination (shared by many in the 18th century) with electricity. In his widely translated book Experiments and Observations on Electricity (1751), he proposed an experiment similar to his later attempt to fly a kite in a thunderstorm. For this book, he was awarded honorary doctorates from British universities, and as his fame spread throughout Europe, he became known as "Doctor Franklin."

Between the years 1757 and 1764, Franklin made two diplomatic missions to England. He disputed unjust policies, such as the unpopular Stamp Act, imposed by the King and Parliament to further their control of the colonies. In London, he befriended many writers, scientists, and politicians. He also published numerous articles on political issues. His writings reflect his skepticism about possible reconciliation between the British government and the American colonies.

Franklin left England in 1775, just before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He immediately joined the Continental Congress and helped draft the Declaration of Independence. Franklin was the oldest signer of the document.

In 1776, Congress sent Franklin to France to seek economic and military aid. Franklin was successful. His years in France were marked by great diplomatic success and popularity, especially among the fashionable French society. When the Revolutionary War ended in 1783, Franklin was one of the signers of the peace treaty between Britain and the United States.

Franklin returned to the United States in 1785, as one of its most highly regarded citizens. He helped write the Constitution and joined the campaign to abolish slavery. He also worked on his Autobiography, chronicling his life up to 1757. At his death in 1790, he was widely eulogized as a great American.

After centuries of disagreements about religion and warfare, a new spirit emerged in Europe during the 1700s. Called the Enlightenment or the Age of Reason, it was a period when scientists and philosophers began to investigate nature, human life, and society free from the restrictions of religious belief, and outdated governments and laws. Enlightenment philosophers argued that it was the individual's right to decide how to live and that progress would be achieved through education and increasing reliance on scientific reasoning.

In America, Benjamin Franklin, a devoted scientist and practical philosopher, helped to spread Enlightenment ideas through his writings. Franklin and others incorporated many of these ideas into the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.

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