Franklin was born in 1706 at Boston. He was the
tenth son of a soap and candlemaker. He received
some formal education but was principally self-taught.
After serving an apprenticeship to his father
between the ages of 10 and 12, he went to work
for his half-brother James, a printer. In 1721
the latter founded the New England Courant,
the fourth newspaper in the colonies. Benjamin
secretly contributed 14 essays to it, his first
published writings.
In 1723, because of dissension with his half-brother,
Franklin moved to Philadelphia, where he obtained
employment as a printer. He spent only a year
there and then sailed to London for 2 more years.
Back in Philadelphia, he rose rapidly in the printing
industry. He published The Pennsylvania Gazette
(1730-48), which had been founded by another man
in 1728, but his most successful literary venture
was the annual Poor Richard 's Almanac
(1733-58). It won a popularity in the colonies
second only to the Bible, and its fame eventually
spread to Europe.
Meantime, in 1730 Franklin had taken a common-law
wife, Deborah Read, who was to bear him a son
and daughter, and he also apparently had children
with another nameless woman out of wedlock. By
1748 he had achieved financial independence and
gained recognition for his philanthropy and the
stimulus he provided to such civic causes as libraries,
educational institutions, and hospitals. Energetic
and tireless, he also found time to pursue his
interest in science, as well as to enter politics.
Franklin served as clerk (1736-51) and member
(1751-64) of the colonial legislature and as deputy
postmaster of Philadelphia (1737-53) and deputy
postmaster general of the colonies (1753-74).
In addition, he represented Pennsylvania at the
Albany Congress (1754), called to unite the colonies
during the French and Indian War. The congress
adopted his "Plan of Union," but the colonial
assemblies rejected it because it encroached on
their powers.
During the years 1757-62 and 1764-75, Franklin
resided in England, originally in the capacity
of agent for Pennsylvania and later for Georgia,
New Jersey, and Massachusetts. During the latter
period, which coincided with the growth of colonial
unrest, he underwent a political metamorphosis.
Until then a contented Englishman in outlook,
primarily concerned with Pennsylvania provincial
politics, he distrusted popular movements and
saw little purpose to be served in carrying principle
to extremes. Until the issue of parliamentary
taxation undermined the old alliances, he led
the Quaker party attack on the Anglican proprietary
party and its Presbyterian frontier allies. His
purpose throughout the years at London in fact
had been displacement of the Penn family administration
by royal authority-the conversion of the province
from a proprietary to a royal colony.
It was during the Stamp Act crisis that Franklin
evolved from leader of a shattered provincial
party's faction to celebrated spokesman at London
for American rights. Although as agent for Pennsylvania
he opposed by every conceivable means the enactment
of the bill in 1765, he did not at first realize
the depth of colonial hostility. He regarded passage
as unavoidable and preferred to submit to it while
actually working for its repeal.
Franklin's nomination of a friend and political
ally as stamp distributor for Pennsylvania, coupled
with his apparent acceptance of the legislation,
armed his proprietary opponents with explosive
issues. Their energetic exploitation of them endangered
his reputation at home until reliable information
was published demonstrating his unabated opposition
to the act. For a time, mob resentment threatened
his family and new home in Philadelphia until
his tradesmen supporters rallied. Subsequently,
Franklin's defense of the American position in
the House of Commons during the debates over the
Stamp Act's repeal restored his prestige at home.
Franklin returned to Philadelphia in May 1775
and immediately became a distinguished member
of the Continental Congress. Thirteen months later,
he served on the committee that drafted the Declaration
of Independence. He subsequently contributed to
the government in other important ways, including
service as postmaster general, and took over the
duties of president of the Pennsylvania constitutional
convention.
But, within less than a year and a half after
his return, the aged statesman set sail once again
for Europe, beginning a career as diplomat that
would occupy him for most of the rest of his life.
In the years 1776-79, as one of three commissioners,
he directed the negotiations that led to treaties
of commerce and alliance with France, where the
people adulated him, but he and the other commissioners
squabbled constantly. While he was sole commissioner
to France (1779-85), he and John Jay and John
Adams negotiated the Treaty of Paris (1783), which
ended the War for Independence.
Back in the United States, in 1785 Franklin became
president of the Supreme Executive Council of
Pennsylvania. At the Constitutional Convention,
though he did not approve of many aspects of the
finished document and was hampered by his age
and ill-health, he missed few if any sessions,
lent his prestige, soothed passions, and compromised
disputes.
In his twilight years, working on his Autobiography,
Franklin could look back on a fruitful life as
the toast of two continents. Energetic nearly
to the last, in 1787 he was elected as first president
of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the
Abolition of Slavery-a cause to which he had committed
himself as early as the 1730s. His final public
act was signing a memorial to Congress recommending
dissolution of the slavery system. Shortly thereafter,
in 1790 at the age of 84, Franklin passed away
in Philadelphia and was laid to rest in Christ
Church Burial Ground.
(National Archives and Records Administration)
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