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{{short description|American polymath and a Founding Father of the United States}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Benjamin Franklin
| image = Joseph Siffrein Duplessis - Benjamin Franklin - Google Art Project.jpg
| caption = ''Benjamin Franklin'' by [[Joseph Duplessis]], 1778
| office = 6th [[Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania#Presidents|President of Pennsylvania]]
| vicepresident = [[Charles Biddle]]<br />[[Peter Muhlenberg]]<br />[[David Redick]]
| term_start = October 18, 1785
| term_end = November 5, 1788
| predecessor = [[John Dickinson]]
| successor = [[Thomas Mifflin]]
| office1 = [[United States Minister to Sweden]]
| appointer1 = [[Congress of the Confederation]]
| term_start1 = September 28, 1782
| term_end1 = April 3, 1783
| predecessor1 = Position established
| successor1 = [[Jonathan Russell]]
| office2 = [[United States Minister to France]]
| appointer2 = [[Continental Congress]]
| term_start2 = March 23, 1779
| term_end2 = May 17, 1785
| predecessor2 = Position established
| successor2 = [[Thomas Jefferson]]
| office3 = 1st [[United States Postmaster General]]
| term_start3 = July 26, 1775
| term_end3 = November 7, 1776
| predecessor3 = Position established
| successor3 = [[Richard Bache]]
| office4 = [[United States Postmaster General|Postmaster General of British America]]
| term_start4 = August 10, 1753
| term_end4 = January 31, 1774
| predecessor4 = Position established
| successor4 = Vacant
| office5 = [[List of Speakers of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives|Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly]]
| term_start5 = May 1764
| term_end5 = October 1764
| predecessor5 = [[Isaac Norris (statesman)|Isaac Norris]]
| successor5 = [[Isaac Norris (statesman)|Isaac Norris]]
| birth_date = {{OldStyleDateDY|January 17,|1706|January 6, 1705}}{{refn|group=Note|name=birthdate}}
| birth_place = [[Boston]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts Bay]], [[British America]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1790|4|17|1706|1|17}}
| death_place = [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, U.S.
| party = [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Deborah Read]]|September 1, 1730|1774|reason=died}}
| children = [[William Franklin]]<br />[[Francis Folger Franklin]]<br />[[Sarah Franklin Bache]]
| parents = [[Josiah Franklin]]<br />[[Abiah Folger]]
| signature = Benjamin Franklin Signature.svg
| honorific_suffix = [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]], [[Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts|FRSA]], [[FRSE]]
}}
'''Benjamin Franklin''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|FRSA|FRSE}} ({{OldStyleDateDY|January 17,|1706|January 6, 1705}}{{refn|group=Note|name=birthdate}}{{spaced ndash}} April 17, 1790) was a British American [[polymath]] and one of the [[Founding Fathers of the United States]]. Franklin was a leading writer, [[printer (publishing)|printer]], [[List of political philosophers|political philosopher]], politician, [[Freemason]], [[postmaster]], scientist, inventor, humorist, [[civics|civic activist]], [[Public figure|statesman]], and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the [[American Enlightenment]] and the [[history of physics]] for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the [[lightning rod]], [[bifocals]], and the [[Franklin stove]], among other inventions.<ref>{{cite web|title=Inventor |url=http://fi.edu/franklin/inventor/inventor.html |publisher=The Franklin Institute |access-date=April 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070305234033/http://fi.edu/franklin/inventor/inventor.html |archive-date=March 5, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He founded many civic organizations, including the [[Library Company of Philadelphia|Library Company]], [[Philadelphia]]'s first [[Union Fire Company|fire department]],<ref>{{cite book | last = Burt | first = Nathaniel | title = The Perennial Philadelphians: The Anatomy of an American Aristocracy | publisher= University of Pennsylvania Press | year = 1999 | isbn = 978-0-8122-1693-6 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=L9ueb6r1uXgC&pg=PA142 | page = 142}}</ref> and the [[University of Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{Cite book|title = [[Benjamin Franklin: An American Life]]|last = Isaacson|first = Walter|publisher = Simon & Schuster|year = 2003|location = New York}}</ref>
Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for [[Thirteen Colonies|colonial unity]], initially as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first [[United States Ambassador to France|United States ambassador to France]], he exemplified the emerging American nation.<ref>H.W. Brands, ''The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin'' (2000)</ref> Franklin was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism both political and religious, with the scientific and tolerant values of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. In the words of historian [[Henry Steele Commager]], "In a Franklin could be merged the virtues of [[Puritanism]] without its defects, the illumination of the Enlightenment without its heat."<ref>Isaacson 2003, p. 491</ref> To [[Walter Isaacson]], this makes Franklin "the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become."<ref>Walter Isaacson, ''Benjamin Franklin'' (2003), p. 492</ref>
Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing the ''[[Pennsylvania Gazette]]'' at the age of 23.<ref>{{cite book |first=H.W. |last=Brands |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B2bPCEbMAvwC&pg=PA390 |title=The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin |year=2010 |page=390 |isbn=9780307754943 }}</ref> He became wealthy publishing this and ''[[Poor Richard's Almanack]]'', which he authored under the pseudonym "Richard Saunders".<ref name="Goodrich1829">{{cite book|author=Charles A. Goodrich|url=https://archive.org/details/livessignerstod02goodgoog|title=Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence|date=1829|publisher=W. Reed & Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/livessignerstod02goodgoog/page/n280 267]|access-date=7 June 2013}}</ref> After 1767, he was associated with the ''[[Pennsylvania Chronicle]]'', a newspaper that was known for its revolutionary sentiments and criticisms of the policies of the [[Parliament of Great Britain|British Parliament]] and [[the Crown]].<ref name="Smithsonian+Constitutional Post">{{cite web|title=William Goddard and the Constitutional Post|url=http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibits/2a1f_wgoddard.html|access-date=19 October 2010|publisher=Smithsonian National Postal Museum}}</ref>
He pioneered and was the first president of [[Academy and College of Philadelphia]] which opened in 1751 and later became the [[University of Pennsylvania]]. He organized and was the first secretary of the [[American Philosophical Society]] and was elected president in 1769. Franklin became a national hero in America as an agent for several colonies when he spearheaded an effort in London to have the [[Parliament of Great Britain]] repeal the unpopular [[Stamp Act 1765|Stamp Act]]. An accomplished diplomat, he was widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris and was a major figure in the development of positive [[France–United States relations|Franco{{ndash}}American relations]]. His efforts proved vital for the [[American Revolution]] in securing shipments of crucial munitions from France.
He was promoted to deputy postmaster-general for the British colonies on August 10, 1753,<ref>https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/pmg-franklin.pdf</ref> having been Philadelphia postmaster for many years, and this enabled him to set up the first national communications network. During the [[American Revolution|revolution]], he became the first [[United States Postmaster General|United States postmaster general]]. He was active in community affairs and colonial and state politics, as well as national and international affairs. From 1785 to 1788, he served as [[List of governors of Pennsylvania|governor of Pennsylvania]]. He initially owned and dealt in slaves but, by the late 1750s, he began arguing against [[slavery]], became an [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]], and promoted education and the [[Racial integration|integration]] of blacks in American Society.
His life and legacy of scientific and political achievement, and his status as one of America's most influential Founding Fathers, have seen Franklin honored more than two centuries after his death on the [[Franklin half dollar|fifty-cent piece]], the [[United States one hundred-dollar bill|$100 bill]], [[USS Benjamin Franklin (SSBN-640)|warships]], and [[List of places named for Benjamin Franklin|the names of many towns]], counties, educational institutions, and corporations, as well as numerous [[Benjamin Franklin in popular culture|cultural references]].
==Ancestry==
Benjamin Franklin's father, [[Josiah Franklin]], was a [[tallow]] [[Chandlery|chandler]], [[soaper]], and [[candle]]maker. Josiah Franklin was born at [[Ecton, Northamptonshire]], England on December 23, 1657, the son of blacksmith and farmer Thomas Franklin and Jane White. Benjamin's father and all four of his grandparents were born in England.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
Josiah Franklin had a total of seventeen children with his two wives. He married his first wife, Anne Child, in about 1677 in Ecton and emigrated with her to [[Boston]] in 1683; they had three children before emigration, and four after. Following her death, Josiah was married to [[Abiah Folger]] on July 9, 1689, in the [[Old South Meeting House]] by [[Samuel Willard|Reverend Samuel Willard]], and would eventually have ten children with her. Benjamin, their eighth child, was Josiah Franklin's fifteenth child overall, and his tenth and final son.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Powell|first=Jim|date=2018-02-22|title=How Ben Franklin Invented the American Dream|url=https://fee.org/articles/how-ben-franklin-invented-the-american-dream/|access-date=2020-12-30|website=Foundation for Economic Education|language=en}}</ref>
Benjamin Franklin's mother, Abiah, was born in [[Nantucket]], [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]], on August 15, 1667, to [[Peter Folger (Nantucket settler)|Peter Folger]], a miller and schoolteacher, and his wife, [[Mary Morrell Folger]], a former [[indentured servant]]. Mary Folger came from a Puritan family that was among the first Pilgrims to flee to Massachusetts for [[freedom of religion|religious freedom]], sailing for [[Boston]] in 1635 after [[King Charles I of England]] had begun persecuting Puritans. Her father Peter was "the sort of rebel destined to transform colonial America."<ref>Isaacson 2003, p. 14</ref> As [[court clerk|clerk of the court]], he was jailed for disobeying the local magistrate in defense of middle-class shopkeepers and artisans in conflict with wealthy landowners. Benjamin Franklin followed in his grandfather's footsteps in his battles against the wealthy [[William Penn|Penn]] family that owned the [[Province of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania Colony]].{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|title=Ancestors of Benjamin Franklin
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #cff;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|13=13. Meribah Gibbs<br />b. England
|12=12. John Folger Jr.<br />b. c. 1594, [[Norwich]], England
|9= 9. Agnes Joanes<br />b. [[Ecton, Northamptonshire]], England
|8= 8. Henry Franckline<br />b. 1573, [[Ecton, Northamptonshire]], England<ref name="efamilytree-franckline">{{cite web|url=http://www.e-familytree.net/F257/F257111.htm|title=Thomas Franckline / Jane White|last=Salzman|first=Rob|publisher=e-familytree.net|access-date=January 20, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516030312/http://www.e-familytree.net/F257/F257111.htm|archive-date=May 16, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=January 2018}}
|7= 7. [[Mary Morrill]]<br />b. c. 1619, England
|6= 6. [[Peter Folger (Nantucket settler)|Peter Folger]]<br />b. 1617, [[Norwich]], Norfolk, England
|5= 5. Jane White<br />b. England
|4= 4. Thomas Franklin<br />b. 1598, [[Ecton, Northamptonshire]], England<ref name="efamilytree-franckline"/>
|3= 3. [[Abiah Folger]]<br />b. August 15, 1667, [[Nantucket]], [[Massachusetts]]
|2= 2. [[Josiah Franklin]]<br />b. December 23, 1657, [[Ecton, Northamptonshire]], England
|1= 1. '''Benjamin Franklin'''<ref name="efamilytree-franklin">{{cite web|url=http://www.e-familytree.net/F257/F257111.htm|title=Benjamin Franklin / Deborah Read|last=Salzman|first=Rob|publisher=e-familytree.net|access-date=January 20, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516030312/http://www.e-familytree.net/F257/F257111.htm|archive-date=May 16, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=January 2018}}<br />b. 1706 ([[Old Style and New Style dates|O.S.]] 1706), [[Boston]], Massachusetts
}}
==Early life in Boston==
{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = vertical
| image1 = Benjamin Franklin Birthplace 2.JPG
| caption1 = Franklin's birthplace on [[Milk Street, Boston|Milk Street]], Boston, Massachusetts
| image2 = Benjamin Franklin Birthplace.jpg
| caption2 = Franklin's birthplace site directly across from the [[Old South Meeting House]] is commemorated by a [[bust (sculpture)|bust]] atop the second floor facade of this building.
}}
Benjamin Franklin was born on [[Milk Street, Boston|Milk Street]], in [[Boston]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts]], on January 17, 1706,{{refn|group=Note|name=birthdate| Contemporary records, which used the Julian calendar and the [[New Year#Annunciation Style|Annunciation Style]] of enumerating years, recorded his birth as January 6, 1705.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Mulford |editor1-first=Carla |title=The Cambridge Companion to Benjamin Franklin |date=2009 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=xiv |isbn=9781139828123 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hOTroomqzQQC&pg=PR14}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Gordon S. Wood |author-link1=Gordon S. Wood |title=The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin |date=2005 |publisher=[[Penguin Group|Penguin Press]] |page=17 |isbn=9780143035282 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ak1RVLZDv4gC&pg=PA17}}</ref> The provisions of the British [[Calendar (New Style) Act 1750]], implemented in 1752, altered the official British dating method to the Gregorian calendar with the start of the year on January 1 [it had been March 25]. These changes resulted in dates being moved forward 11 days, and for those between January 1 and March 24 (included), an advance of one year. For a further explanation, see: [[Old Style and New Style dates]].}} and [[Infant baptism|baptized]] at Old South Meeting House. As a child growing up along the Charles River, Franklin recalled that he was "generally the leader among the boys."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Isaacson|first=Walter|title=Benjamin Franklin: An American Life|pages=16}}</ref>
Josiah wanted Ben to attend school with the clergy but only had enough money to send him to school for two years. He attended [[Boston Latin School]] but did not graduate; he continued his education through voracious reading. Although "his parents talked of the church as a career"<ref name="autobio">{{cite book |last= Franklin |first= Benjamin |author-mask= 2 |title= Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qW4VAAAAYAAJ |access-date=February 1, 2011 |series= Macmillan's pocket English and American classics |orig-year= 1771 |year= 1901 |publisher=Macmillan |location= New York |page= vi |chapter= Introduction}}<!-- Note: the introduction of this edition is the source for this quote; please do not change the edition without verifying the quote remains sourced. --></ref> for Franklin, his schooling ended when he was ten. He worked for his father for a time, and at 12 he became an [[apprenticeship|apprentice]] to his brother James, a printer, who taught Ben the printing trade. When Ben was 15, James founded ''[[The New-England Courant]]'', which was [[History of American newspapers|the first truly independent newspaper in the colonies]].{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
When denied the chance to write a letter to the paper for publication, Franklin adopted the pseudonym of "[[Silence Dogood]]", a middle-aged widow. Mrs. Dogood's letters were published and became a subject of conversation around town. Neither James nor the ''Courant'''s readers were aware of the ruse, and James was unhappy with Ben when he discovered the popular correspondent was his younger brother. Franklin was an advocate of free speech from an early age. When his brother was jailed for three weeks in 1722 for publishing material unflattering to the governor, young Franklin took over the newspaper and had Mrs. Dogood (quoting ''[[Cato's Letters]]'') proclaim: "Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech."<ref>Isaacson, (2003) p. 32</ref> Franklin left his apprenticeship without his brother's permission, and in so doing became a [[fugitive from justice|fugitive]].<ref name="vandoren">Carl Van Doren, ''Benjamin Franklin''. (1938).</ref>
==Philadelphia==
At age 17, Franklin ran away to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, seeking a new start in a new city. When he first arrived, he worked in several printer shops around town, but he was not satisfied by the immediate prospects. After a few months, while working in a printing house, Franklin was convinced by Pennsylvania governor [[Sir William Keith, 4th Baronet|Sir William Keith]] to go to London, ostensibly to acquire the equipment necessary for establishing another newspaper in Philadelphia. Finding Keith's promises of backing a newspaper empty, Franklin worked as a [[typesetter]] in a printer's shop in what is now the [[St Bartholomew-the-Great|Church of St Bartholomew-the-Great]] in the [[Smithfield, London|Smithfield]] area of London. Following this, he returned to Philadelphia in 1726 with the help of Thomas Denham, a merchant who employed Franklin as clerk, shopkeeper, and bookkeeper in his business.<ref name="vandoren"/>
===Junto and library===
[[File:Franklin - ita, 1825 - 766672 R (cropped).jpeg|thumb|upright|''La scuola della economia e della morale'' (1825)]]
In 1727, Benjamin Franklin, then 21, formed the [[Junto (club)|Junto]], a group of "like minded aspiring artisans and tradesmen who hoped to improve themselves while they improved their community." The Junto was a discussion group for issues of the day; it subsequently gave rise to many organizations in Philadelphia.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = On | last2 = Mumford | first2 = Michael D. | s2cid = 143550175 | year = 2002 | title = Social innovation: ten cases from Benjamin Franklin | journal = Creativity Research Journal | volume = 14 | issue = 2| pages = 253–266 | doi = 10.1207/S15326934CRJ1402_11}}</ref> The Junto was modeled after English coffeehouses that Franklin knew well, and which had become the center of the spread of Enlightenment ideas in Britain.<ref>David Waldstreicher, ed., '' A Companion to Benjamin Franklin'' (2011) p. 30</ref><ref>J. A. Leo Lemay, ''The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 2: Printer and publisher, 1730–1747'' (2005) pp. 92–94, 123</ref>
Reading was a great pastime of the Junto, but books were rare and expensive. The members created a library initially assembled from their own books after Franklin wrote:
{{quote|A proposition was made by me that since our books were often referr'd to in our disquisitions upon the inquiries, it might be convenient for us to have them altogether where we met, that upon occasion they might be consulted; and by thus clubbing our books to a common library, we should, while we lik'd to keep them together, have each of us the advantage of using the books of all the other members, which would be nearly as beneficial as if each owned the whole.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Murray|first1=Stuart A.P.|title=The library: an illustrated history|date=2009|publisher=[[Skyhorse Pub.]]|location=New York|isbn=978-1-60239-706-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/libraryillustrat0000murr}}</ref>}}
This did not suffice, however. Franklin conceived the idea of a [[subscription library]], which would pool the funds of the members to buy books for all to read. This was the birth of the [[Library Company of Philadelphia]]: its charter was composed by Franklin in 1731. In 1732, Franklin hired the first American librarian, [[Louis Timothee]]. The Library Company is now a great scholarly and [[Library#Research library|research library]].<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 1006049|title = Benjamin Franklin and Eighteenth-Century American Libraries|journal = Transactions of the American Philosophical Society|volume = 55|issue = 9|pages = 1–83|last1 = Korty|first1 = Margaret Barton|year = 1965|doi = 10.2307/1006049}}</ref>
===Newspaperman===
Upon Denham's death, Franklin returned to his former trade. In 1728, Franklin had set up a printing house in partnership with [[Hugh Meredith]]; the following year he became the publisher of a newspaper called ''[[Pennsylvania Gazette|The Pennsylvania Gazette]]''. The ''Gazette'' gave Franklin a forum for agitation about a variety of local reforms and initiatives through printed essays and observations. Over time, his commentary, and his adroit cultivation of a positive image as an industrious and intellectual young man, earned him a great deal of social respect. But even after Franklin had achieved fame as a scientist and statesman, he habitually signed his letters with the unpretentious 'B. Franklin, Printer.'<ref name="vandoren"/>
[[File:Franklin the printer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|Benjamin Franklin (center) at work on a [[printing press]]. Reproduction of a Charles Mills painting by the [[Detroit Publishing Company]].]]
In 1732, Ben Franklin published the first [[German language|German-language]] newspaper in America – ''Die Philadelphische Zeitung'' – although it failed after only one year because four other newly founded German papers quickly dominated the newspaper market.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa071299.htm|title=German Newspapers in the US and Canada|access-date=October 7, 2014}}</ref> Franklin printed [[Moravian dialects|Moravian]] religious books in German. Franklin often visited [[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania]], staying at the [[Moravian Sun Inn]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=John B. |last=Frantz |title=Franklin and the Pennsylvania Germans |journal=Pennsylvania History |year=1998 |pages=21–34 |url=https://journals.psu.edu/index.php/phj/article/viewFile/25467/25236 }}</ref> In a 1751 pamphlet on demographic growth and its implications for the colonies, he called the [[Pennsylvania Dutch|Pennsylvania Germans]] "Palatine Boors" who could never acquire the "Complexion" of the English settlers and referred to "Blacks and Tawneys" as weakening the social structure of the colonies. Although Franklin apparently reconsidered shortly thereafter, and the phrases were omitted from all later printings of the pamphlet, his views may have played a role in his political defeat in 1764.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Philip | first1 = Gleason | year = 2000 | title = Trouble in the Colonial Melting Pot | journal = Journal of American Ethnic History | volume = 20 | issue = 1| pages = 3–17 }}</ref>
[[File:Coat of Arms of Benjamin Franklin.svg|thumb|upright|Coat of Arms of Benjamin Franklin]]
When Franklin established himself in Philadelphia, shortly before 1730, the town boasted two "wretched little" news sheets, [[Andrew Bradford]]'s ''The American Weekly Mercury'', and [[Samuel Keimer]]'s ''Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences, and Pennsylvania Gazette''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bartleby.com/225/index.html|title=Vol. 15. Colonial and Revolutionary Literature; Early National Literature, Part I. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: An Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes. 1907–21|website=www.bartleby.com}}</ref> This instruction in all arts and sciences consisted of weekly extracts from ''Chambers's Universal Dictionary''. Franklin quickly did away with all this when he took over the ''Instructor'' and made it ''The Pennsylvania Gazette''. The ''Gazette'' soon became Franklin's characteristic organ, which he freely used for satire, for the play of his wit, even for sheer excess of mischief or of fun. From the first, he had a way of adapting his models to his own uses. {{anchor|The Busy-Body}}{{anchor|The Busybody}}The series of essays called "[[The Busy-Body (pen name)|The Busy-Body]]", which he wrote for Bradford's ''American Mercury'' in 1729, followed the general [[Joseph Addison|Addisonian]] form, already modified to suit homelier conditions. The thrifty Patience, in her busy little shop, complaining of the useless visitors who waste her valuable time, is related to the women who address Mr. Spectator. The Busy-Body himself is a true Censor Morum, as [[Isaac Bickerstaff]] had been in the ''Tatler''. And a number of the fictitious characters, Ridentius, Eugenius, Cato, and Cretico, represent traditional 18th-century classicism. Even this Franklin could use for contemporary satire, since Cretico, the "sowre Philosopher", is evidently a portrait of Franklin's rival, [[Samuel Keimer]].<ref>Cook, ''Colonial and Revolutionary Literature; Early National Literature, Part I. Colonial Newspapers and Magazines, 1704–1775'' (1917)</ref>
Franklin had mixed success in his plan to establish an inter-colonial network of newspapers that would produce a profit for him and disseminate virtue.<ref>Ralph Frasca, ''Benjamin Franklin's Printing Network: Disseminating Virtue in Early America'' (2006) {{ISBN|978-0-8262-1614-4}}</ref> He began in [[Charleston, South Carolina]], in 1731. After the second editor died, his widow Elizabeth Timothy took over and made it a success, 1738–1746. She was one of the colonial era's first woman printers.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Baker | first1 = Ira L. | s2cid = 143677057 | year = 1977 | title = Elizabeth Timothy: America's First Woman Editor | journal = Journalism Quarterly | volume = 54 | issue = 2| pages = 280–85 | doi=10.1177/107769907705400207}}</ref> For three decades Franklin maintained a close business relationship with her and her son Peter who took over in 1746.<ref>Ralph Frasca, "'The Partnership at Carolina Having succeeded, was Encourag'd to Engage in Others': The Genesis of Benjamin Franklin's Printing Network", ''Southern Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South'' (2006), Vol. 13 Issue 1/2, pp. 1–23.</ref> The ''Gazette'' had a policy of impartiality in political debates, while creating the opportunity for public debate, which encouraged others to challenge authority. Editor Peter Timothy avoided blandness and crude bias, and after 1765 increasingly took a patriotic stand in the growing crisis with Great Britain.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Smith | first1 = Jeffery A. | year = 1993 | title = Impartiality and Revolutionary Ideology: Editorial Policies of the 'South-Carolina Gazette,' 1732–1735 | journal = Journal of Southern History | volume = 49 | issue = 4| pages = 511–26 | doi = 10.2307/2208674 | jstor = 2208674 }}</ref> However, Franklin's ''Connecticut Gazette'' (1755–68) proved unsuccessful.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Frasca | first1 = Ralph | year = 2003 | title = 'I am now about to establish a small Printing Office ... at Newhaven': Benjamin Franklin and the First Newspaper in Connecticut | journal = Connecticut History | volume = 44 | issue = 1| pages = 77–87 }}</ref>
===Freemasonry===
In 1730 or 1731, Franklin was initiated into the local [[Masonic lodge]]. He became a [[Grand Master (Masonic)|grand master]] in 1734, indicating his rapid rise to prominence in Pennsylvania.<ref name=HC>[[History (U.S. TV channel)|The History Channel]], ''Mysteries of the Freemasons: America'', video documentary, August 1, 2006, written by Noah Nicholas and Molly Bedell</ref><ref name=freemasonry>{{cite web| url=http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/franklin_b/franklin_b.html|title=Freemasonry Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon website |publisher=Freemasonry.bcy.ca|access-date=September 21, 2009}}</ref> The same year, he edited and published the first Masonic book in the Americas, a reprint of [[James Anderson (Freemason)|James Anderson]]'s ''[[Constitutions of the Free-Masons]]''. He was the [[Masonic lodge officers#Secretary|secretary]] of [[Tun Tavern Lodge|St. John's Lodge]] in Philadelphia from 1735 to 1738.<ref name=freemasonry/> Franklin remained a Freemason for the rest of his life.<ref>Van Horne, John C. "The History and Collections of the Library Company of Philadelphia", ''The Magazine Antiques'', v. 170. no. 2: 58–65 (1971).</ref><ref>{{cite ODNB|id=52466|title=Franklin, Benjamin (1706–1790)|orig-year=2004|year=2014|last=Lemay|first=Leo}}</ref>
===Common-law marriage to Deborah Read===
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| caption1 = [[Deborah Read|Deborah Read Franklin]]<br />(c. 1759). Common-law wife of Benjamin Franklin
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| caption2 = [[Sarah Franklin Bache]] (1743–1808). Daughter of Benjamin Franklin and Deborah Read
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}}
At age 17 in 1723, Franklin proposed to 15-year-old [[Deborah Read]] while a boarder in the Read home. At that time, Read's mother was wary of allowing her young daughter to marry Franklin, who was on his way to London at Governor [[Sir William Keith, 4th Baronet|Sir William Keith]]’s request, and also because of his financial instability. Her own husband had recently died, and she declined Franklin's request to marry her daughter.<ref name="vandoren"/>
While Franklin was in London, his trip was extended, and there were problems with Sir William's promises of support. Perhaps because of the circumstances of this delay, Deborah married a man named John Rodgers. This proved to be a regrettable decision. Rodgers shortly avoided his debts and prosecution by fleeing to [[Barbados]] with her [[dowry]], leaving her behind. Rodgers's fate was unknown, and because of [[bigamy]] laws, Deborah was not free to remarry.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
Franklin established a [[common-law marriage]] with Deborah Read on September 1, 1730. They took in Franklin's recently acknowledged young illegitimate son, [[William Franklin|William]], and raised him in their household. They had two children together. Their son, [[Francis Folger Franklin]], was born in October 1732 and died of [[smallpox]] in 1736. Their daughter, [[Sarah Franklin Bache|Sarah "Sally" Franklin]], was born in 1743 and grew up to marry [[Richard Bache]], have seven children, and look after her father in his old age.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
Deborah's fear of the sea meant that she never accompanied Franklin on any of his extended trips to Europe, and another possible reason why they spent so much time apart is that he may have blamed her for possibly preventing their son Francis from being [[variolation|inoculated]] against the disease that subsequently killed him.<ref>{{cite news |last=Coss |first=Stephen |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/benjamin-franklin-estranged-wife-nearly-two-decades-180964400/ |title=What Led Benjamin Franklin to Live Estranged From His Wife for Nearly Two Decades? |work=[[Smithsonian Magazine]] |date=September 2017 }}</ref> Deborah wrote to him in November 1769 saying she was ill due to "dissatisfied distress" from his prolonged absence, but he did not return until his business was done.<ref>November 1769 [http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=16&page=230a Letter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615055537/http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=16&page=230a |date=June 15, 2018 }} from Deborah Read to Ben Franklin, ''franklinpapers.org''</ref> Deborah Read Franklin died of a stroke in 1774, while Franklin was on an extended mission to Great Britain; he returned in 1775.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
===William Franklin===
{{see also|William Franklin}}
[[File:WilliamFranklin.jpeg|thumb|upright|[[William Franklin]]]]
In 1730, 24-year-old Franklin publicly acknowledged the existence of his son [[William Franklin|William]], who was deemed "illegitimate," as he was born out of wedlock, and raised him in his household. William was born February 22, 1730, and his mother's identity is still unknown.<ref>Skemp SL. ''William Franklin: Son of a Patriot, Servant of a King'', Oxford University Press US, 1990, {{ISBN|0-19-505745-7}}, p. 4</ref> He was educated in Philadelphia, and beginning at about age 30, studied law in London in the early 1760s. He himself fathered an illegitimate son, [[William Temple Franklin]], born on the same date, February 22, 1760.<ref>{{cite web |title=William Temple Franklin Papers |url=http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/mole/f/franklin/wtf.htm |website=American Philosophical Society |access-date=February 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090507094002/http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/mole/f/franklin/wtf.htm |archive-date=May 7, 2009 }}</ref> The boy's mother was never identified, and he was placed in foster care. In 1762, the elder William Franklin married Elizabeth Downes, daughter of a [[plantation|planter]] from [[Barbados]], in London. After William passed the bar, his father helped him gain an appointment one year later in 1763 as the last [[List of colonial governors of New Jersey|royal governor]] of New Jersey.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
A [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] to the king, William Franklin and his father Benjamin eventually broke relations over their differences about the [[American Revolutionary War]], as Benjamin Franklin could never accept William's position. Deposed in 1776 by the revolutionary government of New Jersey, William, who was [[List of colonial governors of New Jersey|Royal Governor]], was placed under house arrest at [[Proprietary House|his home]] in [[Perth Amboy]] for six months. After the [[Declaration of Independence]], William was formally taken into custody by order of the [[Provincial Congress of New Jersey]], an entity which he refused to recognize, regarding it as an "illegal assembly."<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Skemp | first1 = Sheila L. | year = 1985 | title = William Franklin: His Father's Son | journal = Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography | volume = 109 | issue = 2| pages = 145–178 }}</ref> He was incarcerated in Connecticut for two years, in [[Wallingford, Connecticut|Wallingford]] and [[Middletown, Connecticut|Middletown]], and after being caught surreptitiously engaging Americans into supporting the Loyalist cause, was held in solitary confinement at [[Litchfield, Connecticut|Litchfield]] for eight months. When finally released in a prisoner exchange in 1778, he moved to New York City, which was still occupied by the British at the time.<ref>{{cite web |title=Franklin, William |url=http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0819491.html |website=Info Please |publisher=The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia |access-date=February 9, 2020}}</ref>
While in New York City, he became leader of the Board of Associated Loyalists, a quasi-military organization chartered by [[King George III]] and headquartered in New York City. They initiated guerrilla forays into [[New Jersey]], southern [[Connecticut]], and New York counties north of the city.<ref>Fleming, Thomas, ''The Perils of Peace: America's Struggle for Survival'', (Collins, New York, 2007) p. 30</ref> When British troops evacuated from New York, William Franklin left with them and sailed to England. He settled in London, never to return to North America. In the preliminary peace talks in 1782 with Britain, "... Benjamin Franklin insisted that loyalists who had borne arms against the United States would be excluded from this plea (that they be given a general pardon). He was undoubtedly thinking of William Franklin."<ref>Fleming, p. 236</ref>
===Success as an author===
[[File:The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle Vol 1, January, 1741.jpg|thumb|upright|Franklin's ''The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle'' (Jan. 1741)]]
In 1733, Franklin began to publish the noted ''[[Poor Richard's Almanack]]'' (with content both original and borrowed) under the pseudonym Richard Saunders, on which much of his popular reputation is based. Franklin frequently wrote under pseudonyms. Although it was no secret that Franklin was the author, his Richard Saunders character repeatedly denied it. "Poor Richard's Proverbs", adages from this almanac, such as "A penny saved is twopence dear" (often misquoted as "A penny saved is a penny earned") and "Fish and visitors stink in three days", remain common quotations in the modern world. Wisdom in folk society meant the ability to provide an apt adage for any occasion, and Franklin's readers became well prepared. He sold about ten thousand copies per year—it became an institution.{{sfn|Van Doren|1938|p=109}} In 1741, Franklin began publishing ''The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle for all the British Plantations in America'', the first such monthly magazine of this type published in America.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
In 1758, the year he ceased writing for the Almanack, he printed ''Father Abraham's Sermon'', also known as ''[[The Way to Wealth]]''. Franklin's [[The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin|autobiography]], begun in 1771 but published after his death, has become one of the classics of the genre.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
[[Daylight saving time]] (DST) is often erroneously attributed to a 1784 satire that Franklin published [[anonymity|anonymously]].<ref>{{cite journal
|author=Benjamin Franklin, writing [[anonymously]]
|title=Aux auteurs du Journal
|journal=[[Journal de Paris]]
|date=April 26, 1784
|issue=117
|pages=23–29
|language=fr
|doi=10.2307/2922719
|volume=28
|jstor=2922719}} [http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/franklin3.html Revised English version] retrieved on March 11, 2008.</ref> Modern DST was first proposed by [[George Vernon Hudson]] in 1895.<ref>{{cite journal |author=G.V. Hudson |title= On seasonal time |journal=Trans Proc R Soc N Z |year=1898 |volume=31 |pages=577–88 |url=http://rsnz.natlib.govt.nz/volume/rsnz_31/rsnz_31_00_008570.html}}</ref>
==Inventions and scientific inquiries==
Franklin was a prodigious inventor. Among his many creations were the [[lightning rod]], [[glass harmonica]] (a glass instrument, not to be confused with the [[Harmonica|metal harmonica]]), [[Franklin stove]], [[bifocals|bifocal glasses]] and the flexible [[urinary catheterization|urinary catheter]]. Franklin never patented his inventions; in his [[The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin|autobiography]] he wrote, "... as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously."<ref>{{cite book
|title=The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
|chapter=Part three
|author=Benjamin Franklin
|chapter-url=http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/autobiography/page55.htm}}</ref>
===Electricity===
[[File:Benjamin West, English (born America) - Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky]]'' c. 1816 at the [[Philadelphia Museum of Art]], by [[Benjamin West]]]]
Franklin started exploring the phenomenon of electricity in 1746 when he saw some of [[Archibald Spencer]]'s lectures using static electricity for illustrations.<ref name=EncyColonial>{{cite web |url= http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/science-and-medicine |title= Science and Medicine |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2016 |website= Colonial America Reference Library |publisher= Encyclopedia.com |access-date=February 27, 2017 |quote= Franklin's interest in electricity originated when he saw a traveling scientific lecturer, Archibald Spencer, perform an "electricity show" in Boston, Massachusetts. }}</ref> Franklin proposed that "vitreous" and "resinous" electricity were not different types of "[[Aether theories|electrical fluid]]" (as electricity was called then), but the same "fluid" under different pressures. (The same proposal was made independently that same year by [[William Watson (scientist)|William Watson]].) Franklin was the first to label them as [[electric charge|positive and negative]] respectively,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Franklin|first=Benjamin|date=May 25, 1747|title=Letter to Peter Collinson|journal=Franklin Papers|url=http://franklinpapers.org/franklin//framedVolumes.jsp?vol=3&page=126b|access-date=May 1, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020014725/http://franklinpapers.org/franklin//framedVolumes.jsp?vol=3&page=126b|archive-date=October 20, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/FranklinBenjamin.html |chapter=Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) |work=Science World |first=Eric |last=Weisstein |title=World of Scientific Biography }}</ref> and he was the first to discover the principle of [[charge conservation|conservation of charge]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.physchem.co.za/Static%20Electricity/Charge.htm |title=Conservation of Charge |access-date=February 15, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218104547/http://www.physchem.co.za/Static%20Electricity/Charge.htm |archive-date=February 18, 2008 }}. Archived February 18, 2008.</ref> In 1748, he constructed a multiple plate capacitor, that he called an "electrical battery" (not to be confused with [[Alessandro Volta|Volta's]] [[Voltaic pile|pile]]) by placing eleven panes of glass sandwiched between lead plates, suspended with silk cords and connected by wires.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Franklin|first=Benjamin|date=April 29, 1749|title=Letter to Peter Collinson|url=http://franklinpapers.org/franklin//framedVolumes.jsp?vol=3&page=352a|access-date=April 23, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171217065533/http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=3&page=352a|archive-date=December 17, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In pursuit of more pragmatic uses for electricity, remarking in spring 1749 that he felt "chagrin'd a little" that his experiments had heretofore resulted in "Nothing in this Way of Use to Mankind," Franklin planned a practical demonstration. He proposed a dinner party where a turkey was to be killed with electric shock and roasted on an electrical spit.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Franklin|first=Benjamin|date=April 29, 1749|title=Letter to Peter Collinson|journal=Franklin Papers}}</ref> After having prepared several turkeys this way, Franklin noted that "the birds kill'd in this manner eat uncommonly tender."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Franklin|first=Benjamin|date=February 4, 1751|title=Letter to Peter Collinson|journal=Franklin Papers}}</ref> Franklin recounted that in the process of one of these experiments, he was shocked by a pair of [[Leyden jar]]s, resulting in numbness in his arms that persisted for one evening, noting "I am Ashamed to have been Guilty of so Notorious a Blunder."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Franklin|first=Benjamin|date=December 25, 1750|title=Letter to John Franklin|journal=Franklin Papers}}</ref>
In recognition of his work with electricity, Franklin received the [[Royal Society]]'s [[Copley Medal]] in 1753, and in 1756, he became one of the few 18th-century Americans elected as a Fellow of the Society. He received honorary degrees from [[Harvard]] and [[Yale]] universities (his first).{{sfn|Van Doren|1938|p=168}} The [[centimetre–gram–second system of units|CGS]] unit of electric charge has been named after him: one ''franklin'' (Fr) is equal to one [[statcoulomb]].
Franklin advised Harvard University in its acquisition of new electrical laboratory apparatus after the complete loss of its original collection, in a fire that destroyed the original [[Harvard Hall]] in 1764. The collection he assembled would later become part of the [[Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments]], now on public display in its [[Harvard Science Center|Science Center]].<ref name="Tomase">{{cite news|last1=Tomase|first1=Jennifer|title='A How-To Guide' explores Ben Franklin's 'can-do' legacy|url=http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/06.01/10-franklin.html|access-date=August 9, 2016|work=Harvard University Gazette|date=June 1, 2006}}</ref>
Franklin briefly investigated [[electrotherapy]], including the use of the [[electric bath (electrotherapy)|electric bath]]. This work led to the field becoming widely known.<ref>* Schiffer, Michael B, ''Draw the Lightning Down: Benjamin Franklin and Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment'', pp. 136–37, 301, University of California Press, 2006 {{ISBN|0-520-24829-5}}.</ref>
====Kite experiment and lightning rod====
{{main|Kite experiment}}
[[File:BEP-JONES-Franklin and Electricity.jpg|thumb|left|''Franklin and Electricity'' vignette [[Art and engraving on United States banknotes|engraved]] by the [[Bureau of Engraving and Printing|BEP]] (c. 1860)]]
Franklin published a proposal for an experiment to prove that [[lightning]] is electricity by [[Kite experiment|flying a kite in a storm]] that appeared capable of becoming a lightning storm. On May 10, 1752, [[Thomas-François Dalibard]] of France conducted Franklin's experiment using a {{convert|40|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} iron rod instead of a kite, and he extracted electrical sparks from a cloud. On June 15, 1752, Franklin may possibly have conducted his well-known kite experiment [[St. Stephen's Episcopal Church (Philadelphia)|in Philadelphia]], successfully extracting sparks from a cloud. Franklin described the experiment in the ''[[Pennsylvania Gazette]]'' on October 19, 1752,<ref>Benjamin Franklin, [http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=4&page=360a "The Kite Experiment"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171102183234/http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=4&page=360a |date=November 2, 2017 }}, printed in ''[[The Pennsylvania Gazette]]'', October 19, 1752. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, The American Philosophical Society and Yale University; digital edition by The Packard Humanities Institute, Vol. 4, p. 360a. Retrieved February 6, 2017</ref><ref>Historical Society, [http://www.benjamin-franklin-history.org/pennsylvania-gazette/ Benjamin Franklin History]. Retrieved February 6, 2017</ref> without mentioning that he himself had performed it.<ref>Steven Johnson (2008) ''The Invention of Air'', p. 39 {{ISBN|978-1-59448-401-8}}. Retrieved February 6, 2017</ref> This account was read to the Royal Society on December 21 and printed as such in the ''Philosophical Transactions''.<ref name="archives">National Archives, [https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-04-02-0135 The Kite Experiment, 19 October 1752]. Retrieved February 6, 2017</ref> [[Joseph Priestley]] published an account with additional details in his 1767 ''History and Present Status of Electricity''. Franklin was careful to stand on an insulator, keeping dry under a roof to avoid the danger of [[electric shock]].{{sfn|Van Doren|1938|p=159}} Others, such as Prof. [[Georg Wilhelm Richmann]] in Russia, were indeed electrocuted in performing lightning experiments during the months immediately following Franklin's experiment.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
In his writings, Franklin indicates that he was aware of the dangers and offered alternative ways to demonstrate that lightning was electrical, as shown by his use of the concept of [[ground (electricity)|electrical ground]]. Franklin did not perform this experiment in the way that is often pictured in popular literature, flying the kite and waiting to be struck by lightning, as it would have been dangerous.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mos.org/sln/toe/kite.html |title=Franklin's Kite |publisher=[[Museum of Science (Boston)]]}}</ref> Instead he used the kite to collect some electric charge from a storm cloud, showing that lightning was electrical.<ref name="Wolf"/> On October 19 in a letter to England with directions for repeating the experiment, Franklin wrote:
{{quote|When rain has wet the kite twine so that it can conduct the electric fire freely, you will find it streams out plentifully from the key at the approach of your knuckle, and with this key a phial, or [[Leyden jar]], may be charged: and from electric fire thus obtained spirits may be kindled, and all other electric experiments [may be] performed which are usually done by the help of a rubber glass globe or tube; and therefore the sameness of the electrical matter with that of {{sic|?|light|ening}} completely demonstrated.<ref name="Wolf">{{cite book |last=Wolf |first=Abraham |title=History of Science, Technology, and Philosophy in the Eighteenth Century |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |year=1939 |page=232}}</ref>}}
Franklin's electrical experiments led to his invention of the [[lightning rod]]. He said that conductors with a sharp<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/06/14/science/lightning-rods-franklin-had-it-wrong.html |title=''Lightning Rods: Franklin Had It Wrong'' |access-date=March 16, 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 1, 1983}}</ref> rather than a smooth point could discharge silently, and at a far greater distance. He surmised that this could help protect buildings from lightning by attaching "upright Rods of Iron, made sharp as a Needle and gilt to prevent Rusting, and from the Foot of those Rods a Wire down the outside of the Building into the Ground; ... Would not these pointed Rods probably draw the Electrical Fire silently out of a Cloud before it came nigh enough to strike, and thereby secure us from that most sudden and terrible Mischief!" Following a series of experiments on Franklin's own house, lightning rods were installed on the Academy of Philadelphia (later the [[University of Pennsylvania]]) and the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall) in 1752.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=''Benjamin Franklin and Lightning Rods'' |volume=59 |issue=1 |page=42 |author=Krider, Philip |journal=Physics Today |date=January 2006|doi=10.1063/1.2180176 |bibcode=2006PhT....59a..42K }}</ref>
===Population studies===
Franklin had a major influence on the emerging science of [[demography]], or population studies.<ref>{{cite book| author=Dr. Alan Houston| title=Benjamin Franklin and the Politics of Improvement| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dMN9VEhrTxwC&pg=PA106| year=2008| publisher=Yale U.P.| pages=106–41| isbn=978-0-300-15239-5}}</ref>
In the 1730s and 1740s, Franklin began taking notes on population growth, finding that the American population had the fastest growth rate on Earth.<ref>{{cite book| author=J.A. Leo Lemay| title=The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 3: Soldier, Scientist, and Politician, 1748–1757| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NL5bcRP5aRAC&pg=PA245| year=2008| publisher=U. of Pennsylvania Press| page=245| isbn=978-0-8122-4121-1}}</ref> Emphasizing that population growth depended on food supplies, Franklin emphasized the abundance of food and available farmland in America. He calculated that America's population was doubling every twenty years and would surpass that of England in a century.<ref>Isaacson 2003, p. 150</ref> In 1751, he drafted [[Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc.|''Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc.'']] Four years later, it was anonymously printed in Boston, and it was quickly reproduced in Britain, where it influenced the economist [[Adam Smith]] and later the demographer [[Thomas Malthus]], who credited Franklin for discovering a rule of population growth.<ref>{{cite book| author=I. Bernard Cohen| title=The Triumph Of Numbers: How Counting Shaped Modern Life| url=https://archive.org/details/triumphofnumbers00cohe| url-access=registration| year=2005| publisher=W.W. Norton| page=[https://archive.org/details/triumphofnumbers00cohe/page/87 87]| isbn=978-0-393-05769-0}}</ref> Franklin's predictions how British mercantilism was unsustainable alarmed British leaders who did not want to be surpassed by the colonies, so they became more willing to impose restrictions on the colonial economy.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Owen Aldridge | first1 = Alfred | year = 1949 | title = Franklin as Demographer | journal = Journal of Economic History | volume = 9 | issue = 1| pages = 25–44 | jstor=2113719| doi = 10.1017/S0022050700090318 }}</ref>
Kammen (1990) and Drake (2011) say Franklin's ''Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind'' (1755) stands alongside [[Ezra Stiles]]' "Discourse on Christian Union" (1760) as the leading works of eighteenth-century Anglo-American demography; Drake credits Franklin's "wide readership and prophetic insight."<ref>{{cite book| author=James David Drake| title=The Nation's Nature: How Continental Presumptions Gave Rise to the United States of America| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EWV9T2MT5SoC&pg=PA63| year=2011| publisher=U. of Virginia Press| page=63| isbn=978-0-8139-3122-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| author=Michael G. Kammen| title=People of Paradox: An Inquiry Concerning the Origins of American Civilization| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yvmJZh38JQ4C&pg=PA81| year=1990| publisher=Cornell U.P.| page=81| isbn=978-0-8014-9755-1}}</ref> Franklin was also a pioneer in the study of slave demography, as shown in his 1755 essay.<ref>{{cite book| author=George William Van Cleve| title=A Slaveholders' Union: Slavery, Politics, and the Constitution in the Early American Republic| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dgp26Y2KzxUC&pg=PA148| year= 2010| publisher=U. of Chicago Press| page=148| isbn=978-0-226-84669-9}}</ref>
Benjamin Franklin, in his capacity as a farmer, wrote at least one critique about the negative consequences of price controls, trade restrictions, and subsidy of the poor. This is succinctly preserved in his letter to the ''[[London Chronicle]]'' published November 29, 1766, titled 'On the Price of Corn, and Management of the poor'.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/price.htm|title=The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, Volume III: London, 1757 – 1775 – On the Price of Corn, and Management of the Poor|publisher=Historycarper.com|access-date=December 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111202175522/http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/price.htm|archive-date=December 2, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>
===Atlantic Ocean currents===
As deputy postmaster, Franklin became interested in the [[Atlantic Ocean|North Atlantic Ocean]] circulation patterns. While in England in 1768, he heard a complaint from the Colonial Board of Customs: Why did it take British packet ships carrying mail several weeks longer to reach New York than it took an average merchant ship to reach [[Newport, Rhode Island]]? The merchantmen had a longer and more complex voyage because they left from London, while the packets left from [[Falmouth, Cornwall|Falmouth]] in Cornwall.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
Franklin put the question to his cousin Timothy Folger, a [[Nantucket]] whaler captain, who told him that merchant ships routinely avoided a strong eastbound mid-ocean current. The mail packet captains sailed dead into it, thus fighting an adverse current of {{convert|3|mph|km/h|0}}. Franklin worked with Folger and other experienced ship captains, learning enough to chart the current and name it the [[Gulf Stream]], by which it is still known today.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
Franklin published his Gulf Stream chart in 1770 in England, where it was completely ignored. Subsequent versions were printed in France in 1778 and the U.S. in 1786. The British edition of the chart, which was the original, was so thoroughly ignored that everyone assumed it was lost forever until Phil Richardson, a [[Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution|Woods Hole oceanographer]] and Gulf Stream expert, discovered it in the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|Bibliothèque Nationale]] in Paris in 1980.<ref>Philip L. Richardson (February 8, 1980), "Benjamin Franklin and Timothy Folger's first printed chart of the Gulf Stream", ''Science'', vol. 207, no. 4431, pp. 643–45.</ref><ref>[http://www.philly.com/philly/news/special_packages/inquirer/How_Franklin_s_chart_resurfaced.html "How Franklin's chart resurfaced"], ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', posted December 18, 2005, accessed November 26, 2010</ref> This find received front-page coverage in ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>John N. Wilford, "Prints of Franklin's chart of Gulf Stream found", ''New York Times'', pp. A1, B7 (February 6, 1980).</ref>
It took many years for British sea captains to adopt Franklin's advice on navigating the current; once they did, they were able to trim two weeks from their sailing time.<ref>1785: Benjamin Franklin's "Sundry Maritime Observations,"
The Academy of Natural Sciences, April 1939 m</ref><ref>[http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/library/readings/gulf/gulf.html ''1785: Benjamin Franklin's 'Sundry Maritime Observations' ''.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002000344/http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/library/readings/gulf/gulf.html |date=October 2, 2008 }} NOAA Ocean Explorer.</ref> In 1853, the oceanographer and cartographer [[Matthew Fontaine Maury]] noted that while Franklin charted and codified the Gulf Stream, he did not discover it:
{{quote|Though it was Dr. Franklin and Captain Tim Folger, who first turned the Gulf Stream to nautical account, the discovery that there was a Gulf Stream cannot be said to belong to either of them, for its existence was known to [[Peter Martyr d'Anghiera]], and to [[Sir Humphrey Gilbert]], in the 16th century.<ref>Source: ''Explanations and Sailing Directions to Accompany the Wind and Current Charts'', 1853, p. 53, by [[Matthew Fontaine Maury]]</ref>}}
===Wave theory of light===
Franklin was, along with his contemporary [[Leonhard Euler]], the only major scientist who supported [[Christiaan Huygens]]'s [[wave theory of light]], which was basically ignored by the rest of the [[scientific community]]. In the 18th century, [[Isaac Newton|Newton's]] [[corpuscular theory of light|corpuscular theory]] was held to be true; only after [[Thomas Young (scientist)|Young's]] well-known [[slit experiment]] in 1803 were most scientists persuaded to believe Huygens's theory.<ref>Jogn Gribbin, "In search of Schrödinger's cat", Black Swan, p. 12</ref>
===Meteorology===
On October 21, 1743, according to the popular myth, a storm moving from the southwest denied Franklin the opportunity of witnessing a [[lunar eclipse]]. Franklin was said to have noted that the [[prevailing winds]] were actually from the northeast, contrary to what he had expected. In correspondence with his brother, Franklin learned that the same storm had not reached Boston until after the eclipse, despite the fact that Boston is to the northeast of Philadelphia. He deduced that storms do not always travel in the direction of the prevailing wind, a concept that greatly influenced [[meteorology]].<ref>Heidorn, Keith C. Heidorn, PhD. [http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2003/alm03oct.htm ''Eclipsed By Storm''.] The Weather Doctor. October 1, 2003.</ref>
After the Icelandic volcanic eruption of [[Laki]] in 1783, and the subsequent harsh European winter of 1784, Franklin made observations connecting the causal nature of these two separate events. He wrote about them in a lecture series.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dartmouth.edu/~volcano/Fr373p77.html|title=Memoirs of the literary and philosophical society of Manchester|website=www.dartmouth.edu|access-date=December 3, 2019}}</ref>
===Traction kiting===
Though Benjamin Franklin has been most noted kite-wise for his lightning experiments, he has also been noted by many for using kites to pull humans and ships across waterways.<ref>{{cite book| url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/34193/34193-h/34193-h.htm| title= The True Benjamin Franklin| first= Sydney George| last= Fisher| year=1903 |publisher=J.B. Lippincott Company| location=Philadelphia| edition=5|page=19}}</ref> The [[George Pocock (inventor)|George Pocock]] in the book ''A TREATISE on The Aeropleustic Art, or Navigation in the Air, by means of Kites, or Buoyant Sails''<ref>{{cite book| url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_oMo-DVp_ypUC| title= A TREATISE on The Aeropleustic Art, or Navigation in the Air, by means of Kites, or Buoyant Sails| first=George| last=Pocock| page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_oMo-DVp_ypUC/page/n16 9]| publisher=Longmans, Brown, and Co.| location=London| year=1851}}</ref> noted being inspired by Benjamin Franklin's traction of his body by kite power across a waterway. In his later years, he suggested using the technique for pulling ships.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
===Concept of cooling===
Franklin noted a principle of [[refrigeration]] by observing that on a very hot day, he stayed cooler in a wet shirt in a breeze than he did in a dry one. To understand this phenomenon more clearly Franklin conducted experiments. In 1758 on a warm day in [[Cambridge]], England, Franklin and fellow scientist [[John Hadley (chemist)|John Hadley]] experimented by continually wetting the ball of a mercury [[thermometer]] with [[diethyl ether|ether]] and using [[bellows]] to evaporate the ether.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/letter1.htm |title=The Writings of Benjamin Franklin: London, 1757–1775 |publisher=Historycarper.com |access-date=September 14, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110128075748/http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/letter1.htm |archive-date=January 28, 2011 }}</ref> With each subsequent [[evaporation]], the thermometer read a lower temperature, eventually reaching {{convert|7|F}}. Another thermometer showed that the room temperature was constant at {{convert|65|F}}. In his letter ''[[Cooling by Evaporation]]'', Franklin noted that, "One may see the possibility of freezing a man to death on a warm summer's day."{{CN|date=December 2020}}
===Temperature's effect on electrical conductivity===
According to [[Michael Faraday]], Franklin's experiments on the non-conduction of ice are worth mentioning, although the law of the general effect of liquefaction on electrolytes is not attributed to Franklin.<ref>{{cite book |last=Faraday |first=Michael |title=Experimental researches in electricity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XuITAAAAQAAJ&pg=PR5 |page=v |volume=2 |year=1839 |publisher=R. & J.E. Taylor |quote=Franklin's experiments on the non-conduction of ice ...}}</ref> However, as reported in 1836 by Prof. A. D. Bache of the University of Pennsylvania, the law of the effect of heat on the conduction of bodies otherwise non-conductors, for example, glass, could be attributed to Franklin. Franklin writes, "... A certain quantity of heat will make some bodies good conductors, that will not otherwise conduct ..." and again, "... And water, though naturally a good conductor, will not conduct well when frozen into ice."<ref>{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Thomas P. |title=Journal of the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zV9DAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP7 |pages=182–83 |year=1836 |quote=In the fourth series of his electrical researches, Mr. Faraday ... |publisher=Pergamon Press}}</ref>
===Oceanography findings===
[[File:BenFranklin Waterspout 1806.jpg|thumb|An illustration from Franklin's paper on "[[waterspout|Water-spouts]] and Whirlwinds"]]
An aging Franklin accumulated all his oceanographic findings in ''Maritime Observations'', published by the Philosophical Society's ''transactions'' in 1786.<ref>{{cite book
|last1=Price
|first1=Richard
|last2=Thomas
|first2=David Oswald
|last3=Peach
|first3=Bernard
|author-link1=Richard Price
|author-link2=David Oswald Thomas
|year=1994
|title=The Correspondence of Richard Price: February 1786 – February 1791
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fPQfNx2TQLAC&pg=RA1-PA23
|page=23
|publisher=Duke University Press
|isbn=978-0-8223-1327-4
|access-date=October 2, 2009}}</ref> It contained ideas for [[sea anchor]]s, [[catamaran]] hulls, [[watertight compartment]]s, shipboard lightning rods and a soup bowl designed to stay stable in stormy weather.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
===Decision-making===
In a 1772 letter to [[Joseph Priestley]], Franklin lays out the earliest known description of the Pro & Con list,<ref name="decisions">{{cite book |last=Franklin |first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin Franklin |year=1975 |orig-year=1772 |chapter=To Joseph Priestley |editor-last=Willcox |editor-first=William Bradford |title=The papers of Benjamin Franklin: January 1 through December 31, 1772 |volume=19 |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press |pages=299–300 |isbn=978-0-300-01865-3 |oclc=310601 |chapter-url=http://franklinpapers.org/yale?vol=19&page=299a }}</ref> a common [[decision-making]] technique, now sometimes called a [[decisional balance sheet]]:
{{quote|... my Way is, to divide half a Sheet of Paper by a Line into two Columns, writing over the one ''Pro'', and over the other ''Con''. Then during three or four Days Consideration I put down under the different Heads short Hints of the different Motives that at different Times occur to me for or against the Measure. When I have thus got them all together in one View, I endeavour to estimate their respective Weights; and where I find two, one on each side, that seem equal, I strike them both out: If I find a Reason ''pro'' equal to some two Reasons ''con'', I strike out the three. If I judge some two Reasons ''con'' equal to some three Reasons ''pro'', I strike out the five; and thus proceeding I find at length where the Ballance lies; and if after a Day or two of farther Consideration nothing new that is of Importance occurs on either side, I come to a Determination accordingly.<ref name="decisions" />}}
{{anchor|Science humor}} <!-- former title of this ↓↓ subsection, kept in case of links -->
===Oil on water===
While traveling on a ship, Franklin had observed that the wake of a ship [[storm oil|was diminished]] when the cooks scuttled their greasy water. He studied the effects on a large pond in [[Clapham Common]], London. "I fetched out a cruet of oil and dropt a little of it on the water ... though not more than a teaspoon full, produced an instant calm over a space of several yards square." He later used the trick to "calm the waters" by carrying "a little oil in the hollow joint of my cane".<ref>*W. Gratzer, Eurekas and Euphorias, pp. 80–81</ref>
==Musical endeavors==
[[File:Glassharmonica.png|thumb|[[Glass harmonica]]]]
Franklin is known to have played the violin, the [[harp]], and the guitar. He also composed music, notably a [[string quartet]] in [[classical period (music)|early classical style]]. While he was in London, he developed a much-improved version of the [[glass harmonica]], in which the glasses rotate on a shaft, with the player's fingers held steady, instead of the other way around. He worked with the London glassblower Charles James to create it, and instruments based on his mechanical version soon found their way to other parts of Europe.<ref>Bloch, Thomas. [http://www.finkenbeiner.com/gh.html ''The Glassharmonica''.] GFI Scientific.</ref> [[Joseph Haydn]], a fan of Franklin's enlightened ideas, had a glass harmonica in his instrument collection.<ref>{{cite book |first=Robin |last=Watefield |author-link=Robin Waterfield |title=Hidden Depths: The Story of Hypnosis: The Story of Hypnosis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JtJ5F1cr8WEC&pg=PA67 |publisher=Routledge |date=August 1, 2003 |page=67 |isbn=978-1-135-40367-6}}</ref> [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] composed for Franklin's glass harmonica,<ref name="Harvard">{{cite book |last=Apel |first=Willi |year=1969 |chapter=Glass harmonica |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=TMdf1SioFk4C&pg=PA347 |title=Harvard Dictionary of Music |page=347 |publisher=Harvard |isbn=9780674375017}}</ref> as did [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://articles.latimes.com/2001/feb/25/news/mn-30005 |title='Armonicists' Debate Source of Beethoven's Maladies |first=Richard |last=Benke |date=February 25, 2001 |access-date=August 21, 2018 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1983/1129/112916.html |title=Franklin invented it, Mozart wrote for it: the 'armonica' returns |last=Carmel |first=Jeffrey J. |date=November 22, 1983 |access-date=August 21, 2018 |work=The Christian Science Monitor}}</ref> [[Gaetano Donizetti]] used the instrument in the accompaniment to Amelia's aria "Par che mi dica ancora" in the tragic opera ''[[Il castello di Kenilworth]]'' (1821),<ref name="Osborne1994">{{cite book|author=Charles Osborne|title=The bel canto operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini|url=https://archive.org/details/belcantooperasof0000osbo|url-access=registration|date=April 1, 1994|publisher=Amadeus Press|isbn=978-0-931340-71-0}}</ref> as did [[Camille Saint-Saëns]] in his 1886 ''[[The Carnival of the Animals]]''.<ref>{{IMSLP|work=La_Carnaval_des_Animaux_%28Saint-Sa%C3%ABns%2C_Camille%29|cname=''The Carnival of the Animals''}}</ref> [[Richard Strauss]] calls for the glass harmonica in his 1917 ''[[Die Frau ohne Schatten]]'',<ref name="Harvard"/> and numerous other composers used Franklin's instrument as well.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
==Chess==
Franklin was an avid [[chess]] player. He was playing chess by around 1733, making him the first chess player known by name in the American colonies.<ref name="McCraryChessandFranklin">{{cite web |first=John |last=McCrary |url=http://www.benfranklin300.org/_etc_pdf/Chess_John_McCrary.pdf |title=Chess and Benjamin Franklin-His Pioneering Contributions |access-date=April 26, 2009 }}</ref> His essay on "[[The Morals of Chess]]" in ''[[Columbian Magazine]]''<!-- WAIT--WAIT! Before you remove the brackets, consider writing a new article! -- Paine --> in December 1786 is the second known writing on chess in America.<ref name="McCraryChessandFranklin"/> This essay in praise of chess and prescribing a code of behavior for the game has been widely reprinted and translated.<ref>[[David Vincent Hooper|David Hooper]] and [[Kenneth Whyld]], ''The Oxford Companion to Chess'', Oxford University Press (2nd ed. 1992), p. 145. {{ISBN|0-19-866164-9}}.</ref><ref>The essay appears in [[Marcello Truzzi]] (ed.), ''Chess in Literature'', Avon Books, 1974, pp. 14–15. {{ISBN|0-380-00164-0}}.</ref><ref>The essay appears in a book by the felicitously named Norman Knight, ''Chess Pieces'', [[CHESS magazine]], [[Sutton Coldfield]], England (2nd ed. 1968), pp. 5–6. {{ISBN|0-380-00164-0}}.</ref><ref>Franklin's essay is also reproduced at the [https://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/museums/u.s.-chess-center-museum-and-hall-of-fame,800594.html U.S. Chess Center Museum and Hall of Fame] in Washington, DC. Retrieved December 3, 2008.</ref> He and a friend also used chess as a means of learning the Italian language, which both were studying; the winner of each game between them had the right to assign a task, such as parts of the Italian grammar to be learned by heart, to be performed by the loser before their next meeting.<ref>[[William Temple Franklin]], ''Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin'', reprinted in Knight, ''Chess Pieces'', pp. 136–37.</ref>
Franklin was able to play chess more frequently against stronger opposition during his many years as a civil servant and diplomat in England, where the game was far better established than in America. He was able to improve his playing standard by facing more experienced players during this period. He regularly attended [[Old Slaughter's Coffee House]] in London for chess and socializing, making many important personal contacts. While in Paris, both as a visitor and later as ambassador, he visited the famous [[Café de la Régence]], which France's strongest players made their regular meeting place. No records of his games have survived, so it is not possible to ascertain his playing strength in modern terms.<ref>{{cite book |title=The History of Chess in Fifty Moves |first=Bill |last=Price |publisher=Firefly Books (U.S.) Inc. |location=Buffalo, New York |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-77085-529-8 |pages=90–95 }}</ref>
Franklin was inducted into the [[World Chess Hall of Fame|U.S. Chess Hall of Fame]] in 1999.<ref name="McCraryChessandFranklin"/> The Franklin Mercantile Chess Club in Philadelphia, the second oldest chess club in the U.S., is named in his honor.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
==Public life==
===Early steps in Pennsylvania===
[[File:Benjamin Franklin - Join or Die.jpg|thumb|''[[Join, or Die]]'': This political cartoon by Franklin urged the colonies to join together during the [[French and Indian War]] ([[Seven Years' War]]).]]
In 1736, Franklin created the [[Union Fire Company]], one of the first [[Volunteer fire department|volunteer firefighting companies]] in America. In the same year, he printed a new currency for [[New Jersey]] based on innovative anti-[[counterfeit]]ing techniques he had devised. Throughout his career, Franklin was an advocate for [[Banknote|paper money]], publishing ''A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency'' in 1729, and his printer printed money. He was influential in the more restrained and thus successful monetary experiments in the Middle Colonies, which stopped [[deflation]] without causing excessive inflation. In 1766 he made a case for paper money to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|British House of Commons]].<ref>[[John Kenneth Galbraith]]. (1975). ''Money: Where It Came, Whence It Went'', pp. 54–54. Houghton Mifflin Company.</ref>
As he matured, Franklin began to concern himself more with public affairs. In 1743, he first devised a scheme for [[The Academy and College of Philadelphia|the Academy, Charity School, and College of Philadelphia]]. However, the person he had in mind to run the academy, Rev. [[Richard Peters (priest)|Richard Peters]], refused and Franklin put his ideas away until 1749 when he printed his own pamphlet, ''Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania.''<ref name="MontgomeryHistory">{{cite book | title=A History of the University of Pennsylvania from Its Foundation to A.D. 1770 | url=https://archive.org/details/ahistoryunivers02montgoog | publisher=George W. Jacobs & Co. | author=Montgomery, Thomas Harrison | year=1900 | location=Philadelphia | lccn=00003240}}</ref>{{rp|30}} He was appointed president of the Academy on November 13, 1749; the Academy and the charity school opened on August 13, 1751.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
In 1743, Franklin founded the [[American Philosophical Society]] to help scientific men discuss their discoveries and theories. He began the electrical research that, along with other scientific inquiries, would occupy him for the rest of his life, in between bouts of politics and moneymaking.<ref name="vandoren"/>
During [[King George's War]] (1744–1748), Franklin raised a militia called the Association for General Defense, because the legislators of the city decided to take no action to defend Philadelphia "either by erecting fortifications or building Ships of War". He raised money to create earthwork defenses and buy artillery. The largest of these was the "Association Battery" or "Grand Battery" of 50 guns.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dorwart |first=Jeffery |title=Fort Mifflin of Philadelphia: An Illustrated History |pages=9–11 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-8122-1644-8 }}</ref><ref name=Kyria1>{{cite book|title=Philadelphia's Lost Waterfront|first =Harry |last = Kyriakodis|publisher= The History Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-62584-188-9 |page=114 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Lt2CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT114 |chapter = 16. At Washington Avenue}}</ref>
In 1747, Franklin (already a very wealthy man) retired from printing and went into other businesses.<ref>James N. Green, "English Books and Printing in the Age of Franklin", in ''The Colonial Book in the Atlantic World'' (2002), 257.</ref> He created a partnership with his foreman, [[David Hall (publisher)|David Hall]], which provided Franklin with half of the shop's profits for 18 years. This lucrative business arrangement provided leisure time for study, and in a few years he had made discoveries that gave him a reputation with educated persons throughout Europe and especially in France.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
[[File:PennsylvaniaHospitalWilliamStrickland.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|[[Pennsylvania Hospital]] by [[William Strickland (architect)|William Strickland]], 1755]]
Franklin became involved in Philadelphia politics and rapidly progressed. In October 1748, he was selected as a councilman, in June 1749 he became a [[Justice of the Peace]] for Philadelphia, and in 1751 he was elected to the [[Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly|Pennsylvania Assembly]]. On August 10, 1753, Franklin was appointed deputy postmaster-general of [[British North America]], ([[#Postmaster|see below]]). His most notable service in domestic politics was his reform of the postal system, with mail sent out every week.<ref name="vandoren"/>
In 1751, Franklin and [[Thomas Bond (American physician)|Thomas Bond]] obtained a charter from the Pennsylvania legislature to establish a hospital. [[Pennsylvania Hospital]] was the first hospital in what was to become the United States of America.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
In 1752, Franklin organized the [[Philadelphia Contributionship]], the first [[homeowner's insurance]] company in what would become the United States.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Landers|first1=Jackson|title=In the Early 19th Century, Firefighters Fought Fires ... and Each Other|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/early-19-century-firefighters-fought-fires-each-other-180960391/|access-date=December 10, 2017|work=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|date=September 27, 2016|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=McGuire|first1=Virginia|title=What Are Those Little Shields Above the Doorways of Philadelphia Homes?|url=http://www.phillymag.com/property/2013/05/03/the-storied-fire-marks-of-philadelphia/|access-date=December 10, 2017|work=[[Philadelphia (magazine)|Philadelphia]]|publisher=[[Metrocorp]]|date=May 3, 2013}}</ref>
[[File:1757 UPenn Seal.png|thumb|upright|Seal of the College of Philadelphia]]
Between 1750 and 1753, the "educational triumvirate"<ref>Olsen, Neil C., ''Pursuing Happiness: The Organizational Culture of the Continental Congress'', Nonagram Publications, {{ISBN|978-1-4800-6550-5}}, 2013, p. 174</ref> of Benjamin Franklin, the American [[Samuel Johnson (American educator)|Samuel Johnson]] of [[Stratford, Connecticut]], and the immigrant Scottish schoolteacher [[William Smith (Episcopal priest)|William Smith]] built on Franklin's initial scheme and created what [[James Madison (bishop)|Bishop James Madison]], president of the [[College of William & Mary]], called a "new-model"<ref>Smith, Horace Wemyss, ''The Life and Correspondence of the Rev. Wm. Smith, D.D.'', Philadelphia, 1880, Volume 1: pp. 566–67.</ref> plan or style of American college. Franklin solicited, printed in 1752, and promoted an American textbook of [[ethics|moral philosophy]] by Samuel Johnson, titled ''Elementa Philosophica'',<ref>Samuel Johnson, ''Elementa philosophica: containing chiefly, Noetica, or things relating to the mind or understanding: and Ethica, or things relating to the moral behaviour. Philadelphia'', Printed by B. Franklin and D. Hall, at the new-printing-office, near the market, 1752</ref> to be taught in the new colleges to replace courses in denominational divinity.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
In June 1753, Johnson, Franklin, and Smith met in Stratford.<ref>Olsen, pp. 163–274</ref> They decided the new-model college would focus on the professions, with classes taught in English instead of Latin, have subject matter experts as professors instead of one tutor leading a class for four years, and there would be no religious test for admission.<ref>Olsen, p. 163</ref> Johnson went on to found King's College (now [[Columbia University]]) in New York City in 1754, while Franklin hired Smith as Provost of the College of Philadelphia, which opened in 1755. At its first commencement, on May 17, 1757, seven men graduated; six with a Bachelor of Arts and one as Master of Arts. It was later merged with the University of the State of Pennsylvania to become the [[University of Pennsylvania]]. The college was to become influential in guiding [[:Template:Founding Documents of America|the founding documents of the United States]]: in the [[Continental Congress]], for example, over one-third of the college-affiliated men who contributed the ''[[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]'' between September 4, 1774, and July 4, 1776, was affiliated with the college.<ref>Olsen, p. 308</ref>
In 1753, both [[Harvard University|Harvard]]<ref>[http://www.harvard.edu/honorary-degrees Honorary Degrees] Harvard University. Retrieved August 20, 2012.</ref> and [[Yale]]<ref>[http://ris-systech2.its.yale.edu/hondegrees/hondegrees.asp Honorary Degrees] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610204206/http://ris-systech2.its.yale.edu/hondegrees/hondegrees.asp |date=June 10, 2010 }} Yale University. Retrieved August 20, 2012.</ref> awarded him honorary master of arts degrees.<ref>[http://www.benfranklinexhibit.org/resume ''Benjamin Franklin resume''.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120625095432/http://benfranklinexhibit.org/resume |date=June 25, 2012 }} In Search of a Better World. Benjamin Franklin Exhibit. Retrieved August 20, 2012.</ref>
[[File:Sketch of Tun Tavern in the Revolutionary War.jpg|thumb|Sketch of the original [[Tun Tavern]]]]
In 1754, he headed the Pennsylvania delegation to the [[Albany Congress]]. This meeting of several colonies had been requested by the [[Board of Trade]] in England to improve relations with the Indians and defense against the French. Franklin proposed a broad [[Albany Plan|Plan of Union]] for the colonies. While the plan was not adopted, elements of it found their way into the [[Articles of Confederation]] and the [[United States Constitution|Constitution]].{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
In 1756, Franklin received an honorary Master of Arts degree from the [[College of William & Mary]].<ref>{{cite book |last=College of William and Mary |first=College of William and Mary |date=1874 |title=The History of the College of William and Mary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfaiLj00yFYC&pg=PA48 |location=Richmond, VA |publisher=J.W. Randolph & English |page=148|isbn=978-1-4290-4333-5 }}</ref> Later in 1756, Franklin organized the Pennsylvania Militia (see "Associated Regiment of Philadelphia" under heading of Pennsylvania's 103rd Artillery and [[111th Infantry Regiment (United States)|111th Infantry Regiment]] at [[Continental Army]]). He used [[Tun Tavern]] as a gathering place to recruit a regiment of soldiers to go into battle against the Native American uprisings that beset the American colonies. Reportedly Franklin was elected "Colonel" of the Associated Regiment but declined the honor.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
===Decades in London===
From the mid-1750s to the mid-1770s, Franklin spent much of his time in London. Officially he was there on a political mission, but he used his time to further his scientific explorations as well, meeting many notable people.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
====Political work in London====
In 1757, he was sent to England by the Pennsylvania Assembly as a colonial agent to protest against the political influence of the [[Penn family]], the [[proprietary colony|proprietors of the colony]]. He remained there for five years, striving to end the proprietors' prerogative to overturn legislation from the elected Assembly, and their exemption from paying taxes on their land. His lack of influential allies in [[Whitehall]] led to the failure of this mission.
[[File:US-Colonial (PA-115)-Pennsylvania-18 Jun 1764.jpg|thumb|left|Pennsylvania colonial currency printed by Franklin in 1764]]
At this time, many members of the Pennsylvania Assembly were feuding with [[List of colonial governors of Pennsylvania#Proprietors|William Penn's heirs]], who controlled the colony as proprietors. After his return to the colony, Franklin led the "anti-proprietary party" in the struggle against the Penn family, and was elected [[Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives|Speaker of the Pennsylvania House]] in May 1764. His call for a change from proprietary to royal government was a rare political miscalculation, however: Pennsylvanians worried that such a move would endanger their political and religious freedoms. Because of these fears, and because of political attacks on his character, Franklin lost his seat in the October 1764 Assembly elections. The anti-proprietary party dispatched Franklin to England again to continue the struggle against the Penn family proprietorship. During this trip, events drastically changed the nature of his mission.<ref name="ANB">J.A. Leo Lematy, "Franklin, Benjamin". ''[[American National Biography]] Online'', February 2000.</ref>
In London, Franklin opposed the [[Stamp Act 1765|1765 Stamp Act]]. Unable to prevent its passage, he made another political miscalculation and recommended a friend to the post of stamp distributor for Pennsylvania. Pennsylvanians were outraged, believing that he had supported the measure all along, and threatened to destroy his home in Philadelphia. Franklin soon learned of the extent of colonial resistance to the Stamp Act, and he testified during the House of Commons proceedings that led to its repeal.<ref>Peter Charles Hoffer, ''Benjamin Franklin Explains the Stamp Act Protests to Parliament, 1766'' (2015)</ref>
[[File:Benjamin Franklin 1767.jpg|thumb|upright|Franklin in London, 1767, wearing a blue suit with elaborate gold braid and buttons, a far cry from the simple dress he affected at the [[Court (royal)|French court]] in later years. Painting by [[David Martin (artist)|David Martin]], displayed in the [[White House]].]]
With this, Franklin suddenly emerged as the leading spokesman for American interests in England. He wrote popular essays on behalf of the colonies. [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[New Jersey]], and [[Massachusetts]] also appointed him as their agent to the Crown.<ref name="ANB" />
Franklin lodged in a house in Craven Street, just off [[Strand, London|The Strand]] in [[central London]].{{CN|date=December 2020}} During his stays there, he developed a close friendship with his landlady, Margaret Stevenson, and her circle of friends and relations, in particular, her daughter Mary, who was more often known as Polly. Their house, which he used on various lengthy missions from 1757 to 1775, is the only one of his residences to survive.{{CN|date=December 2020}} It opened to the public as the [[Benjamin Franklin House]] museum in 2006.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
Franklin conversed and corresponded with many important Britons during this period. Among his inner circle were the printer [[William Strahan (publisher)|William Strahan]] and the jurist [[Richard Jackson (colonial agent)|Richard Jackson]]. He also corresponded with leading figures in the [[Scottish Enlightenment]], including [[David Hume]].{{CN|date=December 2020}}
Whilst in London, Franklin became involved in [[Radicalism (historical)|radical]] politics. He belonged to a [[gentleman's club]] (which he called "the honest [[Radical Whigs|Whigs]]"), which held stated meetings, and included members such as [[Richard Price]], the minister of [[Newington Green Unitarian Church]] who ignited the [[Revolution controversy]], and [[Andrew Kippis]].<ref>Duncan Wu, ''William Hazlitt (1737–1820), the Priestley Circle, and "The Theological Repository:" A Brief Survey and Bibliography'', The Review of English Studies New Series, Vol. 56, No. 227 (Nov. 2005), pp. 758–66 [762]. Published by: Oxford University Press {{jstor|3661246}}</ref>
In 1763, Franklin's illegitimate son [[William Franklin]], by then an attorney and assistant to Franklin's colonial advocacy in London, was appointed [[Governor of New Jersey|Colonial Governor of New Jersey]].<ref name="vandoren"/>
====Scientific work in London====
In 1756, Franklin had become a member of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (now the [[Royal Society of Arts]] or RSA), which had been founded in 1754 and whose early meetings took place in [[English coffeehouses in the 17th and 18th centuries|Covent Garden coffee shops]].{{CN|date=December 2020}} After his return to the United States in 1775, Franklin became the Society's Corresponding Member, continuing a close connection. The RSA instituted a [[Benjamin Franklin Medal (Royal Society of Arts)|Benjamin Franklin Medal]] in 1956 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of his birth and the 200th anniversary of his membership of the RSA.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
The study of [[natural philosophy]] (what we would call science) drew him into overlapping circles of acquaintance. Franklin was, for example, a corresponding member of the [[Lunar Society of Birmingham]], which included such other scientific and industrial luminaries as [[Matthew Boulton]], [[James Watt]], [[Josiah Wedgwood]] and [[Erasmus Darwin]]; on occasion he visited them.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
In 1759, the [[University of St Andrews]] awarded Franklin an honorary doctorate in recognition of his accomplishments.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/inde/learn/historyculture/people-franklin-resume.htm|title=Benjamin Franklin's Resume – Independence National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)|website=www.nps.gov}}</ref> He was also awarded an honorary doctorate by [[Oxford University]] in 1762. Because of these honors, Franklin was often addressed as "{{abbr|Dr.|Doctor}} Franklin."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benjamin-Franklin|title=Benjamin Franklin – American author, scientist, and statesman}}</ref>
While living in London in 1768, [[Benjamin Franklin's phonetic alphabet|he developed a phonetic alphabet]] in ''A Scheme for a new Alphabet and a Reformed Mode of Spelling''. This reformed alphabet discarded six letters Franklin regarded as redundant (c, j, q, w, x, and y), and substituted six new letters for sounds he felt lacked letters of their own. This alphabet never caught on, and he eventually lost interest.<ref>[http://www.omniglot.com/writing/franklin.htm ''Benjamin Franklin's Phonetic Alphabet''.] Omniglot.com.</ref>
===Travels around Britain and Ireland===
Franklin used London as a base to travel. In 1771, he made short journeys through different parts of England, staying with [[Joseph Priestley]] at [[Leeds]], [[Thomas Percival]] at [[Manchester]] and [[Erasmus Darwin]] at [[Lichfield]].<ref name="sparks">Sparks, Jared. [http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/biography/chap05.htm ''Life of Benjamin Franklin''.] US History.org.</ref>
In Scotland, he spent five days with [[Henry Home, Lord Kames|Lord Kames]] near [[Stirling]] and stayed for three weeks with [[David Hume]] in Edinburgh. In 1759, he visited [[Edinburgh]] with his son, and recalled his conversations there as "the ''densest'' happiness of my life".<ref>Buchan, James. ''Crowded with Genius: The Scottish Enlightenment: Edinburgh's Moment of the Mind''. HarperCollins Publishers. 2003. p. 2</ref> In February 1759, the [[University of St Andrews]] awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. From then he was known as "Doctor Franklin".<ref>{{cite book|last=Gaustad|first=Edwin S|title=Benjamin Franklin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yrnUhKvBumAC&pg=PA41|access-date=May 1, 2016|year=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=40|isbn=978-0-19-970936-6}}</ref> In October of the same year he was granted [[Freedom of the City|Freedom of the Borough]] of [[St Andrews]].<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.katekennedyclub.org.uk/news.aspx#19 |title=The Kate Kennedy Club |publisher=The Kate Kennedy Club |access-date=September 21, 2009|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090327111941/http://katekennedyclub.org.uk/news.aspx |archive-date= March 27, 2009}}</ref>
He had never been to Ireland before, and met and stayed with [[Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire|Lord Hillsborough]], who he believed was especially attentive. Franklin noted of him that "all the plausible behaviour I have described is meant only, by patting and stroking the horse, to make him more patient, while the reins are drawn tighter, and the spurs set deeper into his sides."<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BL1VXdTbDucC&pg=PR21 |title= Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |editor=Nathan Haskell Dole |year= 2003|access-date=September 21, 2009|isbn=978-0-7661-4375-3}}</ref> In [[Dublin]], Franklin was invited to sit with the members of the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]] rather than in the gallery. He was the first American to receive this honor.<ref name="sparks" /> While touring Ireland, he was deeply moved by the level of poverty he witnessed. The [[Ireland#Economy|economy]] of the [[Kingdom of Ireland]] was affected by the same trade regulations and laws that governed the Thirteen colonies. Franklin feared that the American colonies could eventually come to the same level of poverty if the regulations and laws continued to apply to them.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/exp_worldly_ireland.html ''Benjamin Franklin''.] PBS.org.</ref>
===Visits to Europe===
Franklin spent two months in German lands in 1766, but his connections to the country stretched across a lifetime. He declared a debt of gratitude to German scientist [[Otto von Guericke]] for his early studies of electricity. Franklin also co-authored the first [[Treaty of Amity and Commerce (Prussia–United States)|treaty of friendship]] between Prussia and America in 1785.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
In September 1767, Franklin visited Paris with his usual traveling partner, [[Sir John Pringle, 1st Baronet]]. News of his electrical discoveries was widespread in France. His reputation meant that he was introduced to many influential scientists and politicians, and also to [[Louis XV of France|King Louis XV]].<ref name="isaacson">Isaacson, Walter. ''Benjamin Franklin: An American Life''. Simon & Schuster. 2003.</ref>
===Defending the American cause===
One line of argument in Parliament was that Americans should pay a share of the costs of the [[French and Indian War]], and that therefore taxes should be levied on them. Franklin became the American spokesman in highly publicized testimony in Parliament in 1766. He stated that Americans already contributed heavily to the defense of the Empire. He said local governments had raised, outfitted and paid 25,000 soldiers to fight France—as many as Britain itself sent—and spent many millions from American treasuries doing so in the [[French and Indian War]] alone.<ref>{{cite book|last=James A. Henretta, ed.|title=Documents for America's History, Volume 1: To 1877|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h_rsacFjVCAC&pg=PA110|year=2011|publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's|page=110|isbn=978-0-312-64862-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Isaacson|title=Benjamin Franklin: An American Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L64OOJGaCKIC&pg=PA229|year=2004|pages=229–30|isbn=978-0-7432-5807-4}}</ref>
In 1773, Franklin published two of his most celebrated pro-American satirical essays: [[s:Rules By Which A Great Empire May Be Reduced To A Small One|"Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One"]], and "An Edict by the King of Prussia".<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/pa-1773.htm| title=reprinted on The History Carper| last=Franklin| first=Benjamin| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060103051246/http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/pa-1773.htm| archive-date=January 3, 2006| df=mdy-all}}</ref>
===Hutchinson letters leak===
{{main|Hutchinson Letters Affair}}
In 1772, Franklin obtained private letters of [[Thomas Hutchinson (governor)|Thomas Hutchinson]] and [[Andrew Oliver]], [[Governor of Massachusetts|governor]] and [[Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts|lieutenant governor]] of the [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]], proving that they had encouraged the Crown to crack down on Bostonians. Franklin sent them to America, where they escalated the tensions. The letters were finally [[News leak|leaked]] to the public in the ''[[Boston Gazette]]'' in mid-June 1773,<ref>{{cite book|last=Bailyn|first=Bernard|title=The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson|location=Cambridge, MA|year=1974|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-64160-0|oclc=6825524|url=https://archive.org/details/ordealofthomashu00bern}}, p. 240</ref> causing a political firestorm in Massachusetts and raising significant questions in England.<ref name=Penegar29>{{cite book|last=Penegar|first=Kenneth|title=The Political Trial of Benjamin Franklin|publisher=Algora Publishing|year=2011|isbn=978-0-87586-849-3|location=New York|oclc=696296728}}, p. 29</ref> The British began to regard him as the fomenter of serious trouble. Hopes for a peaceful solution ended as he was systematically ridiculed and humiliated by [[Solicitor General for England and Wales|Solicitor-General]] [[Alexander Wedderburn, 1st Earl of Rosslyn|Alexander Wedderburn]], before the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]] on January 29, 1774. He returned to Philadelphia in March 1775, and abandoned his accommodationist stance.<ref>Sheila L. Skemp, ''The Making of a Patriot: Benjamin Franklin at the Cockpit'' (Oxford University Press; 2012)</ref>
=== Agent for British and Hellfire club membership ===
Franklin is known to have occasionally attended the [[Hellfire Club]]'s meetings during 1758 as a non-member during his time in England. However, some authors and historians would argue Benjamin Franklin was in fact a British spy. As there are no records left (having been burned in 1774<ref>''City of Blood, Cities of the Underworld'' – History Channel 2 (H2), 2008</ref>), many of these members are just assumed or linked by letters sent to each other.<ref>Ashe, Geoffrey. ''The Hell-Fire Clubs: A History of Anti-Morality''. Great Britain: Sutton Publishing, 2005., p. 121</ref> One early proponent that Franklin was a member of the Hellfire Club and a double agent was the historian [[Donald McCormick]],<ref>[https://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/fc/deacononfranklin.html Famous British Historian Claims Benjamin Franklin Was A British Spy], Originally published in Argosy magazine, July 1970, pp. 34 ff; Richard Deacon was a pseudonym for Donald McCormick</ref> who has a history of making controversial claims.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
===Coming of revolution===
In 1763, soon after Franklin returned to Pennsylvania from England for the first time, the western frontier was engulfed in a bitter war known as [[Pontiac's Rebellion]]. The [[Paxton Boys]], a group of settlers convinced that the Pennsylvania government was not doing enough to protect them from [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indian]] raids, murdered a group of peaceful [[Susquehannock]] Indians and marched on Philadelphia. Franklin helped to organize a local [[militia]] to defend the capital against the mob. He met with the Paxton leaders and persuaded them to disperse. Franklin wrote a scathing attack against the [[racism|racial prejudice]] of the Paxton Boys. "If an ''Indian'' injures me", he asked, "does it follow that I may revenge that Injury on all ''Indians''?"<ref>Franklin, Benjamin. [http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/massacre.htm "A Narrative of the Late Massacres ..."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427070508/http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/massacre.htm |date=April 27, 2006 }} reprinted on The History Carper.</ref>
He provided an early response to British surveillance through his own network of [[Surveillance art|counter-surveillance and manipulation]]. "He waged a public relations campaign, secured secret aid, played a role in privateering expeditions, and churned out effective and inflammatory propaganda."<ref>{{cite journal| last=Crews| first= Ed| title= Spies and Scouts, Secret Writing, and Sympathetic Citizens| journal= Colonial Williamsburg Journal| url=http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/Summer04/spies.cfm| date=Summer 2004| access-date=April 19, 2009}}</ref>
===Declaration of Independence===
[[File:Declaration independence.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=About 50 men, most of them seated, are in a large meeting room. Most are focused on the five men standing in the center of the room. The tallest of the five is laying a document on a table.|[[John Trumbull]] depicts the [[Committee of Five]] presenting their work to the Congress.<ref>[http://www.americanrevolution.org/deckey.html Key to Declaration] American Revolution.org.</ref>]]
By the time Franklin arrived in Philadelphia on May 5, 1775, after his second mission to Great Britain, the [[American Revolution]] had begun—with skirmishes breaking out between colonials and British at [[Battles of Lexington and Concord|Lexington and Concord]].{{CN|date=December 2020}} The New England militia had forced the main British army to remain inside Boston.{{CN|date=December 2020}} The Pennsylvania Assembly unanimously chose Franklin as their delegate to the [[Second Continental Congress]].{{CN|date=December 2020}} In June 1776, Franklin was appointed a member of the [[Committee of Five]] that drafted the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]. Although he was temporarily disabled by [[gout]] and unable to attend most meetings of the committee,{{CN|date=December 2020}} Franklin made several "small but important" changes to the draft sent to him by [[Thomas Jefferson]].<ref>Isaacson, pp. 311–12</ref>
At the signing, he is quoted as having replied to a comment by [[John Hancock]] that they must all hang together: "Yes, we must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."<ref>{{Cite book
|url=https://archive.org/details/lifebenjaminfra00spargoog|quote=franklin shall all hang separately sparks.|title=The Life of Benjamin Franklin: Containing the Autobiography, with Notes and a Continuation
|first=Jared
|last=Sparks
|author-link=Jared Sparks
|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifebenjaminfra00spargoog/page/n437 408]
|publisher=Whittemore, Niles and Hall
|location=Boston
|year=1856
|access-date=December 16, 2007
}}</ref>
===Postmaster===
<!--The 'Franklin on US Postage' section links to this section/image file. -->
[[File:Franklin SC1 1847.jpg|thumb|upright|First issue of Benjamin Franklin on US [[#Franklin on U.S. Postage|postage stamp]], issue of 1847]]
Well known as a printer and publisher, Franklin was appointed postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737, holding the office until 1753, when he and publisher [[William Hunter (publisher)|William Hunter]] were named deputy postmasters–general of British North America, the first to hold the office. ([[Postmaster General of the United Kingdom#Two Postmasters General|Joint appointments]] were standard at the time, for political reasons.) Franklin was responsible for the British colonies from Pennsylvania north and east, as far as the [[Newfoundland (island)|island of Newfoundland]]. A post office for local and outgoing mail had been established in [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]], by local stationer Benjamin Leigh, on April 23, 1754, but service was irregular. Franklin opened the first post office to offer regular, monthly mail in what would later become Canada, at Halifax, on December 9, 1755. Meantime, Hunter became postal administrator in [[Colonial Williamsburg|Williamsburg]], [[Virginia]] and oversaw areas south of [[Annapolis]], [[Maryland]]. Franklin reorganized the service's accounting system, then improved speed of delivery between Philadelphia, New York and Boston. By 1761, efficiencies led to the first profits for the colonial post office.<ref>[http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/cpm/chrono/ch1753ae.shtml "1753 Benjamin Franklin"], Stéphanie Ouellet, in A Chronology of Canadian Postal History, National Museum of History, Ottawa.</ref>
When the lands of [[New France]] were ceded to the British under the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]] in 1763, the new British [[Province of Quebec (1763–91)|province of Quebec]] was created among them, and Franklin saw mail service expanded between [[Montreal]], [[Trois-Rivières]], Quebec City, and New York. For the greater part of his appointment, Franklin lived in England (from 1757 to 1762, and again from 1764 to 1774)—about three-quarters of his term.<ref>[http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/cpm/chrono/chs1760e.shtml#yr-1774 "1760–1840 Planting the Imperial Postal System in British North America"], A Chronology of Canadian Postal History, National Museum of History, Ottawa.</ref> Eventually, his sympathies for the rebel cause in the American Revolution led to his dismissal on January 31, 1774.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
On July 26, 1775, the [[Second Continental Congress]] established the [[United States Postal Service|United States Post Office]] and named Benjamin Franklin as the first [[United States Postmaster General|United States postmaster general]]. Franklin had been a postmaster for decades and was a natural choice for the position.<ref>Walter Isaacson. ''Benjamin Franklin: an American life'', pp. 206–09, 301</ref> He had just returned from England and was appointed chairman of a Committee of Investigation to establish a postal system. The report of the committee, providing for the appointment of a postmaster general for the 13 American colonies, was considered by the Continental Congress on July 25 and 26. On July 26, 1775, Franklin was appointed Postmaster General, the first appointed under the Continental Congress. It established a postal system that became the United States Post Office, a system that continues to operate today.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blmailus1.htm#CONGRESS |title=History of the United States Postal Systems |publisher=Inventors.about.com |access-date=June 20, 2011}}</ref>
{{Anchor|Ambassador to France}}
===Ambassador to France: 1776–1785===
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[[File:Franklin1877.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Franklin, in his [[fur]] hat, charmed the French with what they perceived as rustic New World [[genius]].{{refn|group=Note|Portraits of Franklin at this time often contained an inscription, the best known being [[Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune|Turgot's]] acclamation, "{{lang|la|Eripuit fulmen coelo sceptrumque tyrannis.}}" (He snatched the lightning from the skies and the scepter from the tyrants.) Historian [[Friedrich Christoph Schlosser]] remarked at the time, with ample hyperbole, that "Such was the number of portraits, busts and medallions of him in circulation before he left Paris, that he would have been recognized from them by any adult citizen in any part of the civilized world." – {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Franklin, Benjamin}}}}]]
In December 1776, Franklin was dispatched to France as [[commissioner]] for the United States.<ref>[http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/ead/upenn_rbml_MsColl900 Benjamin Franklin papers], [http://www.library.upenn.edu/kislak/ Kislak Center for Special Collections], Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania</ref> He took with him as secretary his 16-year-old grandson, [[William Temple Franklin]]. They lived in a home in the Parisian suburb of [[Passy]], donated by [[Jacques-Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont]], who supported the United States. Franklin remained in France until 1785. He conducted the affairs of his country toward the French nation with great success, which included securing a critical military alliance in 1778 and negotiating the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)]].{{CN|date=December 2020}}
Among his associates in France was [[Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau]]—a French Revolutionary writer, orator and statesman who in early 1791 would be elected president of the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Assembly]].<ref>"[http://www.isthisjefferson.org/DLP_D04.html?zoom_highlight=Franklin The Book in the Painting: De la Caisse d'Escompte]." [http://www.isthisjefferson.org/DLP_D04.html?zoom_highlight=Franklin isthisjefferson.org] Accessed February 1, 2013.</ref> In July 1784, Franklin met with Mirabeau and contributed anonymous materials that the Frenchman used in his first signed work: ''Considerations sur l'ordre de Cincinnatus''.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/cihm_39568#page/n3/mode/2up ''Considerations sur l'ordre de Cincinnatus''], December 2011.</ref> The publication was critical of the [[Society of the Cincinnati]], established in the United States. Franklin and Mirabeau thought of it as a "noble order", inconsistent with the [[egalitarian]] ideals of the new republic.<ref>Van Doren, Carl. ''Benjamin Franklin'' (The Viking Press: New York). 1938. pp. 709–10.</ref>
During his stay in France, Benjamin Franklin was active as a [[freemasonry|Freemason]], serving as Venerable Master of the Lodge [[Les Neuf Sœurs]] from 1779 until 1781. He was the 106th member of the Lodge.{{CN|date=December 2020}} In 1784, when [[Franz Mesmer]] began to publicize his theory of "[[animal magnetism]]" which was considered offensive by many, [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]] appointed a commission to investigate it. These included the chemist [[Antoine Lavoisier]], the physician [[Joseph-Ignace Guillotin]], the astronomer [[Jean Sylvain Bailly]], and Benjamin Franklin.<ref>Schwartz, Stephan A. "[http://www.americanheritage.com/content/franklin%E2%80%99s-forgotten-triumph-scientific-testing Franklin's Forgotten Triumph: Scientific Testing]" ''[[American Heritage (magazine)|American Heritage]]'', October 2004.</ref> In 1781, he was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]].<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter F|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterF.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=July 28, 2014}}</ref>
[[File:Libertas Americana silver medallion 1783.jpg|thumb|While in France Franklin designed and commissioned [[Augustin Dupré]] to engrave the medallion ''"Libertas Americana"'' minted in Paris in 1783.]]
Franklin's advocacy for religious tolerance in France contributed to arguments made by French philosophers and politicians that resulted in [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]]'s signing of the [[Edict of Versailles]] in November 1787. This edict effectively nullified the [[Edict of Fontainebleau]], which had denied non-Catholics civil status and the right to openly practice their faith.<ref>[http://booking-help.org/book_338_glava_314_Edict_of_Versailles_%281787%29.html "Edict of Versailles (1787)"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120714094231/http://booking-help.org/book_338_glava_314_Edict_of_Versailles_(1787).html |date=July 14, 2012 }}, ''Encyclopedia of the Age of Political Ideals'', downloaded January 29, 2012</ref>
Franklin also served as American minister to Sweden, although he never visited that country.<ref name="hist_Benj">{{cite web |title=Benjamin Franklin – People – Department History – Office of the Historian |work=history.state.gov |access-date=February 27, 2019 |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/franklin-benjamin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023040237/https://www.history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/franklin-benjamin |archive-date=October 23, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He negotiated a [[Treaty of Amity and Commerce (United States–Sweden)|treaty]] that was signed in April 1783. On August 27, 1783, in Paris, Franklin witnessed the world's first hydrogen [[balloon (aircraft)|balloon]] flight.<ref name="EcceF">{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5_7IRHZGyzMC&pg=PA36 |title=Eccentric France: Bradt Guide to mad, magical and marvellous France| author=Piers Letcher – Jacques Charles |year= 2003|access-date=March 17, 2010| isbn=978-1-84162-068-8}}</ref> ''[[Robert brothers#First hydrogen balloon|Le Globe]]'', created by professor [[Jacques Charles]] and [[Robert brothers|Les Frères Robert]], was watched by a vast crowd as it rose from the [[Champ de Mars]] (now the site of the [[Eiffel Tower]]).<ref name="Sci&Soc">{{cite web| url=http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10447673 |title=Science and Society, Medal commemorating Charles and Robert's balloon ascent, Paris, 1783 |publisher=Scienceandsociety.co.uk |access-date=March 17, 2010}}</ref> Franklin became so enthusiastic that he subscribed financially to the next project to build a manned hydrogen balloon.<ref name="Fid Green">{{cite web| url=https://www.fiddlersgreen.net/models/Aircraft/Balloon-Charles.html |title=Fiddlers Green, History of Ballooning, Jacques Charles |publisher=Fiddlersgreen.net |access-date=June 20, 2011}}</ref> On December 1, 1783, Franklin was seated in the special enclosure for honoured guests when ''[[Robert brothers#First manned hydrogen balloon flight|La Charlière]]'' took off from the [[Jardin des Tuileries]], piloted by Jacques Charles and [[Robert brothers|Nicolas-Louis Robert]].<ref name="EcceF"/><ref name="FAI">{{cite web| url=http://www.fai.org/ballooning/newsletter/pr00-02.htm |title=Federation Aeronautique Internationale, Ballooning Commission, Hall of Fame, Robert Brothers |publisher=Fai.org |access-date=March 17, 2010| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080516222023/http://www.fai.org/ballooning/newsletter/pr00-02.htm |archive-date=May 16, 2008}}</ref>
===Constitutional Convention===
[[File:Franklin's return to Philadelphia 1785 cph.3g09906.jpg|thumb|''Franklin's return to Philadelphia, 1785'', by [[Jean Leon Gerome Ferris]]]]
[[File:Foundation of the American Government by Henry Hintermeister.jpg|thumb|right|[[Gouverneur Morris]] signs the Constitution before [[George Washington|Washington]]. Franklin is behind Morris. Painting by [[John Henry Hintermeister|Hintermeister]], 1925.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=Raymond H. |title= George Washington: American Symbol|chapter= The Marketing of an Icon |year=1999 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=eLxsfeV43-wC&q=foundation%20of%20the%20American%20government%2C%20John%20Henry%20Hintermeister&pg=PA117 |page= 117 |isbn=9781555951481 |quote= Figure 56 John Henry Hintermeister (American 1869–1945) ''Signing of the Constitution'', 1925...Alternatively labeled ''Title to Freedom'' and the ''Foundation of American Government''...".}}</ref>]]
When he returned home in 1785, Franklin occupied a position only second to that of [[George Washington]] as the champion of American independence. Franklin returned from France with an unexplained shortage of 100,000 pounds in Congressional funds. In response to a question from a member of Congress about this, Franklin, quoting the Bible, quipped: "Muzzle not the ox that treadeth out his master's grain." The missing funds were never again mentioned in Congress.<ref>Harlow Giles Unger, "Thomas Paine and the Clarion Call for American Independence" (New York: Da Capo Press, 2019), p. 90</ref>
Le Ray honored him with a commissioned portrait painted by [[Joseph Duplessis]], which now hangs in the [[National Portrait Gallery (United States)|National Portrait Gallery]] of the [[Smithsonian Institution]] in Washington, D.C. After his return, Franklin became an [[Abolitionism|abolitionist]] and freed his two slaves. He eventually became president of the [[Pennsylvania Abolition Society]].<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_citizen_abolitionist.html ''Citizen Ben, Abolitionist''], PBS</ref>
In 1787, Franklin served as a delegate to the [[Philadelphia Convention]]. He held an honorary position and seldom engaged in debate. He is the only Founding Father who is a signatory of all four of the major documents of the founding of the United States: the Declaration of Independence, the [[Treaty of Alliance (1778)|Treaty of Alliance]] with France, the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] and the [[United States Constitution]].{{CN|date=December 2020}}
In 1787, a group of prominent ministers in [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania]], proposed the foundation of a new college named in Franklin's honor. Franklin donated £200 towards the development of Franklin College (now called [[Franklin & Marshall College]]).{{CN|date=December 2020}}
Between 1771 and 1788, he finished his [[The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin|autobiography]]. While it was at first addressed to his son, it was later completed for the benefit of mankind at the request of a friend.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
Franklin strongly supported the right to [[freedom of speech]]:
{{quote|In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own. Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech ...
Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom, and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech, which is the right of every man ...|[[Silence Dogood]] no. 8, 1722<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Coffman |editor1-first=Steve |title=Words of the Founding Fathers: Selected Quotations of Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Hamilton, with Sources |year=2012 |publisher=McFarland |location=Jefferson, NC |isbn=978-0-7864-5862-2| page=97| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PsFnB7FA11YC&pg=PA97 }}</ref>}}
===President of Pennsylvania===
[[File:FRANKLIN, Benjamin (signed check).jpg|thumb|Franklin autograph check signed during his Presidency of Pennsylvania]]
Special balloting conducted October 18, 1785, unanimously elected Franklin the sixth [[List of governors of Pennsylvania|president]] of the [[Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania|Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania]], replacing [[John Dickinson]]. The office was practically that of [[List of governors of Pennsylvania|governor]]. Franklin held that office for slightly over three years, longer than any other, and served the constitutional limit of three full terms. Shortly after his initial election, he was re-elected to a full term on October 29, 1785, and again in the fall of 1786 and on October 31, 1787. In that capacity he served as host to the [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|Constitutional Convention of 1787]] in Philadelphia.<ref>Brands, ''The First American'', pp. 654–55, 694</ref>
==Virtue, religion, and personal beliefs==
[[File:Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) MET DT2883.jpg|thumb|upright|A bust of Franklin by [[Jean-Antoine Houdon]], 1778]]
Like the other advocates of [[Republicanism in the United States|republicanism]], Franklin emphasized that the new republic could survive only if the people were virtuous. All his life he explored the role of civic and personal virtue, as expressed in ''Poor Richard's'' [[aphorism]]s. Franklin felt that organized religion was necessary to keep men good to their fellow men, but rarely attended religious services himself.<ref>Franklin, ''Autobiography'', ed. Lemay, p. 65</ref> When Franklin met [[Voltaire]] in Paris and asked his fellow member of the Enlightenment vanguard to bless his grandson, Voltaire said in English, "God and Liberty", and added, "this is the only appropriate benediction for the grandson of Monsieur Franklin."<ref>Isaacson, 2003, p. 354</ref>
[[File:Pedro Américo - Voltaire abençoando o neto de Franklin em nome de Deus e da Liberdade.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|''Voltaire blessing Franklin's grandson, in the name of God and Liberty'', by [[Pedro Américo]], 1889–90]]
Franklin's parents were both pious [[Puritan]]s.<ref>Isaacson, 2003, pp. 5–18</ref> The family attended the [[Old South Church]], the most liberal Puritan congregation in Boston, where Benjamin Franklin was baptized in 1706.<ref>{{cite web| author=Old South Church |url=http://www.oldsouth.org/history.html |title=Isaacson, 2003, p. 15 |publisher=Oldsouth.org |access-date=September 21, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080531090015/http://www.oldsouth.org/history.html |archive-date = May 31, 2008}}</ref> Franklin's father, a poor [[chandlery|chandler]], owned a copy of a book, ''Bonifacius: Essays to Do Good'', by the Puritan preacher and family friend [[Cotton Mather]], which Franklin often cited as a key influence on his life.<ref>"If I have been", Franklin wrote to Cotton Mather's son seventy years later, "a useful citizen, the public owes the advantage of it to that book." in Isaacson, 2003, p. 26</ref> Franklin's first pen name, Silence Dogood, paid homage both to the book and to a widely known sermon by Mather. The book preached the importance of forming [[voluntary association]]s to benefit society. Franklin learned about forming do-good associations from Cotton Mather, but his organizational skills made him the most influential force in making [[Voluntarism (action)|voluntarism]] an enduring part of the American ethos.<ref>Isaacson, 2003, p. 102</ref>
Franklin formulated a presentation of his beliefs and published it in 1728.<ref>{{cite web| last = Franklin| first = Benjamin| title = Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion| work = Benjamin Franklin Papers| publisher = franklinpapers.org| date = November 20, 1728| url = http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/yale;jsessionid=9379F5D050E36AA9D1F95700EE223865?d=-363718316&d=1379669530&vol=1&page=101a| access-date = December 24, 2010| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110726104638/http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/yale;jsessionid=9379F5D050E36AA9D1F95700EE223865?d=-363718316&d=1379669530&vol=1&page=101a| archive-date = July 26, 2011| url-status=dead| df = mdy-all}}</ref> It did not mention many of the Puritan ideas regarding salvation, the [[divinity of Jesus]], or indeed much religious dogma. He clarified himself as a [[Deism|deist]] in his 1771 autobiography,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Franklin|first=Benjamin|title=Autobiography and other writings|publisher=Riverside|year=1771|location =Cambridge|page=52}}</ref> although still considered himself a Christian.<ref name="Christian">{{cite book| last=Olson| first=Roger| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rGMKbaNIjIoC&pg=PA61 |title=The Mosaic of Christian Belief: Twenty Centuries of Unity and Diversity |publisher=InterVarsity Press |quote=Other Deists and natural religionists who considered themselves Christians in some sense of the word included Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.| year= 2009| isbn=978-0-8308-2695-7}}</ref> He retained a strong faith in a God as the wellspring of morality and goodness in man, and as a Providential actor in history responsible for American independence.<ref>Isaacson, 2003, p. 486</ref>
[[File:Benjamin Franklin by Hiram Powers.jpg|thumb|Benjamin Franklin by [[Hiram Powers]]]]
It was Ben Franklin who, at a critical impasse during the [[Philadelphia Convention|Constitutional Convention]] in June 1787, attempted to introduce the practice of daily common prayer with these words:
{{quote|... In the beginning of the contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the Divine Protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a Superintending providence in our favor. ... And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need His assistance. I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that "except the Lord build they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: ... I therefore beg leave to move—that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that service.<ref>{{cite web| author=Michael E. Eidenmuller |url=http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/benfranklin.htm |title=Online Speech Bank: Benjamin Franklin's Prayer Speech at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 |publisher=Americanrhetoric.com |access-date=September 21, 2009}}</ref>
}}
The motion met with resistance and was never brought to a vote.<ref>[[Clinton Rossiter|Rossiter, Clinton]]. 1787. ''The Grand Convention'' (1966), pp. 184–85</ref>
Franklin was an enthusiastic supporter of the evangelical minister [[George Whitefield]] during the [[First Great Awakening]]. Franklin did not subscribe to Whitefield's theology, but he admired Whitefield for exhorting people to worship God through good works. Franklin published all of Whitefield's sermons and journals, thereby earning a lot of money and boosting the Great Awakening.<ref>Isaacson, 2003, pp. 107–13</ref>
When he stopped attending church, Franklin wrote in his autobiography:
{{quote|... Sunday being my studying day, I never was without some religious principles. I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity; that He made the world, and governed it by His providence; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter.<ref name="autogenerated1">Franklin Benjamin [http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/autobiography/singlehtml.htm "Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography".] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905094326/http://ushistory.org/franklin/autobiography/singlehtml.htm |date=September 5, 2008 }} Section 2 reprinted on UShistory.org.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111frank2.html |title=Benjamin Franklin |publisher=History.hanover.edu |access-date=September 21, 2009}}</ref>
}}
Franklin retained a lifelong commitment to the Puritan virtues and political values he had grown up with, and through his civic work and publishing, he succeeded in passing these values into the American culture permanently. He had a "passion for virtue".<ref>Isaacson, p. 485</ref> These Puritan values included his devotion to egalitarianism, education, industry, thrift, honesty, temperance, charity and community spirit.<ref>Isaacson, 2003, p. 149</ref>
The classical authors read in the Enlightenment period taught an abstract [[Republicanism in the United States|ideal of republican government]] based on hierarchical social orders of king, aristocracy and commoners. It was widely believed that English liberties relied on their balance of power, but also hierarchal deference to the privileged class.<ref>Bailyn, 1992, pp. 273–74, 299–300</ref> "Puritanism ... and the epidemic evangelism of the mid-eighteenth century, had created challenges to the traditional notions of social stratification"<ref name="Bailyn303" /> by preaching that the Bible taught all men are equal, that the true value of a man lies in his moral behavior, not his class, and that all men can be saved.<ref name="Bailyn303">Bailyn, 1992, p. 303</ref> Franklin, steeped in Puritanism and an enthusiastic supporter of the evangelical movement, rejected the salvation dogma, but embraced the radical notion of egalitarian democracy.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
Franklin's commitment to teach these values was itself something he gained from his Puritan upbringing, with its stress on "inculcating virtue and character in themselves and their communities."<ref>Isaacson, 2003, pp. 10, 102, 489</ref> These Puritan values and the desire to pass them on, were one of Franklin's quintessentially American characteristics, and helped shape the character of the nation. Franklin's writings on [[virtue]] were derided by some European authors, such as Jackob Fugger in his critical work ''Portrait of American Culture''. [[Max Weber]] considered Franklin's ethical writings a culmination of the [[Protestant work ethic|Protestant ethic]], which ethic created the social conditions necessary for the birth of [[capitalism]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Weber |first=Max |title=The Protestant Ethic and the "Spirit of Capitalism" |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ez7CAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT11 |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2002 |translator=Peter Baehr |translator2=Gordon C. Wells |pages=9–11 |isbn=9780486122373 }}</ref>
One of Franklin's notable characteristics was his respect, tolerance and promotion of all churches. Referring to his experience in Philadelphia, he wrote in [[The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin|his autobiography]], "new Places of worship were continually wanted, and generally erected by voluntary Contribution, my Mite for such purpose, whatever might be the Sect, was never refused."<ref name="autogenerated1" /> "He helped create a new type of nation that would draw strength from its religious pluralism."<ref name="Isaacson 2003 p 93ff">Isaacson,2003 pp. 93ff</ref> The evangelical revivalists who were active mid-century, such as Franklin's friend and preacher, George Whitefield, were the greatest advocates of religious freedom, "claiming liberty of conscience to be an 'inalienable right of every rational creature.'"<ref>Bailyn, 1992, p. 249</ref> Whitefield's supporters in Philadelphia, including Franklin, erected "a large, new hall, that ... could provide a pulpit to anyone of any belief."<ref>Isaacson, 2003, p. 112</ref> Franklin's rejection of dogma and doctrine and his stress on the God of ethics and morality and [[civic virtue]] made him the "prophet of tolerance."<ref name="Isaacson 2003 p 93ff"/> Franklin composed "A Parable Against Persecution", an apocryphal 51st chapter of Genesis in which God teaches Abraham the duty of tolerance.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mOEjB0Pdq8oC&pg=PA109|title=The Political Thought of Benjamin Franklin|isbn=978-0-87220-683-0|last1=Franklin|first1=Benjamin|year=2003}}</ref> While he was living in London in 1774, he was present at the birth of [[General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches|British Unitarianism]], attending the inaugural session of the [[Essex Street Chapel]], at which [[Theophilus Lindsey]] drew together the first avowedly [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] congregation in England; this was somewhat politically risky, and pushed religious tolerance to new boundaries, as a denial of the doctrine of the [[Trinity]] was illegal until [[Doctrine of the Trinity Act 1813|the 1813 Act]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unitarian.org.uk/support/doc-EssexHall1.shtml |title=Chapter 2, ''The History of Essex Hall'' by Mortimer Rowe B.A., D.D. Lindsey Press, 1959 |publisher=Unitarian.org.uk |access-date=June 20, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326074021/http://www.unitarian.org.uk/support/doc-EssexHall1.shtml |archive-date=March 26, 2012 }}</ref>
[[File:Dr Richard Price, DD, FRS - Benjamin West.jpg|thumb|[[Richard Price|Dr Richard Price]], the radical minister of [[Newington Green Unitarian Church]], holding a letter from Franklin]]
Although Franklin's parents had intended for him to have a career in the Church,<ref name="autobio" /> Franklin as a young man adopted the Enlightenment religious belief in [[deism]], that God's truths can be found entirely through nature and reason,<ref>Isaacson, 2003, p. 46</ref> declaring, "I soon became a thorough Deist."<ref>Franklin, Benjamin. [http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/preservation/bios/franklin/chpt4.htm ''Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography''.] Chapter IV. reprinted on USGenNet.org.</ref> As a young man he rejected Christian dogma in a 1725 pamphlet ''[[A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf1/m7.htm |title=A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain |publisher=Historycarper.com |access-date=September 21, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090528094815/http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf1/m7.htm |archive-date=May 28, 2009 }}</ref> which he later saw as an embarrassment,<ref name="Isaacson45">{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oIW915dDMBwC&pg=PA45 | title=Isaacson, 2003, p. 45 |year= 2004 |access-date=September 21, 2009| isbn=978-0-684-80761-4| author1=Isaacson, Walter}}</ref> while simultaneously asserting that God is "all wise, [[Omnibenevolence|all good]], [[Omnipotence|all powerful]]."<ref name="Isaacson45" /> He defended his rejection of religious dogma with these words: "I think opinions should be judged by their influences and effects; and if a man holds none that tend to make him less virtuous or more vicious, it may be concluded that he holds none that are dangerous, which I hope is the case with me." After the disillusioning experience of seeing the decay in his own moral standards, and those of two friends in London whom he had converted to Deism, Franklin turned back to a belief in the importance of organized religion, on the pragmatic grounds that without God and organized churches, man will not be good.<ref>Isaacson, 2003, pp. 46, 486</ref> Moreover, because of his proposal that [[Christian prayer|prayers]] be said in the [[Constitutional Convention of 1787]], many have contended that in his later life Franklin became a [[piety|pious]] Christian.<ref name="Pious">{{cite book| author=Henry Louis Mencken, George Jean Nathan| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LqJUonES6m8C |title=The American Mercury, Volume 8| publisher=Garber Communications| quote=It is well known that in his youth Benjamin Franklin was a thorough-going Deist, but because he proposed that prayers be said in the Constitution Convention of 1787 many have contended that in later life he became a pious Christian.| date=October 19, 2009}}</ref><ref name="Faith">{{cite book |author=Ralph Frasca |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CY2UVzcU5l0C&pg=PA40 |page=40 |title=Benjamin Franklin's Printing Network: Disseminating Virtue in Early America |publisher=[[University of Missouri Press]] |quote=Despite being raised a Puritan of the Congregationalist stripe by his parents, who "brought me through my Childhood piously in the Dissenting Way", Franklin recalled, he abandoned that denomination, briefly embraced deism, and finally became a non-denominational Protestant Christian. |year= 2009 |isbn=978-0-8262-6492-3}}</ref>
According to David Morgan,<ref>Morgan, David T. "Benjamin Franklin: Champion of Generic Religion". ''The Historian''. 62#4 2000. pp. 722+</ref> Franklin was a proponent of religion in general. He prayed to "Powerful Goodness" and referred to God as "the infinite". [[John Adams]] noted that Franklin was a mirror in which people saw their own religion: "The [[Catholic Church|Catholics]] thought him almost a Catholic. The [[Church of England]] claimed him as one of them. The [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterians]] thought him half a Presbyterian, and the [[Quakers|Friends]] believed him a wet Quaker." Whatever else Franklin was, concludes Morgan, "he was a true champion of generic religion." In a letter to Richard Price, Franklin stated that he believed that religion should support itself without help from the government, claiming, "When a Religion is good, I conceive that it will support itself; and, when it cannot support itself, and God does not take care to support, so that its Professors are oblig'd to call for the help of the Civil Power, it is a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one."<ref>Benjamin Franklin to Richard Price, October 9, 1780 ''Writings'' 8:153–54</ref>
In 1790, just about a month before he died, Franklin wrote a letter to [[Ezra Stiles]], president of [[Yale University]], who had asked him his views on religion:
{{quote|As to [[Jesus of Nazareth]], my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupt changes, and I have, with most of the present [[English Dissenters|Dissenters in England]], some Doubts as to his divinity; tho' it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and I think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed, if that belief has the good consequence, as it probably has, of making his doctrines more respected and better observed; especially as I do not perceive that the Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the unbelievers in his government of the world with any particular marks of his displeasure.<ref name="vandoren"/>}}
On July 4, 1776, Congress appointed a three-member committee composed of Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams to design the [[Great Seal of the United States]]. Franklin's proposal (which was not adopted) featured the motto: "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God" and a scene from the [[Book of Exodus]], with [[Moses]], the [[Israelites]], the [[Pillar of Fire (theophany)|pillar of fire]], and [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]] depicted as [[Pharaohs in the Bible#Pharaoh of the Exodus|pharaoh]]. The design that was produced was never acted upon by Congress, and the Great Seal's design was not finalized until a third committee was appointed in 1782.<ref>"[https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/27807.pdf The Great Seal of the United States]" (July 2003). [[Bureau of Public Affairs]], [[United States Department of State]].</ref><ref>"1782: Original Design of the Great Seal of the United States", ''Our Documents: 100 Milestone Documents from the National Archives''. [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]] ([[Oxford University Press]], 2006), pp. 18–19.</ref>
===Thirteen Virtues===
[[File:Franklin bust at Columbia University IMG 0924.JPG|thumb|Franklin bust in the Archives Department of [[Columbia University]] in New York City]]
Franklin sought to cultivate his character by a plan of 13 virtues, which he developed at age 20 (in 1726) and continued to practice in some form for the rest of his life. His [[The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin|autobiography]] lists his 13 virtues as:{{CN|date=December 2020}}
# "[[Temperance (virtue)|Temperance]]. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation."
# "[[Silence]]. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation."
# "[[Order (virtue)|Order]]. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time."
# "[[Result|Resolution]]. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve."
# "[[Frugality]]. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing."
# "Industry. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions."
# "[[Sincerity]]. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly."
# "[[Justice]]. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty."
# "[[Moderation]]. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve."
# "[[Cleanliness]]. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation."
# "[[Tranquility]]. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable."
# "[[Chastity]]. Rarely use [[Human sexuality|venery]] but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation."
# "[[Humility]]. Imitate Jesus and [[Socrates]]."
Franklin did not try to work on them all at once. Instead, he would work on one and only one each week "leaving all others to their ordinary chance." While Franklin did not live completely by his virtues, and by his own admission he fell short of them many times, he believed the attempt made him a better man contributing greatly to his success and happiness, which is why in his autobiography, he devoted more pages to this plan than to any other single point; in his autobiography Franklin wrote, "I hope, therefore, that some of my descendants may follow the example and reap the benefit."<ref>[http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/autobiography/page38.htm ''Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin page 38 forward''] by Benjamin Franklin</ref>
==Slavery==
Franklin owned as many as seven slaves, including two men who worked in his household and his shop.<ref>For more details, see Nash, Gary B. "Franklin and Slavery." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 150, no. 4 (2006): 620.</ref> Franklin posted paid ads for the sale of slaves and for the capture of runaway slaves and allowed the sale of slaves in his general store. Franklin profited from both the international and domestic slave trade, even criticizing slaves who had run away from their masters to join the [[British Army]] during the various wars the Thirteen Colonies were involved in during the 1740s and 1750s.{{CN|date=December 2020}} Franklin, however, later became a "cautious [[Abolitionism|abolitionist]]" and became an outspoken critic of slavery as practiced by the American upper class.{{CN|date=December 2020}} In 1758, Franklin advocated the opening of a school for the education of black slaves in Philadelphia.{{CN|date=December 2020}} Franklin took two slaves to England with him, Peter and King, and King left his service there in 1756: by 1758 he was working for a household in [[Suffolk]].<ref>{{Cite book|title = Benjamin Franklin: An American Life|url = https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00isaa_0|url-access = registration|last = Isaacson|first = Walter|publisher = Simon & Schuster|year = 2003|location = New York|chapter = Chapter Eight}}</ref> Whether Franklin could have forced King to return is open to doubt in the light of earlier English [[Common Law]] decisions and the subsequent case of ''[[Shanley v Harvey]]'', but in any case he did not attempt to do so.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
After returning from England in 1762, Franklin became notably more abolitionist in nature, attacking American slavery. In the wake of [[Somersett's case]], Franklin voiced frustration at the British for celebrating the freeing of one slave (James Somersett) that had come to British soil while the [[Parliament of Great Britain|British Parliament]] refused to pass laws that would abolish the [[Atlantic slave trade|slave trade]].<ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_History_of_Abraham_Lincoln_and_the_O/RW0FAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA27 The History of Abraham Lincoln, and the Overthrow of Slavery], p. 27</ref><ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Equiano_the_African/yrNQ_PlooJwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA206 Equiano, the African – Biography of a Self-made Man], p. 206</ref><ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_American_Counterrevolution/T1F1H2KUj80C?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA92 The American Counterrevolution], p. 92</ref><ref>[https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-19-02-0128 The Sommersett Case and the Slave Trade, 18–20 June 1772]</ref> Franklin, however, refused to publicly debate the issue of slavery at the [[1787 Constitutional Convention]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Waldstreicher, David|title=Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, and the Founders: On the dangers of reading backwards|journal=Common-Place|volume=04|number=4|date=July 2004|url=http://commonplace.online/article/benjamin-franklin-slavery/}}</ref> Franklin tended to take both sides of the issue of slavery, never fully divesting himself from the institution.<ref>Hoffer (2011), pp. 30–31</ref><ref>Waldstreicher (2004), pp. xii, xiii</ref>
At the time of the American Founding, there were about half a million slaves in the United States, mostly in the five southernmost states, where they made up 40 percent of the population. Many of the leading American Founders-most notably Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and James Madison-owned slaves, but many did not. Benjamin Franklin thought that slavery was "an atrocious debasement of human nature" and "a source of serious evils." He and Benjamin Rush founded the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery in 1774.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Pennsylvania Abolition Society|url = https://www.heritage.org/american-founders/report/how-understand-slavery-and-the-american-founding}}</ref>
In his later years, as Congress was forced to deal with the issue of slavery, Franklin wrote several essays that stressed the importance of the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolition of slavery]] and of the integration of blacks into American society. These writings included:
* ''[[s:An Address to the Public|An Address to the Public]]'' (1789)
* ''[[s:A Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks|A Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks]]'' (1789)
* ''Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim on the Slave Trade'' (1790)<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=Myra |editor-last=Jehlen |editor-first2=Michael |editor-last2=Warner |title=The English Literatures of America, 1500–1800 |publisher=Psychology Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LAYDAZmrKkgC&pg=PA891 |page=891 |year=1997 |isbn=0-415-91903-7}}</ref>
In 1790, [[Quakers]] from New York and Pennsylvania presented their petition for abolition to Congress. Their argument against slavery was backed by the [[Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society]] and its president, Benjamin Franklin.<ref>Benjamin Franklin for The Pennsylvania Abolition Society to the United States Congress, ''The memorial of the Pennsylvania Society for promoting the Abolition of Slavery, the relief of free Negroes unlawfully held in bondage, and the Improvement of the Conditions of the African Race'' (February 3, 1790)</ref>
==Vegetarianism==
Franklin became a vegetarian when he was a teenager apprenticing at a print shop, after coming upon a book by the early vegetarian advocate [[Thomas Tryon]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kaiser |first1=Larry |title=What Benjamin Franklin Really Said About Vegetarianism |url=https://www.vrg.org/history/benjamin_franklin.htm |website=The Vegetarian Resource Group |access-date=February 8, 2020}}</ref> In addition, Franklin would have also been familiar with the moral arguments espoused by prominent vegetarian [[Quakers]] in colonial Pennsylvania, such as [[Benjamin Lay]] and [[John Woolman]]. His reasons for vegetarianism were based on health, ethics, and economy:
{{quote|When about 16 years of age, I happen'd to meet with a book written by one [[Thomas Tryon|Tryon]], recommending a vegetable diet. I determined to go into it ... [By not eating meat] I presently found that I could save half what [my brother] paid me. This was an additional fund for buying books: but I had another advantage in it ... I made the greater progress from that greater clearness of head and quicker apprehension which usually attend temperance in eating and drinking.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |url=https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofb20203gut |chapter=Part One |author=Benjamin Franklin}}</ref>}}
Franklin also declared the consumption of meat to be "unprovoked murder".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Richards |first1=Jennie |title=Benjamin Franklin said "Eating Flesh is Unprovoked Murder" |url=https://www.humanedecisions.com/benjamin-franklin-said-eating-flesh-is-unprovoked-murder/ |website=Humane Decisions |access-date=February 8, 2020}}</ref> Despite his convictions, he [[Pescetarianism|began to eat fish]] after being tempted by fried cod on a boat sailing from Boston, justifying the eating of animals by having observed that the fish's stomach contained other fish. Nonetheless, Franklin recognized the faulty ethics in this argument,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lamb |first1=Camille |title=Ben Franklin Practiced Vegetarianism |url=https://www.miaminewtimes.com/restaurants/ben-franklin-practiced-vegetarianism-6599949 |website=Miami New Times |access-date=February 8, 2020}}</ref> and would continue to be vegetarian on and off. He was "excited" by [[tofu]], which he learned of from the writings of Spanish missionary to China, [[Domingo Fernández Navarrete]]. Franklin sent a sample of [[soybean]]s to prominent American botanist [[John Bartram]], and had previously written to British diplomat and Chinese trade expert [[James Flint (merchant)|James Flint]] inquiring as to [[Tofu#Production|how tofu was made]],<ref name="feast">{{cite web |title=Benjamin Franklin on Food |url=http://feastandphrase.com/gastronomy-and-non-fiction/benjamin-franklin-on-food/ |website=Feast and Phrase |access-date=February 8, 2020}}</ref> with their correspondence believed to be the first documented use of the word "tofu" in the English language.<ref>{{cite book|title=History of Tofu and Tofu Products (965 CE to 2013)|last1 = Shurtleff|first1 = William| last2 = Aoyagi| first2 = Akiko|year=2013|isbn=9781928914556|page=73|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gGrUNvZt0_YC&pg=PA73 |publisher=Soyinfo Center}}</ref>
Franklin's "Second Reply to ''Vindex Patriae''", a 1766 letter advocating self-sufficiency and less dependence on England, lists various examples of the bounty of American agricultural products, and does not mention meat.<ref name="feast" /> Detailing new American customs, Franklin writes that, "[t]hey resolved last spring to eat no more lamb; and not a joint of lamb has since been seen on any of their tables … the sweet little creatures are all alive to this day, with the prettiest fleeces on their backs imaginable."<ref>{{cite web |title="Homespun": Second Reply to "Vindex Patriae" |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-13-02-0003 |website=Founders Online |publisher=National Archives: National Historical Publications and Records Commission |access-date=February 8, 2020}}</ref>
==Death==
[[File:Benjamin Franklin's grave 2010.JPG|thumb|The grave of Benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]]
Franklin suffered from obesity throughout his middle-aged and later years, which resulted in multiple health problems, particularly [[gout]], which worsened as he aged. In poor health during the signing of the US Constitution in 1787, he was rarely seen in public from then until his death.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
Benjamin Franklin died from [[Pleurisy|pleuritic attack]]<ref>{{cite book| last=Isaacson| first=Walter| title=Benjamin Franklin: an American life| url=https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00isaa_0| url-access=registration| year=2003| publisher=Simon & Schuster| location=New York}}</ref><!-- nothing is mentioned about pleurisy in the Timeline:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.benfranklin300.org/etc_timeline_1.htm|title=Franklin & Marshall College – ''Ben Franklin: A Timeline''|access-date=October 7, 2014}}</ref> --> at his home in Philadelphia on April 17, 1790.<ref>{{cite web|title=Later Years and Death|website=Benjamin Franklin Historical Society|url=http://www.benjamin-franklin-history.org/later-years-and-death/|access-date=September 11, 2019}}</ref> He was aged 84 at the time of his death. His last words were reportedly, "a dying man can do nothing easy", to his daughter after she suggested that he change position in bed and lie on his side so he could breathe more easily.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/58534/64-people-and-their-famous-last-words|title=64 People and Their Famous Last Words|date=February 1, 2016|website=mentalfloss.com|language=en|access-date=February 17, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/benjamin-franklins-last-days-funeral-and-a-u-s-senate-slight|title=It was 228 years ago today: Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia – National Constitution Center|website=National Constitution Center – constitutioncenter.org|access-date=February 17, 2019}}</ref> Franklin's death is described in the book ''The Life of Benjamin Franklin'', quoting from the account of [[John Paul Jones|John Jones]]:
{{quote|... when the pain and difficulty of breathing entirely left him, and his family were flattering themselves with the hopes of his recovery, when an imposthume, which had formed itself in his lungs, suddenly burst, and discharged a quantity of matter, which he continued to throw up while he had power; but, as that failed, the organs of respiration became gradually oppressed; a calm, lethargic state succeeded; and on the 17th instant (April 1790), about eleven o'clock at night, he quietly expired, closing a long and useful life of eighty-four years and three months.<ref>Sparks, pp. 529–30.</ref>
}}
Approximately 20,000 people attended his funeral. He was interred in [[Christ Church Burial Ground]] in Philadelphia.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.ushistory.org/tour/christ-church-burial-ground.htm |title=Christ Church Burial Grounds |access-date=June 22, 2020 |work=[[Ushistory.org]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2016808354/ |title=Benjamin Franklin's grave [Christ Church Burial Ground], Philadelphia |work=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=June 22, 2020 |year=1900}}</ref> In 1728, aged 22, Franklin wrote what he hoped would be his own epitaph:
{{quote|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 the Work shall not be wholly lost: For it will, as he believ'd, appear once more, In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and Amended By the Author.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/franklin-epitaph.html ''Benjamin Franklin: In His Own Words''.] Library of Congress.</ref>}}
Franklin's actual grave, however, as he specified in his final will, simply reads "Benjamin and Deborah Franklin".<ref>[http://sln.fi.edu/franklin/family/lastwill.html ''The Last Will and Testament of Benjamin Franklin''.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821230120/http://sln.fi.edu/franklin/family/lastwill.html |date=August 21, 2009 }} The Franklin Institute Science Museum.</ref>
==Legacy==
{{Infobox designation list
| embed =
| designation1 = Pennsylvania
| designation1_offname = Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)
| designation1_type = City
| designation1_criteria = Government & Politics, Government & Politics 18th Century, Invention, Science & Medicine, Professions & Vocations, Publishing & Journalism, Writers
| designation1_date = June 30, 1990<ref>{{cite web |title=Pennsylvania Historical Marker Search |url=http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/PHMCWebSearch/ViewMarker.aspx?markerId=1045 |website=PHMC |access-date=November 3, 2018}}</ref>
| delisted1_date =
| designation1_partof =
| designation1_number =
| designation1_free1name = Location
| designation1_free1value = [[Chestnut Street (Philadelphia)|Chestnut St.]] between 3rd & 4th Sts., at [[National Liberty Museum|Nat'l. Liberty Mus.]], [[Philadelphia]]<br /><small>{{coord|39.94881|-75.14683|display=inline}}</small>
| designation1_free2name = Marker Text
| designation1_free2value = <small>Printer, author, inventor, diplomat, philanthropist, statesman, and scientist. The eighteenth century's most illustrious Pennsylvanian built a house in Franklin Court starting in 1763, and here he lived the last five years of his life.</small>
| designation1_free3name =
| designation1_free3value =
}}
[[File:New100front.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Franklin on the Series 2009 [[United States one hundred-dollar bill|hundred dollar bill]]]]
{{external media| float = right| width = 230px | video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?409189-1/benjamin-franklins-legacy Presentation by Franklin biographer Walter Isaacson to the New York Historical Society on Benjamin Franklin's legacy, May 11, 2016], [[C-SPAN]]| video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?190532-1/benjamin-franklin-search-better-world Panel discussion with Ellen R. Cohn, Emma J. Lapsansky-Werner, J.A. Leo Lemay, Billy Gordon Smith, James Srodes, and Page Talbott on ''Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World'', November 30, 2005], [[C-SPAN]]}}
[[File:Benjamin Franklin National Memorial.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Marble memorial statue, [[Benjamin Franklin National Memorial]]]]A signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, Franklin is considered one of the [[Founding Fathers of the United States]]. His pervasive influence in the early history of the nation has led to his being jocularly called "the only president of the United States who was never president of the United States".<ref>[[Everything You Know Is Wrong|Firesign Theater quote, meant humorously but poignantly.]]</ref>
Franklin's likeness is ubiquitous. Since 1928, it has adorned American [[United States one hundred-dollar bill|$100 bills]], which are sometimes referred to in slang as "Benjamins" or "Franklins."{{CN|date=December 2020}} From 1948 to 1963, Franklin's portrait was on the [[Franklin half dollar|half-dollar]].{{CN|date=December 2020}} He has appeared on a [[United States fifty-dollar bill|$50 bill]] and on several varieties of the $100 bill from 1914 and 1918.{{CN|date=December 2020}} Franklin appears on the $1,000 Series EE [[Treasury security#Savings bond|Savings bond]].{{CN|date=December 2020}}
In 1976, as part of a [[United States Bicentennial|bicentennial]] celebration, [[United States Congress|Congress]] dedicated a {{convert|20|ft|adj=on|0}} marble statue in Philadelphia's [[Franklin Institute]] as the [[Benjamin Franklin National Memorial]].{{CN|date=December 2020}} Many of Franklin's personal possessions are also on display at the institute, one of the few national memorials located on [[property|private property]].{{CN|date=December 2020}}
In London, his house at 36 Craven Street, which is the only surviving former residence of Benjamin Franklin, was first marked with a [[blue plaque]] and has since been opened to the public as the [[Benjamin Franklin House]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Benjamin Franklin House |journal=Nature |volume=160 |issue=4053 |page=15 |bibcode=1947Natur.160S..15. |year=1947 |doi=10.1038/160015c0 |doi-access=free }}</ref> In 1998, workmen restoring the building dug up the remains of six children and four adults hidden below the home. ''[[The Times]]'' reported on February 11, 1998:
{{quote|Initial estimates are that the bones are about 200 years old and were buried at the time Franklin was living in the house, which was his home from 1757 to 1762 and from 1764 to 1775. Most of the bones show signs of having been dissected, sawn or cut. One skull has been drilled with several holes. Paul Knapman, the Westminster Coroner, said yesterday: "I cannot totally discount the possibility of a crime. There is still a possibility that I may have to hold an inquest.{{CN|date=December 2020}}}}
The Friends of Benjamin Franklin House (the organization responsible for the restoration) note that the bones were likely placed there by [[William Hewson (surgeon)|William Hewson]], who lived in the house for two years and who had built a small anatomy school at the back of the house. They note that while Franklin likely knew what Hewson was doing, he probably did not participate in any dissections because he was much more of a physicist than a medical man.<ref>[http://www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org/site/sections/news/pdf/Issue2.pdf ''The Craven Street Gazette''] ([[PDF]]), Newsletter of the Friends of Benjamin Franklin House, Issue 2, Autumn 1998</ref>
===Bequest===
Franklin [[bequest|bequeathed]] £1,000 (about $4,400 at the time, or about $125,000 in 2018 dollars<ref>[http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/relativevalue.php Measuring Worth] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523080025/http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/relativevalue.php|date=May 23, 2013}} Select $4,400 and 1790 and 2018 in online calculator</ref>) each to the cities of Boston and Philadelphia, in trust to gather interest for 200 years. The trust began in 1785 when the French mathematician [[Charles-Joseph Mathon de la Cour]], who admired Franklin greatly, wrote a friendly parody of Franklin's ''Poor Richard's Almanack'' called ''Fortunate Richard''. The main character leaves a smallish amount of money in his will, five lots of 100 ''[[French livre|livres]]'', to collect interest over one, two, three, four or five full centuries, with the resulting astronomical sums to be spent on impossibly elaborate utopian projects.<ref>Richard Price. ''Observations on the Importance of the American Revolution, and the Means of Making it a Benefit to the World. To which is added, a Letter from M. Turgot, late Comptroller-General of the Finances of France: with an Appendix, containing a Translation of the Will of M. Fortuné Ricard, lately published in France.'' London: T. Cadell, 1785.</ref> Franklin, who was 79 years old at the time, wrote thanking him for a great idea and telling him that he had decided to leave a bequest of 1,000 pounds each to his native Boston and his adopted Philadelphia. By 1990, more than $2,000,000 had accumulated in Franklin's Philadelphia trust, which had loaned the money to local residents. From 1940 to 1990, the money was used mostly for mortgage loans. When the trust came due, Philadelphia decided to spend it on scholarships for local high school students. Franklin's Boston trust fund accumulated almost $5,000,000 during that same time; at the end of its first 100 years a portion was allocated to help establish a [[Vocational school|trade school]] that became the [[Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology|Franklin Institute of Boston]], and the whole fund was later dedicated to supporting this institute.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mathsci.appstate.edu/~sjg/class/1010/wc/finance/franklin1.html |title=Excerpt from Philadelphia Inquirer article by Clark De Leon |publisher=Mathsci.appstate.edu |date=February 7, 1993 |access-date=September 21, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100510050913/http://www.mathsci.appstate.edu/~sjg/class/1010/wc/finance/franklin1.html |archive-date=May 10, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bfit.edu/aboutus/history.php |title=History of the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology |publisher=Bfit.edu |access-date=September 21, 2009| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080731130624/http://www.bfit.edu/aboutus/history.php| archive-date = July 31, 2008}}</ref>
===Franklin on U.S. postage===
Benjamin Franklin is a prominent figure in American history comparable to Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln, and as such he has been honored on U.S. postage stamps many times. The image of Franklin, the first [[United States Postmaster General|postmaster general]] of the United States, occurs on the face of U.S. postage more than any other notable American save that of [[George Washington]].<ref name="Scotts">Scotts Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps</ref>
Franklin appeared on the first U.S. postage stamp [[#Postmaster|(displayed above)]] issued in 1847. From 1908 through 1923, the U.S. Post Office issued a series of postage stamps commonly referred to as the [[Washington-Franklin Issues]] where, along with George Washington, Franklin was depicted many times over a 14-year period, the longest run of any one series in U.S. postal history. Along with the regular issue stamps Franklin however only appears on a few [[:File:Ben Franklin 250th 1956 issue-3c.jpg|commemorative stamps]]. Some of the finest portrayals of Franklin on record can be found on the engravings inscribed on the face of U.S. postage.<ref name="Scotts"/>
{{Multiple image
| align = center
| caption_align = center
| total_width = 800
| image1 = Benjamin Franklin 1861 Issue-1c.jpg
| caption1 = Issue of 1861
| image2 = Benjamin Franklin2 1895 Issue-1c.jpg
| caption2 = Issue of 1895
| image3 = Benjamin Franklin 2-Big-Bens 1918 Issue.jpg
| caption3 = Issue of 1918
}}
===Bawdy Ben===
"[[Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress]]" is a letter written by Benjamin Franklin, dated June 25, 1745, in which Franklin gives advice to a young man about channeling sexual urges. Due to its licentious nature, the letter was not published in collections of Franklin's papers during the nineteenth century. Federal court decisions from the mid-to-late twentieth century cited the document as a reason for overturning obscenity laws, using it to make a case against censorship.<ref>{{cite book|author=Carl Japikse, ed.|title=Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8I3bAlV25kC&pg=PA8|year=2003|publisher=Frog Books|page=8|isbn=978-1-58394-079-2}}</ref>
===Exhibitions===
[[File:2012-07 ncc 04.JPG|thumb|Life-size bronze statue of Benjamin Franklin (seated) in the [[National Constitution Center]], Philadelphia]]
"The Princess and the Patriot: [[Yekaterina Vorontsova-Dashkova|Ekaterina Dashkova]], Benjamin Franklin and the Age of Enlightenment" exhibition opened in Philadelphia in February 2006 and ran through December 2006.{{CN|date=December 2020}} Benjamin Franklin and Dashkova met only once, in Paris in 1781. Franklin was 75, and Dashkova was 37. Franklin invited Dashkova to become the first woman to join the American Philosophical Society; she was the only woman so honored for another 80 years. Later, Dashkova reciprocated by making him the first American member of the [[Russian Academy of Sciences]].{{CN|date=December 2020}}
===Places and things named after Benjamin Franklin===
{{Further|List of places named for Benjamin Franklin}}
<!-- This list is not intended to be comprehensive. To prevent this list from becoming too long, please consider adding additional places named for Franklin to the separate article titled "List of places named for Benjamin Franklin" as noted at the top of this section -->
As a founding father of the United States, Franklin's name has been attached to many things. Among these are:{{CN|date=December 2020}}
* The [[State of Franklin]], a short-lived independent state formed during the American Revolutionary War
* [[County (United States)|Counties]] in at least 16 U.S. states
* The [[Franklin Institute Awards]] (presented by the [[Franklin Institute]]) for significant contributions in the fields of science and engineering.
* [[The Franklin Inn Club]], founded in 1902 as a literary society, was one of the four historic gentlemen's clubs in Philadelphia's Center City and was the first to open membership to women in Philadelphia.
* Several major landmarks in and around [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, Franklin's longtime home, including:
** [[Franklin and Marshall College]] in nearby [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]]
** [[Franklin Field]], a [[American football|football]] field once home to the [[Philadelphia Eagles]] of the [[National Football League]] and the home field of the [[Penn Quakers football|University of Pennsylvania Quakers]] since 1895
** Philadelphia's [[Benjamin Franklin Parkway]] (a major thoroughfare)
** The [[Benjamin Franklin Bridge]] across the [[Delaware River]] between Philadelphia and [[Camden, New Jersey]]
* Several [[US Navy]] ships have been named the {{USS|Franklin}} or the {{USS|Bonhomme Richard}}, the latter being a French translation of his penname "Poor Richard". Two aircraft carriers, {{USS|Franklin|CV-13}} and {{USS|Bon Homme Richard|CV-31}}, were simultaneously in commission and in operation during World War II, and Franklin, therefore, had the distinction of having two simultaneously operational US Navy warships named in his honor. The [[French ship Franklin (1797)|French ship ''Franklin'' (1797)]] was also named in Franklin's honor.
* [[CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin|CMA CGM ''Benjamin Franklin'']], a Chinese-built French-owned [[Explorer-class container ship]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://money.cnn.com/2016/01/31/news/economy/china-container/index.html|title=This is the biggest container ship ever to dock in the U.S.|first1=Rebecca|last1=Wright|first2=Matt|last2=Rivers|date=January 31, 2016|work=CNN Money}}</ref>
==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Benjamin Franklin in popular culture]]
* [[United States Constitution#Sessions of the "House"|U.S. Constitution]], floor leader in Convention
* [[Fugio Cent]], 1787 coin designed by Franklin
* [[Thomas Birch]]'s newly discovered Franklin letters
* [[William Goddard (patriot/publisher)]], apprentice/partner of Franklin
* [[Franklin's electrostatic machine]]
* [[Louis Timothee]], apprentice/partner of Franklin
* [[Elizabeth Timothy]], apprentice/partner of Franklin
* [[James Parker (publisher)]], apprentice/partner of Franklin
* [[commons:Category:Benjamin Franklin on stamps|Benjamin Franklin on postage stamps]]
* ''[[Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc.]]'', by Franklin
* [[Order (virtue)]]
* [[List of richest Americans in history]]
* [[List of wealthiest historical figures]]
* [[List of slave owners]]
* [[List of abolitionist forerunners]]
* [[List of opponents of slavery]]
{{div col end}}
==Notes==
{{reflist|group=Note}}
==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
==Further reading==
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?159616-1/first-american-benjamin-franklin Presentation by H.W. Brands on ''The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin'', October 5, 2000], C-SPAN| video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?177514-1/benjamin-franklin-american-life Presentation by Walter Isaacson on ''Benjamin Franklin: An American Life'', July 22, 2003], C-SPAN| video3 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?174035-1/benjamin-franklin Presentation by Edmund S. Morgan on ''Benjamin Franklin'', November 12, 2002], C-SPAN| video4 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?186653-1/great-improvisation Presentation by Stacy Schiff on ''A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America'', April 12, 2005], C-SPAN| video5 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?170126-1/franklin-essential-founding-father ''Booknotes'' interview with James Srodes on ''Franklin: The Essential Founding Father'', May 19, 2002], C-SPAN| video6 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?182263-1/americanization-benjamin-franklin Interview with Gordon S. Wood on ''The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin'', June 4, 2004], C-SPAN |video7 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?190664-1/life-legacy-benjamin-franklin Panel discussion on Franklin with Walter Isaacson, Gordon Wood, and Stacy Schiff, hosted by Jim Lehrer, January 8, 2006], C-SPAN}}
'''Biographies'''
* [[Carl L. Becker|Becker, Carl Lotus]]. "Benjamin Franklin", ''Dictionary of American Biography'' (1931) – vol 3, with links [http://tigger.uic.edu/~rjensen/franklin.htm#becker online]
* [[H. W. Brands|Brands, H.W.]] ''The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin'' (2000) {{ISBN|978-0-385-49540-0}} – scholarly biography; [https://archive.org/details/firstamericanlif00bran online free]
* Crane, Vernon W. ''Benjamin Franklin and a rising people'' (1954) [https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00cran short biography by a scholar; online free]
* Franklin, Benjamin. ''The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin''; many editions
* Gaustad, Edwin S. ''Benjamin Franklin'' (2006). {{doi|10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305357.001.0001}} online
* {{Cite book| first=Walter| last=Isaacson| author-link=Walter Isaacson| title=Benjamin Franklin: An American Life| year=2003| location=New York| publisher=Simon & Schuster| isbn=978-0-7432-6084-8|url=https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00isaa_0| url-access=registration| quote=Benjamin Franklin: An American Life.}}, popular biography; [https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00isaa online free]
* Ketcham, Ralph. ''Benjamin Franklin'' (1966) 228 pp [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=34300175 online edition], short biography by scholar
* [[Leo Lemay|Lemay, J.A. Leo]]. ''The Life of Benjamin Franklin'', scholarly biography, 3 volumes appeared before the author's death in 2008
** ''Volume 1: Journalist, 1706–1730'' (2005) 568 pp {{ISBN|978-0-8122-3854-9}}
** ''Volume 2: Printer and publisher, 1730–1747'' (2005) 664 pp {{ISBN|978-0-8122-3855-6}}
** ''Volume 3: Soldier, scientist, and politician, 1748–1757'' (2008), 768 pp {{ISBN|978-0-8122-4121-1}}
* [[Edmund Morgan (historian)|Morgan, Edmund S]]. ''Benjamin Franklin'' (2003), interpretation by leading scholar [https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00edmu online free]
* [[Stacy Schiff|Schiff, Stacy]], ''A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America'', (2005) Henry Holt
* [[James Srodes]], ''Franklin, The Essential Founding Father'', (2002, softcover 2003, Regnery History) {{ISBN|978-0-89526-163-2|978-0-89526-104-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Van Doren|first=Carl|title=Benjamin Franklin|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.182793|year=1938|author-link=Carl Van Doren|publisher=Viking|isbn=978-1-931541-85-5}}, Pulitzer Prize winning biography; [https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00vand online free]
* [[Gordon S. Wood|Wood, Gordon]]. ''The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin'' (2005) {{ISBN|978-0-14-303528-2}}, intellectual history by leading historian.
* [[Esmond Wright|Wright, Esmond]]. ''Franklin of Philadelphia'' (1986) {{ISBN|978-0-674-31810-6}} – scholarly study
'''For young readers'''
* [[Isaac Asimov|Asimov, Isaac]]. ''The Kite That Won the Revolution'', a biography for children that focuses on Franklin's scientific and diplomatic contributions.
* Fleming, Candace. ''Ben Franklin's Almanac: Being a True Account of the Good Gentleman's Life.'' Atheneum/Anne Schwart, 2003, 128 pp. {{ISBN|978-0-689-83549-0}}.
* Miller, Brandon. Benjamin Franklin, American Genius: His Life and Ideas with 21 Activities (For Kids series) 2009 Chicago Review Press
'''Scholarly studies'''
* Anderson, Douglas. ''The Radical Enlightenments of Benjamin Franklin'' (1997) – fresh look at the intellectual roots of Franklin
* Buxbaum, M.H., ed. ''Critical Essays on Benjamin Franklin'' (1987)
* Chaplin, Joyce. ''The First Scientific American: Benjamin Franklin and the Pursuit of Genius.'' (2007)
* Cohen, I. Bernard. ''Benjamin Franklin's Science'' (1990) – Cohen, the leading specialist, has several books on Franklin's science
* Conner, Paul W. ''Poor Richard's Politicks'' (1965) – analyzes Franklin's ideas in terms of the Enlightenment and republicanism
* Dull, Jonathan. ''Benjamin Franklin and the American Revolution'' (2010)
* Dull, Jonathan. ''A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution'' (1985)
* [[Philip Dray|Dray, Philip]]. ''Stealing God's Thunder: Benjamin Franklin's Lightning Rod and the Invention of America.'' (2005). 279 pp.
* Ford, Paul Leicester. ''The Many-Sided Franklin'' (1899) [https://archive.org/details/manysidedfrankli01ford online edition] – collection of scholarly essays
** [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABP2287-0057-169 "Franklin as Printer and Publisher"] in ''The Century'' (April 1899) v. 57 pp. 803–18.
** [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABP2287-0058-172 "Franklin as Scientist"] in ''The Century'' (September 1899) v.57 pp. 750–63. By Paul Leicester Ford.
** [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABP2287-0058-201 "Franklin as Politician and Diplomatist"] in ''The Century'' (October 1899) v. 57 pp. 881–99. By Paul Leicester Ford.
* {{cite journal | last1 = Gleason | first1 = Philip | year = 2000 | title = Trouble in the Colonial Melting Pot | journal = Journal of American Ethnic History | volume = 20 | issue = 1| pages = 3–17 }}
* Houston, Alan. ''Benjamin Franklin and the Politics of Improvement'' (2009)
* Lemay, J.A. Leo, ed. ''Reappraising Benjamin Franklin: A Bicentennial Perspective'' (1993) – scholarly essays
* Mathews, L.K. "Benjamin Franklin's Plans for a Colonial Union, 1750–1775." ''American Political Science Review'' 8 (August 1914): 393–412.
* {{cite journal | last1 = McCoy | first1 = Drew R. | author-link = Drew R. McCoy | year = 1978 | title = Benjamin Franklin's Vision of a Republican Political Economy for America | journal = William and Mary Quarterly | volume = 35 | issue = 4| pages = 607–28 | jstor=1923207| doi = 10.2307/1923207 }}
* Merli, Frank J., and Theodore A. Wilson, eds. ''Makers of American diplomacy, from Benjamin Franklin to Henry Kissinger'' (1974) [https://archive.org/details/makersofamerican00merl online free]
* Newman, Simon P. "Benjamin Franklin and the Leather-Apron Men: The Politics of Class in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia", ''Journal of American Studies'', August 2009, Vol. 43#2 pp. 161–75; Franklin took pride in his working class origins and his printer's skills.
* Olson, Lester C. ''Benjamin Franklin's Vision of American Community: A Study in Rhetorical Iconology.'' (2004). 323 pp.
* Schiffer, Michael Brian. ''Draw the Lightning Down: Benjamin Franklin and Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment.'' (2003). 383 pp.
* [http://www.bartleby.com/225/index.html#6 Stuart Sherman "Franklin"] 1918 article on Franklin's writings.
* Skemp, Sheila L. ''Benjamin and William Franklin: Father and Son, Patriot and Loyalist'' (1994) – Ben's son was a leading Loyalist
* Sletcher, Michael. 'Domesticity: The Human Side of Benjamin Franklin', ''Magazine of History'', XXI (2006).
* Waldstreicher, David. ''Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, and the American Revolution.'' Hill and Wang, 2004. 315 pp.
* [[Kerry S. Walters|Walters, Kerry S.]] ''Benjamin Franklin and His Gods.'' (1999). 213 pp. Takes position midway between D H Lawrence's brutal 1930 denunciation of Franklin's religion as nothing more than a bourgeois commercialism tricked out in shallow utilitarian moralisms and [[Owen Aldridge]]'s sympathetic 1967 treatment of the dynamism and protean character of Franklin's "polytheistic" religion.
* York, Neil. "When Words Fail: William Pitt, Benjamin Franklin and the Imperial Crisis of 1766", ''Parliamentary History'', October 2009, Vol. 28#3 pp. 341–74
'''Historiography'''
* Waldstreicher, David, ed. ''A Companion to Benjamin Franklin'' (2011), 25 essays by scholars emphasizing how historians have handled Franklin. [https://www.questia.com/library/120084135/a-companion-to-benjamin-franklin online edition]
'''Primary sources'''
* ''Silence Dogood, The Busy-Body, & Early Writings'' (J.A. Leo Lemay, ed.) ([[Library of America]], 1987 one-volume, 2005 two-volume) {{ISBN|978-1-931082-22-8}}
* ''Autobiography, Poor Richard, & Later Writings'' (J.A. Leo Lemay, ed.) ([[Library of America]], 1987 one-volume, 2005 two-volume) {{ISBN|978-1-883011-53-6}}
* Bailyn, Bernard, ''The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution'' (1992)
* Benjamin Franklin papers, M.S. Coll. 900, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. [http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/ead/upenn_rbml_MsColl900 Finding aid]
* {{cite journal | last1 = Bailly | first1 = J.-S. | s2cid = 143420875 | year = 2002| title = Secret Report on Mesmerism or Animal Magnetism | journal = International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis | volume = 50 | issue = 4| pages = 364–68 | doi = 10.1080/00207140208410110 | pmid = 12362952 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Franklin | first1 = B. | last2 = Majault | first2 = M.J. | last3 = Le Roy | first3 = J.B. | last4 = Sallin | first4 = C.L. | last5 = Bailly | first5 = J.-S. | last6 = d'Arcet | first6 = J. | last7 = de Bory | first7 = G. | last8 = Guillotin | first8 = J.-I. | last9 = Lavoisier | first9 = A. | s2cid = 36506710 | year = 2002| title = Report of The Commissioners charged by the King with the Examination of Animal Magnetism | journal = International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis | volume = 50 | issue = 4| pages = 332–63 | doi = 10.1080/00207140208410109 | pmid = 12362951 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100928051438/http://www.yale.edu/franklinpapers/indexintro.html The Papers of Benjamin Franklin] online, Sponsored by The American Philosophical Society and Yale University
* ''Benjamin Franklin Reader'' edited by Walter Isaacson (2003)
* ''Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography'' edited by J.A. Leo Lemay and P.M. Zall, (Norton Critical Editions, 1986); 390 pp. text, contemporary documents and 20th century analysis
* Houston, Alan, ed. ''Franklin: The Autobiography and other Writings on Politics, Economics, and Virtue.'' Cambridge University Press, 2004. 371 pp.
* Ketcham, Ralph, ed. ''The Political Thought of Benjamin Franklin.'' (1965, reprinted 2003). 459 pp.
* Leonard Labaree, and others., eds., ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20060214030435/http://www.yale.edu/franklinpapers/index.html The Papers of Benjamin Franklin]'', 39 vols. to date (1959–2008), definitive edition, through 1783. This massive collection of BF's writings, and letters to him, is available in large academic libraries. It is most useful for detailed research on specific topics. [http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/ The complete text of all the documents are online and searchable]; {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100928051438/http://www.yale.edu/franklinpapers/indexintro.html |date=September 28, 2010 |title=The ''Index'' is also online }}.
* ''[[The Way to Wealth]]''. Applewood Books; 1986. {{ISBN|0-918222-88-5}}
* ''[[Poor Richard's Almanack]]''. Peter Pauper Press; 1983. {{ISBN|0-88088-918-7}}
* ''Poor Richard Improved'' by Benjamin Franklin (1751)
* ''Writings (Franklin)|Writings''. {{ISBN|0-940450-29-1}}
* "''On Marriage''."
* "''Satires and Bagatelles''."
* "''[[A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain]]''."
* "''[[Fart Proudly]]: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School''." Carl Japikse, Ed. Frog Ltd.; Reprint ed. 2003. {{ISBN|1-58394-079-0}}
* "''Heroes of America Benjamin Franklin''."
* "''[[Experiments and Observations on Electricity]]''." (1751)
==External links==
{{Sister project links|s=Author:Benjamin Franklin|wikt=Franklin|v=Virtues/thirteen virtues|b=American Literature/Enlightenment Period (1760s–1820s)}}
{{Spoken Wikipedia|date=2008-08-04|Benjamin Franklin 1.ogg|Benjamin Franklin 2.ogg|Benjamin Franklin 3.ogg}}
{{Library resources box|by=yes|onlinebooks=yes|viaf=56609913}}
* [http://www.compadre.org/psrc/Franklin/ Benjamin Franklin and Electrostatics] experiments and Franklin's electrical writings from Wright Center for Science Education
* [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ockhamsrazor/stories/2006/1814928.htm Franklin's impact on medicine] – talk by medical historian, Dr. Jim Leavesley celebrating the 300th anniversary of Franklin's birth on ''Okham's Razor'' ABC [[Radio National]] – December 2006
* [http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/ead/upenn_rbml_MsColl900 Benjamin Franklin Papers, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.]
'''Biographical and guides'''
* [http://www.time.com/time/2003/franklin/bffranklin.html Special Report: Citizen Ben's Greatest Virtues] Time Magazine
* {{CongLinks | congbio = F000342}}
* [https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/franklin/franklin.html Finding Franklin: A Resource Guide] Library of Congress
* [http://tigger.uic.edu/~rjensen/franklin.htm Guide to Benjamin Franklin] By a history professor at the University of Illinois.
* [https://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/ Benjamin Franklin: An extraordinary life] PBS
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131102055511/http://history.state.gov/milestones/1776-1783/BFranklin Benjamin Franklin: First American Diplomat, 1776–1785] US State Department
* [http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/ The Electric Benjamin Franklin] ushistory.org
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120502102128/http://www.english.udel.edu/lemay/franklin/ Benjamin Franklin: A Documentary History] by J.A. Leo Lemay
* [http://www.librarything.com/profile/BenjaminFranklin Online edition of Franklin's personal library]
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Franklin, Benjamin}}
* [http://www.c-span.org/video/?163159-1/writings-benjamin-franklin "Writings of Benjamin Franklin"] from [[C-SPAN]]'s ''[[American Writers: A Journey Through History]]''
'''Online writings'''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100928051438/http://www.yale.edu/franklinpapers/indexintro.html Yale edition of complete works], the standard scholarly edition
** [https://founders.archives.gov/about Founders Online, searchable edition]
* {{Gutenberg author |id=Franklin,+Benjamin | name=Benjamin Franklin}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Benjamin Franklin}}
* {{Librivox author |id=350}}
* [http://www.bartleby.com/people/FranklinB.html Online Works by Franklin]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090821230120/http://sln.fi.edu/franklin/family/lastwill.html Franklin's Last Will & Testament] Transcription.
* [https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/franklin-home.html Library of Congress web resource: ''Benjamin Franklin ... In His Own Words'']
* [https://archive.org/details/SilenceDogood_201306 "A Silence Dogood Sampler" – Selections from Franklin's Silence Dogood writings]
* [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Franklin%20Abridged/index.html Abridgement of the Book of Common Prayer (1773), by Benjamin Franklin and Francis Dashwood], transcribed by Richard Mammana
'''Autobiography'''
* [http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/autobiography/index.htm ''The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin''] [https://web.archive.org/web/20080905094326/http://ushistory.org/franklin/autobiography/singlehtml.htm Single page version], UShistory.org
* [http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/Franklin/header.html ''The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin''] from American Studies at the University of Virginia
* [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/148 ''The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin''] at Project Gutenberg
* [http://librivox.org/the-autobigraphy-of-benjamin-franklin-ed-by-frank-woodworth-pine/ ''The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin''] LibriVox recording
'''In the arts'''
* [http://www.benfranklin300.com/ Benjamin Franklin 300 (1706–2006)] Official web site of the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary.
* The [http://www.hsp.org/files/findingaid215franklin.pdf Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection of Benjamin Franklin Papers], including correspondence, government documents, writings and a copy of his will, are available for research use at the [[Historical Society of Pennsylvania]].
* [http://www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org/ The Benjamin Franklin House] Franklin's only surviving residence.
{{Benjamin Franklin}}
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{{short description|American polymath and a Founding Father of the United States}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Benjamin Franklin
| image = Joseph Siffrein Duplessis - Benjamin Franklin - Google Art Project.jpg
| caption = ''Benjamin Franklin'' by [[Joseph Duplessis]], 1778
| office = 6th [[Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania#Presidents|President of Pennsylvania]]
| vicepresident = [[Charles Biddle]]<br />[[Peter Muhlenberg]]<br />[[David Redick]]
| term_start = October 18, 1785
| term_end = November 5, 1788
| predecessor = [[John Dickinson]]
| successor = [[Thomas Mifflin]]
| office1 = [[United States Minister to Sweden]]
| appointer1 = [[Congress of the Confederation]]
| term_start1 = September 28, 1782
| term_end1 = April 3, 1783
| predecessor1 = Position established
| successor1 = [[Jonathan Russell]]
| office2 = [[United States Minister to France]]
| appointer2 = [[Continental Congress]]
| term_start2 = March 23, 1779
| term_end2 = May 17, 1785
| predecessor2 = Position established
| successor2 = [[Thomas Jefferson]]
| office3 = 1st [[United States Postmaster General]]
| term_start3 = July 26, 1775
| term_end3 = November 7, 1776
| predecessor3 = Position established
| successor3 = [[Richard Bache]]
| office4 = [[United States Postmaster General|Postmaster General of British America]]
| term_start4 = August 10, 1753
| term_end4 = January 31, 1774
| predecessor4 = Position established
| successor4 = Vacant
| office5 = [[List of Speakers of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives|Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly]]
| term_start5 = May 1764
| term_end5 = October 1764
| predecessor5 = [[Isaac Norris (statesman)|Isaac Norris]]
| successor5 = [[Isaac Norris (statesman)|Isaac Norris]]
| birth_date = {{OldStyleDateDY|January 17,|1706|January 6, 1705}}{{refn|group=Note|name=birthdate}}
| birth_place = [[Boston]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts Bay]], [[British America]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1790|4|17|1706|1|17}}
| death_place = [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, U.S.
| party = [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Deborah Read]]|September 1, 1730|1774|reason=died}}
| children = [[William Franklin]]<br />[[Francis Folger Franklin]]<br />[[Sarah Franklin Bache]]
| parents = [[Josiah Franklin]]<br />[[Abiah Folger]]
| signature = Benjamin Franklin Signature.svg
| honorific_suffix = [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]], [[Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts|FRSA]], [[FRSE]]
}}
'''Benjamin Franklin''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|FRSA|FRSE}} ({{OldStyleDateDY|January 17,|1706|January 6, 1705}}{{refn|group=Note|name=birthdate}}{{spaced ndash}} April 17, 1790) was a British American [[polymath]] and one of the [[Founding Fathers of the United States]]. Franklin was a leading writer, [[printer (publishing)|printer]], [[List of political philosophers|political philosopher]], politician, [[Freemason]], [[postmaster]], scientist, inventor, humorist, [[civics|civic activist]], [[Public figure|statesman]], and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the [[American Enlightenment]] and the [[history of physics]] for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the [[lightning rod]], [[bifocals]], and the [[Franklin stove]], among other inventions.<ref>{{cite web|title=Inventor |url=http://fi.edu/franklin/inventor/inventor.html |publisher=The Franklin Institute |access-date=April 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070305234033/http://fi.edu/franklin/inventor/inventor.html |archive-date=March 5, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He founded many civic organizations, including the [[Library Company of Philadelphia|Library Company]], [[Philadelphia]]'s first [[Union Fire Company|fire department]],<ref>{{cite book | last = Burt | first = Nathaniel | title = The Perennial Philadelphians: The Anatomy of an American Aristocracy | publisher= University of Pennsylvania Press | year = 1999 | isbn = 978-0-8122-1693-6 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=L9ueb6r1uXgC&pg=PA142 | page = 142}}</ref> and the [[University of Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{Cite book|title = [[Benjamin Franklin: An American Life]]|last = Isaacson|first = Walter|publisher = Simon & Schuster|year = 2003|location = New York}}</ref>
Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for [[Thirteen Colonies|colonial unity]], initially as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first [[United States Ambassador to France|United States ambassador to France]], he exemplified the emerging American nation.<ref>H.W. Brands, ''The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin'' (2000)</ref> Franklin was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism both political and religious, with the scientific and tolerant values of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. In the words of historian [[Henry Steele Commager]], "In a Franklin could be merged the virtues of [[Puritanism]] without its defects, the illumination of the Enlightenment without its heat."<ref>Isaacson 2003, p. 491</ref> To [[Walter Isaacson]], this makes Franklin "the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become."<ref>Walter Isaacson, ''Benjamin Franklin'' (2003), p. 492</ref>
Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing the ''[[Pennsylvania Gazette]]'' at the age of 23.<ref>{{cite book |first=H.W. |last=Brands |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B2bPCEbMAvwC&pg=PA390 |title=The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin |year=2010 |page=390 |isbn=9780307754943 }}</ref> He became wealthy publishing this and ''[[Poor Richard's Almanack]]'', which he authored under the pseudonym "Richard Saunders".<ref name="Goodrich1829">{{cite book|author=Charles A. Goodrich|url=https://archive.org/details/livessignerstod02goodgoog|title=Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence|date=1829|publisher=W. Reed & Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/livessignerstod02goodgoog/page/n280 267]|access-date=7 June 2013}}</ref> After 1767, he was associated with the ''[[Pennsylvania Chronicle]]'', a newspaper that was known for its revolutionary sentiments and criticisms of the policies of the [[Parliament of Great Britain|British Parliament]] and [[the Crown]].<ref name="Smithsonian+Constitutional Post">{{cite web|title=William Goddard and the Constitutional Post|url=http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibits/2a1f_wgoddard.html|access-date=19 October 2010|publisher=Smithsonian National Postal Museum}}</ref>
He pioneered and was the first president of [[Academy and College of Philadelphia]] which opened in 1751 and later became the [[University of Pennsylvania]]. He organized and was the first secretary of the [[American Philosophical Society]] and was elected president in 1769. Franklin became a national hero in America as an agent for several colonies when he spearheaded an effort in London to have the [[Parliament of Great Britain]] repeal the unpopular [[Stamp Act 1765|Stamp Act]]. An accomplished diplomat, he was widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris and was a major figure in the development of positive [[France–United States relations|Franco{{ndash}}American relations]]. His efforts proved vital for the [[American Revolution]] in securing shipments of crucial munitions from France.
He was promoted to deputy postmaster-general for the British colonies on August 10, 1753,<ref>https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/pmg-franklin.pdf</ref> having been Philadelphia postmaster for many years, and this enabled him to set up the first national communications network. During the [[American Revolution|revolution]], he became the first [[United States Postmaster General|United States postmaster general]]. He was active in community affairs and colonial and state politics, as well as national and international affairs. From 1785 to 1788, he served as [[List of governors of Pennsylvania|governor of Pennsylvania]]. He initially owned and dealt in slaves but, by the late 1750s, he began arguing against [[slavery]], became an [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]], and promoted education and the [[Racial integration|integration]] of blacks in American Society.
His life and legacy of scientific and political achievement, and his status as one of America's most influential Founding Fathers, have seen Franklin honored more than two centuries after his death on the [[Franklin half dollar|fifty-cent piece]], the [[United States one hundred-dollar bill|$100 bill]], [[USS Benjamin Franklin (SSBN-640)|warships]], and [[List of places named for Benjamin Franklin|the names of many towns]], counties, educational institutions, and corporations, as well as numerous [[Benjamin Franklin in popular culture|cultural references]].
==Ancestry==
Benjamin Franklin's father, [[Josiah Franklin]], was a [[tallow]] [[Chandlery|chandler]], [[soaper]], and [[candle]]maker. Josiah Franklin was born at [[Ecton, Northamptonshire]], England on December 23, 1657, the son of blacksmith and farmer Thomas Franklin and Jane White. Benjamin's father and all four of his grandparents were born in England.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
Josiah Franklin had a total of seventeen children with his two wives. He married his first wife, Anne Child, in about 1677 in Ecton and emigrated with her to [[Boston]] in 1683; they had three children before emigration, and four after. Following her death, Josiah was married to [[Abiah Folger]] on July 9, 1689, in the [[Old South Meeting House]] by [[Samuel Willard|Reverend Samuel Willard]], and would eventually have ten children with her. Benjamin, their eighth child, was Josiah Franklin's fifteenth child overall, and his tenth and final son.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Powell|first=Jim|date=2018-02-22|title=How Ben Franklin Invented the American Dream|url=https://fee.org/articles/how-ben-franklin-invented-the-american-dream/|access-date=2020-12-30|website=Foundation for Economic Education|language=en}}</ref>
Benjamin Franklin's mother, Abiah, was born in [[Nantucket]], [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]], on August 15, 1667, to [[Peter Folger (Nantucket settler)|Peter Folger]], a miller and schoolteacher, and his wife, [[Mary Morrell Folger]], a former [[indentured servant]]. Mary Folger came from a Puritan family that was among the first Pilgrims to flee to Massachusetts for [[freedom of religion|religious freedom]], sailing for [[Boston]] in 1635 after [[King Charles I of England]] had begun persecuting Puritans. Her father Peter was "the sort of rebel destined to transform colonial America."<ref>Isaacson 2003, p. 14</ref> As [[court clerk|clerk of the court]], he was jailed for disobeying the local magistrate in defense of middle-class shopkeepers and artisans in conflict with wealthy landowners. Benjamin Franklin followed in his grandfather's footsteps in his battles against the wealthy [[William Penn|Penn]] family that owned the [[Province of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania Colony]].{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|title=Ancestors of Benjamin Franklin
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #cff;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|13=13. Meribah Gibbs<br />b. England
|12=12. John Folger Jr.<br />b. c. 1594, [[Norwich]], England
|9= 9. Agnes Joanes<br />b. [[Ecton, Northamptonshire]], England
|8= 8. Henry Franckline<br />b. 1573, [[Ecton, Northamptonshire]], England<ref name="efamilytree-franckline">{{cite web|url=http://www.e-familytree.net/F257/F257111.htm|title=Thomas Franckline / Jane White|last=Salzman|first=Rob|publisher=e-familytree.net|access-date=January 20, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516030312/http://www.e-familytree.net/F257/F257111.htm|archive-date=May 16, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=January 2018}}
|7= 7. [[Mary Morrill]]<br />b. c. 1619, England
|6= 6. [[Peter Folger (Nantucket settler)|Peter Folger]]<br />b. 1617, [[Norwich]], Norfolk, England
|5= 5. Jane White<br />b. England
|4= 4. Thomas Franklin<br />b. 1598, [[Ecton, Northamptonshire]], England<ref name="efamilytree-franckline"/>
|3= 3. [[Abiah Folger]]<br />b. August 15, 1667, [[Nantucket]], [[Massachusetts]]
|2= 2. [[Josiah Franklin]]<br />b. December 23, 1657, [[Ecton, Northamptonshire]], England
|1= 1. '''Benjamin Franklin'''<ref name="efamilytree-franklin">{{cite web|url=http://www.e-familytree.net/F257/F257111.htm|title=Benjamin Franklin / Deborah Read|last=Salzman|first=Rob|publisher=e-familytree.net|access-date=January 20, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516030312/http://www.e-familytree.net/F257/F257111.htm|archive-date=May 16, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=January 2018}}<br />b. 1706 ([[Old Style and New Style dates|O.S.]] 1706), [[Boston]], Massachusetts
}}
==Early life in Boston==
{{multiple image
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| image1 = Benjamin Franklin Birthplace 2.JPG
| caption1 = Franklin's birthplace on [[Milk Street, Boston|Milk Street]], Boston, Massachusetts
| image2 = Benjamin Franklin Birthplace.jpg
| caption2 = Franklin's birthplace site directly across from the [[Old South Meeting House]] is commemorated by a [[bust (sculpture)|bust]] atop the second floor facade of this building.
}}
Benjamin Franklin was born on [[Milk Street, Boston|Milk Street]], in [[Boston]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts]], on January 17, 1706,{{refn|group=Note|name=birthdate| Contemporary records, which used the Julian calendar and the [[New Year#Annunciation Style|Annunciation Style]] of enumerating years, recorded his birth as January 6, 1705.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Mulford |editor1-first=Carla |title=The Cambridge Companion to Benjamin Franklin |date=2009 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=xiv |isbn=9781139828123 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hOTroomqzQQC&pg=PR14}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Gordon S. Wood |author-link1=Gordon S. Wood |title=The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin |date=2005 |publisher=[[Penguin Group|Penguin Press]] |page=17 |isbn=9780143035282 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ak1RVLZDv4gC&pg=PA17}}</ref> The provisions of the British [[Calendar (New Style) Act 1750]], implemented in 1752, altered the official British dating method to the Gregorian calendar with the start of the year on January 1 [it had been March 25]. These changes resulted in dates being moved forward 11 days, and for those between January 1 and March 24 (included), an advance of one year. For a further explanation, see: [[Old Style and New Style dates]].}} and [[Infant baptism|baptized]] at Old South Meeting House. As a child growing up along the Charles River, Franklin recalled that he was "generally the leader among the boys."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Isaacson|first=Walter|title=Benjamin Franklin: An American Life|pages=16}}</ref>
Josiah wanted Ben to attend school with the clergy but only had enough money to send him to school for two years. He attended [[Boston Latin School]] but did not graduate; he continued his education through voracious reading. Although "his parents talked of the church as a career"<ref name="autobio">{{cite book |last= Franklin |first= Benjamin |author-mask= 2 |title= Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qW4VAAAAYAAJ |access-date=February 1, 2011 |series= Macmillan's pocket English and American classics |orig-year= 1771 |year= 1901 |publisher=Macmillan |location= New York |page= vi |chapter= Introduction}}<!-- Note: the introduction of this edition is the source for this quote; please do not change the edition without verifying the quote remains sourced. --></ref> for Franklin, his schooling ended when he was ten. He worked for his father for a time, and at 12 he became an [[apprenticeship|apprentice]] to his brother James, a printer, who taught Ben the printing trade. When Ben was 15, James founded ''[[The New-England Courant]]'', which was [[History of American newspapers|the first truly independent newspaper in the colonies]].{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
When denied the chance to write a letter to the paper for publication, Franklin adopted the pseudonym of "[[Silence Dogood]]", a middle-aged widow. Mrs. Dogood's letters were published and became a subject of conversation around town. Neither James nor the ''Courant'''s readers were aware of the ruse, and James was unhappy with Ben when he discovered the popular correspondent was his younger brother. Franklin was an advocate of free speech from an early age. When his brother was jailed for three weeks in 1722 for publishing material unflattering to the governor, young Franklin took over the newspaper and had Mrs. Dogood (quoting ''[[Cato's Letters]]'') proclaim: "Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech."<ref>Isaacson, (2003) p. 32</ref> Franklin left his apprenticeship without his brother's permission, and in so doing became a [[fugitive from justice|fugitive]].<ref name="vandoren">Carl Van Doren, ''Benjamin Franklin''. (1938).</ref>
==Philadelphia==
At age 17, Franklin ran away to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, seeking a new start in a new city. When he first arrived, he worked in several printer shops around town, but he was not satisfied by the immediate prospects. After a few months, while working in a printing house, Franklin was convinced by Pennsylvania governor [[Sir William Keith, 4th Baronet|Sir William Keith]] to go to London, ostensibly to acquire the equipment necessary for establishing another newspaper in Philadelphia. Finding Keith's promises of backing a newspaper empty, Franklin worked as a [[typesetter]] in a printer's shop in what is now the [[St Bartholomew-the-Great|Church of St Bartholomew-the-Great]] in the [[Smithfield, London|Smithfield]] area of London. Following this, he returned to Philadelphia in 1726 with the help of Thomas Denham, a merchant who employed Franklin as clerk, shopkeeper, and bookkeeper in his business.<ref name="vandoren"/>
===Junto and library===
[[File:Franklin - ita, 1825 - 766672 R (cropped).jpeg|thumb|upright|''La scuola della economia e della morale'' (1825)]]
In 1727, Benjamin Franklin, then 21, formed the [[Junto (club)|Junto]], a group of "like minded aspiring artisans and tradesmen who hoped to improve themselves while they improved their community." The Junto was a discussion group for issues of the day; it subsequently gave rise to many organizations in Philadelphia.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = On | last2 = Mumford | first2 = Michael D. | s2cid = 143550175 | year = 2002 | title = Social innovation: ten cases from Benjamin Franklin | journal = Creativity Research Journal | volume = 14 | issue = 2| pages = 253–266 | doi = 10.1207/S15326934CRJ1402_11}}</ref> The Junto was modeled after English coffeehouses that Franklin knew well, and which had become the center of the spread of Enlightenment ideas in Britain.<ref>David Waldstreicher, ed., '' A Companion to Benjamin Franklin'' (2011) p. 30</ref><ref>J. A. Leo Lemay, ''The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 2: Printer and publisher, 1730–1747'' (2005) pp. 92–94, 123</ref>
Reading was a great pastime of the Junto, but books were rare and expensive. The members created a library initially assembled from their own books after Franklin wrote:
{{quote|A proposition was made by me that since our books were often referr'd to in our disquisitions upon the inquiries, it might be convenient for us to have them altogether where we met, that upon occasion they might be consulted; and by thus clubbing our books to a common library, we should, while we lik'd to keep them together, have each of us the advantage of using the books of all the other members, which would be nearly as beneficial as if each owned the whole.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Murray|first1=Stuart A.P.|title=The library: an illustrated history|date=2009|publisher=[[Skyhorse Pub.]]|location=New York|isbn=978-1-60239-706-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/libraryillustrat0000murr}}</ref>}}
This did not suffice, however. Franklin conceived the idea of a [[subscription library]], which would pool the funds of the members to buy books for all to read. This was the birth of the [[Library Company of Philadelphia]]: its charter was composed by Franklin in 1731. In 1732, Franklin hired the first American librarian, [[Louis Timothee]]. The Library Company is now a great scholarly and [[Library#Research library|research library]].<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 1006049|title = Benjamin Franklin and Eighteenth-Century American Libraries|journal = Transactions of the American Philosophical Society|volume = 55|issue = 9|pages = 1–83|last1 = Korty|first1 = Margaret Barton|year = 1965|doi = 10.2307/1006049}}</ref>
===Newspaperman===
Upon Denham's death, Franklin returned to his former trade. In 1728, Franklin had set up a printing house in partnership with [[Hugh Meredith]]; the following year he became the publisher of a newspaper called ''[[Pennsylvania Gazette|The Pennsylvania Gazette]]''. The ''Gazette'' gave Franklin a forum for agitation about a variety of local reforms and initiatives through printed essays and observations. Over time, his commentary, and his adroit cultivation of a positive image as an industrious and intellectual young man, earned him a great deal of social respect. But even after Franklin had achieved fame as a scientist and statesman, he habitually signed his letters with the unpretentious 'B. Franklin, Printer.'<ref name="vandoren"/>
[[File:Franklin the printer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|Benjamin Franklin (center) at work on a [[printing press]]. Reproduction of a Charles Mills painting by the [[Detroit Publishing Company]].]]
In 1732, Ben Franklin published the first [[German language|German-language]] newspaper in America – ''Die Philadelphische Zeitung'' – although it failed after only one year because four other newly founded German papers quickly dominated the newspaper market.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa071299.htm|title=German Newspapers in the US and Canada|access-date=October 7, 2014}}</ref> Franklin printed [[Moravian dialects|Moravian]] religious books in German. Franklin often visited [[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania]], staying at the [[Moravian Sun Inn]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=John B. |last=Frantz |title=Franklin and the Pennsylvania Germans |journal=Pennsylvania History |year=1998 |pages=21–34 |url=https://journals.psu.edu/index.php/phj/article/viewFile/25467/25236 }}</ref> In a 1751 pamphlet on demographic growth and its implications for the colonies, he called the [[Pennsylvania Dutch|Pennsylvania Germans]] "Palatine Boors" who could never acquire the "Complexion" of the English settlers and referred to "Blacks and Tawneys" as weakening the social structure of the colonies. Although Franklin apparently reconsidered shortly thereafter, and the phrases were omitted from all later printings of the pamphlet, his views may have played a role in his political defeat in 1764.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Philip | first1 = Gleason | year = 2000 | title = Trouble in the Colonial Melting Pot | journal = Journal of American Ethnic History | volume = 20 | issue = 1| pages = 3–17 }}</ref>
According to Ralph Frasca. Franklin promoted the printing press as a device to instruct colonial Americans in moral virtue. Frasca argues he saw this as a service to God, because he understood moral virtue in terms of actions, thus, doing good provides a service to God. Despite his own moral lapses, Franklin saw himself as uniquely qualified to instruct Americans in morality. He tried to influence American moral life through the construction of a printing network based on a chain of partnerships from the Carolinas to New England. Franklin thereby invented the first newspaper chain. It was more than a business venture, for like many publishers since he believed that the press had a public-service duty.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Frasca | first1 = Ralph | year = 1997 | title = Benjamin Franklin's Journalism | journal = [[Fides et Historia]] | volume = 29 | issue = 1| pages = 60–72 }}</ref><ref>Ralph Frasca, ''Benjamin Franklin's printing network: disseminating virtue in early America'' (University of Missouri Press, 2006) [https://doi-org.proxy.cc.uic.edu/10.1111/j.1540-6563.2007.00197_16.x online review by [[Robert Middlekauff]].</ref>
[[File:Coat of Arms of Benjamin Franklin.svg|thumb|upright|Coat of Arms of Benjamin Franklin]]
When Franklin established himself in Philadelphia, shortly before 1730, the town boasted two "wretched little" news sheets, [[Andrew Bradford]]'s ''The American Weekly Mercury'', and [[Samuel Keimer]]'s ''Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences, and Pennsylvania Gazette''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bartleby.com/225/index.html|title=Vol. 15. Colonial and Revolutionary Literature; Early National Literature, Part I. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: An Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes. 1907–21|website=www.bartleby.com}}</ref> This instruction in all arts and sciences consisted of weekly extracts from ''Chambers's Universal Dictionary''. Franklin quickly did away with all this when he took over the ''Instructor'' and made it ''The Pennsylvania Gazette''. The ''Gazette'' soon became Franklin's characteristic organ, which he freely used for satire, for the play of his wit, even for sheer excess of mischief or of fun. From the first, he had a way of adapting his models to his own uses. {{anchor|The Busy-Body}}{{anchor|The Busybody}}The series of essays called "[[The Busy-Body (pen name)|The Busy-Body]]", which he wrote for Bradford's ''American Mercury'' in 1729, followed the general [[Joseph Addison|Addisonian]] form, already modified to suit homelier conditions. The thrifty Patience, in her busy little shop, complaining of the useless visitors who waste her valuable time, is related to the women who address Mr. Spectator. The Busy-Body himself is a true Censor Morum, as [[Isaac Bickerstaff]] had been in the ''Tatler''. And a number of the fictitious characters, Ridentius, Eugenius, Cato, and Cretico, represent traditional 18th-century classicism. Even this Franklin could use for contemporary satire, since Cretico, the "sowre Philosopher", is evidently a portrait of Franklin's rival, [[Samuel Keimer]].<ref>Cook, ''Colonial and Revolutionary Literature; Early National Literature, Part I. Colonial Newspapers and Magazines, 1704–1775'' (1917)</ref>
Franklin had mixed success in his plan to establish an inter-colonial network of newspapers that would produce a profit for him and disseminate virtue.<ref>Ralph Frasca, ''Benjamin Franklin's Printing Network: Disseminating Virtue in Early America'' (2006) {{ISBN|978-0-8262-1614-4}}</ref> He began in [[Charleston, South Carolina]], in 1731. After the second editor died, his widow Elizabeth Timothy took over and made it a success, 1738–1746. She was one of the colonial era's first woman printers.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Baker | first1 = Ira L. | s2cid = 143677057 | year = 1977 | title = Elizabeth Timothy: America's First Woman Editor | journal = Journalism Quarterly | volume = 54 | issue = 2| pages = 280–85 | doi=10.1177/107769907705400207}}</ref> For three decades Franklin maintained a close business relationship with her and her son Peter who took over in 1746.<ref>Ralph Frasca, "'The Partnership at Carolina Having succeeded, was Encourag'd to Engage in Others': The Genesis of Benjamin Franklin's Printing Network", ''Southern Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South'' (2006), Vol. 13 Issue 1/2, pp. 1–23.</ref> The ''Gazette'' had a policy of impartiality in political debates, while creating the opportunity for public debate, which encouraged others to challenge authority. Editor Peter Timothy avoided blandness and crude bias, and after 1765 increasingly took a patriotic stand in the growing crisis with Great Britain.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Smith | first1 = Jeffery A. | year = 1993 | title = Impartiality and Revolutionary Ideology: Editorial Policies of the 'South-Carolina Gazette,' 1732–1735 | journal = Journal of Southern History | volume = 49 | issue = 4| pages = 511–26 | doi = 10.2307/2208674 | jstor = 2208674 }}</ref> However, Franklin's ''Connecticut Gazette'' (1755–68) proved unsuccessful.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Frasca | first1 = Ralph | year = 2003 | title = 'I am now about to establish a small Printing Office ... at Newhaven': Benjamin Franklin and the First Newspaper in Connecticut | journal = Connecticut History | volume = 44 | issue = 1| pages = 77–87 }}</ref>
===Freemasonry===
In 1730 or 1731, Franklin was initiated into the local [[Masonic lodge]]. He became a [[Grand Master (Masonic)|grand master]] in 1734, indicating his rapid rise to prominence in Pennsylvania.<ref name=HC>[[History (U.S. TV channel)|The History Channel]], ''Mysteries of the Freemasons: America'', video documentary, August 1, 2006, written by Noah Nicholas and Molly Bedell</ref><ref name=freemasonry>{{cite web| url=http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/franklin_b/franklin_b.html|title=Freemasonry Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon website |publisher=Freemasonry.bcy.ca|access-date=September 21, 2009}}</ref> The same year, he edited and published the first Masonic book in the Americas, a reprint of [[James Anderson (Freemason)|James Anderson]]'s ''[[Constitutions of the Free-Masons]]''. He was the [[Masonic lodge officers#Secretary|secretary]] of [[Tun Tavern Lodge|St. John's Lodge]] in Philadelphia from 1735 to 1738.<ref name=freemasonry/> Franklin remained a Freemason for the rest of his life.<ref>Van Horne, John C. "The History and Collections of the Library Company of Philadelphia", ''The Magazine Antiques'', v. 170. no. 2: 58–65 (1971).</ref><ref>{{cite ODNB|id=52466|title=Franklin, Benjamin (1706–1790)|orig-year=2004|year=2014|last=Lemay|first=Leo}}</ref>
===Common-law marriage to Deborah Read===
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| caption1 = [[Deborah Read|Deborah Read Franklin]]<br />(c. 1759). Common-law wife of Benjamin Franklin
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| caption2 = [[Sarah Franklin Bache]] (1743–1808). Daughter of Benjamin Franklin and Deborah Read
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At age 17 in 1723, Franklin proposed to 15-year-old [[Deborah Read]] while a boarder in the Read home. At that time, Read's mother was wary of allowing her young daughter to marry Franklin, who was on his way to London at Governor [[Sir William Keith, 4th Baronet|Sir William Keith]]’s request, and also because of his financial instability. Her own husband had recently died, and she declined Franklin's request to marry her daughter.<ref name="vandoren"/>
While Franklin was in London, his trip was extended, and there were problems with Sir William's promises of support. Perhaps because of the circumstances of this delay, Deborah married a man named John Rodgers. This proved to be a regrettable decision. Rodgers shortly avoided his debts and prosecution by fleeing to [[Barbados]] with her [[dowry]], leaving her behind. Rodgers's fate was unknown, and because of [[bigamy]] laws, Deborah was not free to remarry.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
Franklin established a [[common-law marriage]] with Deborah Read on September 1, 1730. They took in Franklin's recently acknowledged young illegitimate son, [[William Franklin|William]], and raised him in their household. They had two children together. Their son, [[Francis Folger Franklin]], was born in October 1732 and died of [[smallpox]] in 1736. Their daughter, [[Sarah Franklin Bache|Sarah "Sally" Franklin]], was born in 1743 and grew up to marry [[Richard Bache]], have seven children, and look after her father in his old age.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
Deborah's fear of the sea meant that she never accompanied Franklin on any of his extended trips to Europe, and another possible reason why they spent so much time apart is that he may have blamed her for possibly preventing their son Francis from being [[variolation|inoculated]] against the disease that subsequently killed him.<ref>{{cite news |last=Coss |first=Stephen |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/benjamin-franklin-estranged-wife-nearly-two-decades-180964400/ |title=What Led Benjamin Franklin to Live Estranged From His Wife for Nearly Two Decades? |work=[[Smithsonian Magazine]] |date=September 2017 }}</ref> Deborah wrote to him in November 1769 saying she was ill due to "dissatisfied distress" from his prolonged absence, but he did not return until his business was done.<ref>November 1769 [http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=16&page=230a Letter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615055537/http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=16&page=230a |date=June 15, 2018 }} from Deborah Read to Ben Franklin, ''franklinpapers.org''</ref> Deborah Read Franklin died of a stroke in 1774, while Franklin was on an extended mission to Great Britain; he returned in 1775.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
===William Franklin===
{{see also|William Franklin}}
[[File:WilliamFranklin.jpeg|thumb|upright|[[William Franklin]]]]
In 1730, 24-year-old Franklin publicly acknowledged the existence of his son [[William Franklin|William]], who was deemed "illegitimate," as he was born out of wedlock, and raised him in his household. William was born February 22, 1730, and his mother's identity is still unknown.<ref>Skemp SL. ''William Franklin: Son of a Patriot, Servant of a King'', Oxford University Press US, 1990, {{ISBN|0-19-505745-7}}, p. 4</ref> He was educated in Philadelphia, and beginning at about age 30, studied law in London in the early 1760s. He himself fathered an illegitimate son, [[William Temple Franklin]], born on the same date, February 22, 1760.<ref>{{cite web |title=William Temple Franklin Papers |url=http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/mole/f/franklin/wtf.htm |website=American Philosophical Society |access-date=February 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090507094002/http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/mole/f/franklin/wtf.htm |archive-date=May 7, 2009 }}</ref> The boy's mother was never identified, and he was placed in foster care. In 1762, the elder William Franklin married Elizabeth Downes, daughter of a [[plantation|planter]] from [[Barbados]], in London. After William passed the bar, his father helped him gain an appointment one year later in 1763 as the last [[List of colonial governors of New Jersey|royal governor]] of New Jersey.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
A [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] to the king, William Franklin and his father Benjamin eventually broke relations over their differences about the [[American Revolutionary War]], as Benjamin Franklin could never accept William's position. Deposed in 1776 by the revolutionary government of New Jersey, William, who was [[List of colonial governors of New Jersey|Royal Governor]], was placed under house arrest at [[Proprietary House|his home]] in [[Perth Amboy]] for six months. After the [[Declaration of Independence]], William was formally taken into custody by order of the [[Provincial Congress of New Jersey]], an entity which he refused to recognize, regarding it as an "illegal assembly."<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Skemp | first1 = Sheila L. | year = 1985 | title = William Franklin: His Father's Son | journal = Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography | volume = 109 | issue = 2| pages = 145–178 }}</ref> He was incarcerated in Connecticut for two years, in [[Wallingford, Connecticut|Wallingford]] and [[Middletown, Connecticut|Middletown]], and after being caught surreptitiously engaging Americans into supporting the Loyalist cause, was held in solitary confinement at [[Litchfield, Connecticut|Litchfield]] for eight months. When finally released in a prisoner exchange in 1778, he moved to New York City, which was still occupied by the British at the time.<ref>{{cite web |title=Franklin, William |url=http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0819491.html |website=Info Please |publisher=The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia |access-date=February 9, 2020}}</ref>
While in New York City, he became leader of the Board of Associated Loyalists, a quasi-military organization chartered by [[King George III]] and headquartered in New York City. They initiated guerrilla forays into [[New Jersey]], southern [[Connecticut]], and New York counties north of the city.<ref>Fleming, Thomas, ''The Perils of Peace: America's Struggle for Survival'', (Collins, New York, 2007) p. 30</ref> When British troops evacuated from New York, William Franklin left with them and sailed to England. He settled in London, never to return to North America. In the preliminary peace talks in 1782 with Britain, "... Benjamin Franklin insisted that loyalists who had borne arms against the United States would be excluded from this plea (that they be given a general pardon). He was undoubtedly thinking of William Franklin."<ref>Fleming, p. 236</ref>
===Success as an author===
[[File:The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle Vol 1, January, 1741.jpg|thumb|upright|Franklin's ''The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle'' (Jan. 1741)]]
In 1733, Franklin began to publish the noted ''[[Poor Richard's Almanack]]'' (with content both original and borrowed) under the pseudonym Richard Saunders, on which much of his popular reputation is based. Franklin frequently wrote under pseudonyms. Although it was no secret that Franklin was the author, his Richard Saunders character repeatedly denied it. "Poor Richard's Proverbs", adages from this almanac, such as "A penny saved is twopence dear" (often misquoted as "A penny saved is a penny earned") and "Fish and visitors stink in three days", remain common quotations in the modern world. Wisdom in folk society meant the ability to provide an apt adage for any occasion, and Franklin's readers became well prepared. He sold about ten thousand copies per year—it became an institution.{{sfn|Van Doren|1938|p=109}} In 1741, Franklin began publishing ''The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle for all the British Plantations in America'', the first such monthly magazine of this type published in America.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
In 1758, the year he ceased writing for the Almanack, he printed ''Father Abraham's Sermon'', also known as ''[[The Way to Wealth]]''. Franklin's [[The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin|autobiography]], begun in 1771 but published after his death, has become one of the classics of the genre.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
[[Daylight saving time]] (DST) is often erroneously attributed to a 1784 satire that Franklin published [[anonymity|anonymously]].<ref>{{cite journal
|author=Benjamin Franklin, writing [[anonymously]]
|title=Aux auteurs du Journal
|journal=[[Journal de Paris]]
|date=April 26, 1784
|issue=117
|pages=23–29
|language=fr
|doi=10.2307/2922719
|volume=28
|jstor=2922719}} [http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/franklin3.html Revised English version] retrieved on March 11, 2008.</ref> Modern DST was first proposed by [[George Vernon Hudson]] in 1895.<ref>{{cite journal |author=G.V. Hudson |title= On seasonal time |journal=Trans Proc R Soc N Z |year=1898 |volume=31 |pages=577–88 |url=http://rsnz.natlib.govt.nz/volume/rsnz_31/rsnz_31_00_008570.html}}</ref>
==Inventions and scientific inquiries==
Franklin was a prodigious inventor. Among his many creations were the [[lightning rod]], [[glass harmonica]] (a glass instrument, not to be confused with the [[Harmonica|metal harmonica]]), [[Franklin stove]], [[bifocals|bifocal glasses]] and the flexible [[urinary catheterization|urinary catheter]]. Franklin never patented his inventions; in his [[The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin|autobiography]] he wrote, "... as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously."<ref>{{cite book
|title=The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
|chapter=Part three
|author=Benjamin Franklin
|chapter-url=http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/autobiography/page55.htm}}</ref>
===Electricity===
[[File:Benjamin West, English (born America) - Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky]]'' c. 1816 at the [[Philadelphia Museum of Art]], by [[Benjamin West]]]]
Franklin started exploring the phenomenon of electricity in 1746 when he saw some of [[Archibald Spencer]]'s lectures using static electricity for illustrations.<ref name=EncyColonial>{{cite web |url= http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/science-and-medicine |title= Science and Medicine |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2016 |website= Colonial America Reference Library |publisher= Encyclopedia.com |access-date=February 27, 2017 |quote= Franklin's interest in electricity originated when he saw a traveling scientific lecturer, Archibald Spencer, perform an "electricity show" in Boston, Massachusetts. }}</ref> Franklin proposed that "vitreous" and "resinous" electricity were not different types of "[[Aether theories|electrical fluid]]" (as electricity was called then), but the same "fluid" under different pressures. (The same proposal was made independently that same year by [[William Watson (scientist)|William Watson]].) Franklin was the first to label them as [[electric charge|positive and negative]] respectively,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Franklin|first=Benjamin|date=May 25, 1747|title=Letter to Peter Collinson|journal=Franklin Papers|url=http://franklinpapers.org/franklin//framedVolumes.jsp?vol=3&page=126b|access-date=May 1, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020014725/http://franklinpapers.org/franklin//framedVolumes.jsp?vol=3&page=126b|archive-date=October 20, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/FranklinBenjamin.html |chapter=Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) |work=Science World |first=Eric |last=Weisstein |title=World of Scientific Biography }}</ref> and he was the first to discover the principle of [[charge conservation|conservation of charge]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.physchem.co.za/Static%20Electricity/Charge.htm |title=Conservation of Charge |access-date=February 15, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218104547/http://www.physchem.co.za/Static%20Electricity/Charge.htm |archive-date=February 18, 2008 }}. Archived February 18, 2008.</ref> In 1748, he constructed a multiple plate capacitor, that he called an "electrical battery" (not to be confused with [[Alessandro Volta|Volta's]] [[Voltaic pile|pile]]) by placing eleven panes of glass sandwiched between lead plates, suspended with silk cords and connected by wires.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Franklin|first=Benjamin|date=April 29, 1749|title=Letter to Peter Collinson|url=http://franklinpapers.org/franklin//framedVolumes.jsp?vol=3&page=352a|access-date=April 23, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171217065533/http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=3&page=352a|archive-date=December 17, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In pursuit of more pragmatic uses for electricity, remarking in spring 1749 that he felt "chagrin'd a little" that his experiments had heretofore resulted in "Nothing in this Way of Use to Mankind," Franklin planned a practical demonstration. He proposed a dinner party where a turkey was to be killed with electric shock and roasted on an electrical spit.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Franklin|first=Benjamin|date=April 29, 1749|title=Letter to Peter Collinson|journal=Franklin Papers}}</ref> After having prepared several turkeys this way, Franklin noted that "the birds kill'd in this manner eat uncommonly tender."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Franklin|first=Benjamin|date=February 4, 1751|title=Letter to Peter Collinson|journal=Franklin Papers}}</ref> Franklin recounted that in the process of one of these experiments, he was shocked by a pair of [[Leyden jar]]s, resulting in numbness in his arms that persisted for one evening, noting "I am Ashamed to have been Guilty of so Notorious a Blunder."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Franklin|first=Benjamin|date=December 25, 1750|title=Letter to John Franklin|journal=Franklin Papers}}</ref>
In recognition of his work with electricity, Franklin received the [[Royal Society]]'s [[Copley Medal]] in 1753, and in 1756, he became one of the few 18th-century Americans elected as a Fellow of the Society. He received honorary degrees from [[Harvard]] and [[Yale]] universities (his first).{{sfn|Van Doren|1938|p=168}} The [[centimetre–gram–second system of units|CGS]] unit of electric charge has been named after him: one ''franklin'' (Fr) is equal to one [[statcoulomb]].
Franklin advised Harvard University in its acquisition of new electrical laboratory apparatus after the complete loss of its original collection, in a fire that destroyed the original [[Harvard Hall]] in 1764. The collection he assembled would later become part of the [[Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments]], now on public display in its [[Harvard Science Center|Science Center]].<ref name="Tomase">{{cite news|last1=Tomase|first1=Jennifer|title='A How-To Guide' explores Ben Franklin's 'can-do' legacy|url=http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/06.01/10-franklin.html|access-date=August 9, 2016|work=Harvard University Gazette|date=June 1, 2006}}</ref>
Franklin briefly investigated [[electrotherapy]], including the use of the [[electric bath (electrotherapy)|electric bath]]. This work led to the field becoming widely known.<ref>* Schiffer, Michael B, ''Draw the Lightning Down: Benjamin Franklin and Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment'', pp. 136–37, 301, University of California Press, 2006 {{ISBN|0-520-24829-5}}.</ref>
====Kite experiment and lightning rod====
{{main|Kite experiment}}
[[File:BEP-JONES-Franklin and Electricity.jpg|thumb|left|''Franklin and Electricity'' vignette [[Art and engraving on United States banknotes|engraved]] by the [[Bureau of Engraving and Printing|BEP]] (c. 1860)]]
Franklin published a proposal for an experiment to prove that [[lightning]] is electricity by [[Kite experiment|flying a kite in a storm]] that appeared capable of becoming a lightning storm. On May 10, 1752, [[Thomas-François Dalibard]] of France conducted Franklin's experiment using a {{convert|40|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} iron rod instead of a kite, and he extracted electrical sparks from a cloud. On June 15, 1752, Franklin may possibly have conducted his well-known kite experiment [[St. Stephen's Episcopal Church (Philadelphia)|in Philadelphia]], successfully extracting sparks from a cloud. Franklin described the experiment in the ''[[Pennsylvania Gazette]]'' on October 19, 1752,<ref>Benjamin Franklin, [http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=4&page=360a "The Kite Experiment"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171102183234/http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=4&page=360a |date=November 2, 2017 }}, printed in ''[[The Pennsylvania Gazette]]'', October 19, 1752. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, The American Philosophical Society and Yale University; digital edition by The Packard Humanities Institute, Vol. 4, p. 360a. Retrieved February 6, 2017</ref><ref>Historical Society, [http://www.benjamin-franklin-history.org/pennsylvania-gazette/ Benjamin Franklin History]. Retrieved February 6, 2017</ref> without mentioning that he himself had performed it.<ref>Steven Johnson (2008) ''The Invention of Air'', p. 39 {{ISBN|978-1-59448-401-8}}. Retrieved February 6, 2017</ref> This account was read to the Royal Society on December 21 and printed as such in the ''Philosophical Transactions''.<ref name="archives">National Archives, [https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-04-02-0135 The Kite Experiment, 19 October 1752]. Retrieved February 6, 2017</ref> [[Joseph Priestley]] published an account with additional details in his 1767 ''History and Present Status of Electricity''. Franklin was careful to stand on an insulator, keeping dry under a roof to avoid the danger of [[electric shock]].{{sfn|Van Doren|1938|p=159}} Others, such as Prof. [[Georg Wilhelm Richmann]] in Russia, were indeed electrocuted in performing lightning experiments during the months immediately following Franklin's experiment.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
In his writings, Franklin indicates that he was aware of the dangers and offered alternative ways to demonstrate that lightning was electrical, as shown by his use of the concept of [[ground (electricity)|electrical ground]]. Franklin did not perform this experiment in the way that is often pictured in popular literature, flying the kite and waiting to be struck by lightning, as it would have been dangerous.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mos.org/sln/toe/kite.html |title=Franklin's Kite |publisher=[[Museum of Science (Boston)]]}}</ref> Instead he used the kite to collect some electric charge from a storm cloud, showing that lightning was electrical.<ref name="Wolf"/> On October 19 in a letter to England with directions for repeating the experiment, Franklin wrote:
{{quote|When rain has wet the kite twine so that it can conduct the electric fire freely, you will find it streams out plentifully from the key at the approach of your knuckle, and with this key a phial, or [[Leyden jar]], may be charged: and from electric fire thus obtained spirits may be kindled, and all other electric experiments [may be] performed which are usually done by the help of a rubber glass globe or tube; and therefore the sameness of the electrical matter with that of {{sic|?|light|ening}} completely demonstrated.<ref name="Wolf">{{cite book |last=Wolf |first=Abraham |title=History of Science, Technology, and Philosophy in the Eighteenth Century |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |year=1939 |page=232}}</ref>}}
Franklin's electrical experiments led to his invention of the [[lightning rod]]. He said that conductors with a sharp<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/06/14/science/lightning-rods-franklin-had-it-wrong.html |title=''Lightning Rods: Franklin Had It Wrong'' |access-date=March 16, 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 1, 1983}}</ref> rather than a smooth point could discharge silently, and at a far greater distance. He surmised that this could help protect buildings from lightning by attaching "upright Rods of Iron, made sharp as a Needle and gilt to prevent Rusting, and from the Foot of those Rods a Wire down the outside of the Building into the Ground; ... Would not these pointed Rods probably draw the Electrical Fire silently out of a Cloud before it came nigh enough to strike, and thereby secure us from that most sudden and terrible Mischief!" Following a series of experiments on Franklin's own house, lightning rods were installed on the Academy of Philadelphia (later the [[University of Pennsylvania]]) and the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall) in 1752.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=''Benjamin Franklin and Lightning Rods'' |volume=59 |issue=1 |page=42 |author=Krider, Philip |journal=Physics Today |date=January 2006|doi=10.1063/1.2180176 |bibcode=2006PhT....59a..42K }}</ref>
===Population studies===
Franklin had a major influence on the emerging science of [[demography]], or population studies.<ref>{{cite book| author=Dr. Alan Houston| title=Benjamin Franklin and the Politics of Improvement| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dMN9VEhrTxwC&pg=PA106| year=2008| publisher=Yale U.P.| pages=106–41| isbn=978-0-300-15239-5}}</ref>
In the 1730s and 1740s, Franklin began taking notes on population growth, finding that the American population had the fastest growth rate on Earth.<ref>{{cite book| author=J.A. Leo Lemay| title=The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 3: Soldier, Scientist, and Politician, 1748–1757| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NL5bcRP5aRAC&pg=PA245| year=2008| publisher=U. of Pennsylvania Press| page=245| isbn=978-0-8122-4121-1}}</ref> Emphasizing that population growth depended on food supplies, Franklin emphasized the abundance of food and available farmland in America. He calculated that America's population was doubling every twenty years and would surpass that of England in a century.<ref>Isaacson 2003, p. 150</ref> In 1751, he drafted [[Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc.|''Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc.'']] Four years later, it was anonymously printed in Boston, and it was quickly reproduced in Britain, where it influenced the economist [[Adam Smith]] and later the demographer [[Thomas Malthus]], who credited Franklin for discovering a rule of population growth.<ref>{{cite book| author=I. Bernard Cohen| title=The Triumph Of Numbers: How Counting Shaped Modern Life| url=https://archive.org/details/triumphofnumbers00cohe| url-access=registration| year=2005| publisher=W.W. Norton| page=[https://archive.org/details/triumphofnumbers00cohe/page/87 87]| isbn=978-0-393-05769-0}}</ref> Franklin's predictions how British mercantilism was unsustainable alarmed British leaders who did not want to be surpassed by the colonies, so they became more willing to impose restrictions on the colonial economy.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Owen Aldridge | first1 = Alfred | year = 1949 | title = Franklin as Demographer | journal = Journal of Economic History | volume = 9 | issue = 1| pages = 25–44 | jstor=2113719| doi = 10.1017/S0022050700090318 }}</ref>
Kammen (1990) and Drake (2011) say Franklin's ''Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind'' (1755) stands alongside [[Ezra Stiles]]' "Discourse on Christian Union" (1760) as the leading works of eighteenth-century Anglo-American demography; Drake credits Franklin's "wide readership and prophetic insight."<ref>{{cite book| author=James David Drake| title=The Nation's Nature: How Continental Presumptions Gave Rise to the United States of America| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EWV9T2MT5SoC&pg=PA63| year=2011| publisher=U. of Virginia Press| page=63| isbn=978-0-8139-3122-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| author=Michael G. Kammen| title=People of Paradox: An Inquiry Concerning the Origins of American Civilization| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yvmJZh38JQ4C&pg=PA81| year=1990| publisher=Cornell U.P.| page=81| isbn=978-0-8014-9755-1}}</ref> Franklin was also a pioneer in the study of slave demography, as shown in his 1755 essay.<ref>{{cite book| author=George William Van Cleve| title=A Slaveholders' Union: Slavery, Politics, and the Constitution in the Early American Republic| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dgp26Y2KzxUC&pg=PA148| year= 2010| publisher=U. of Chicago Press| page=148| isbn=978-0-226-84669-9}}</ref>
Benjamin Franklin, in his capacity as a farmer, wrote at least one critique about the negative consequences of price controls, trade restrictions, and subsidy of the poor. This is succinctly preserved in his letter to the ''[[London Chronicle]]'' published November 29, 1766, titled 'On the Price of Corn, and Management of the poor'.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/price.htm|title=The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, Volume III: London, 1757 – 1775 – On the Price of Corn, and Management of the Poor|publisher=Historycarper.com|access-date=December 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111202175522/http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/price.htm|archive-date=December 2, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>
===Atlantic Ocean currents===
As deputy postmaster, Franklin became interested in the [[Atlantic Ocean|North Atlantic Ocean]] circulation patterns. While in England in 1768, he heard a complaint from the Colonial Board of Customs: Why did it take British packet ships carrying mail several weeks longer to reach New York than it took an average merchant ship to reach [[Newport, Rhode Island]]? The merchantmen had a longer and more complex voyage because they left from London, while the packets left from [[Falmouth, Cornwall|Falmouth]] in Cornwall.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
Franklin put the question to his cousin Timothy Folger, a [[Nantucket]] whaler captain, who told him that merchant ships routinely avoided a strong eastbound mid-ocean current. The mail packet captains sailed dead into it, thus fighting an adverse current of {{convert|3|mph|km/h|0}}. Franklin worked with Folger and other experienced ship captains, learning enough to chart the current and name it the [[Gulf Stream]], by which it is still known today.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
Franklin published his Gulf Stream chart in 1770 in England, where it was completely ignored. Subsequent versions were printed in France in 1778 and the U.S. in 1786. The British edition of the chart, which was the original, was so thoroughly ignored that everyone assumed it was lost forever until Phil Richardson, a [[Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution|Woods Hole oceanographer]] and Gulf Stream expert, discovered it in the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|Bibliothèque Nationale]] in Paris in 1980.<ref>Philip L. Richardson (February 8, 1980), "Benjamin Franklin and Timothy Folger's first printed chart of the Gulf Stream", ''Science'', vol. 207, no. 4431, pp. 643–45.</ref><ref>[http://www.philly.com/philly/news/special_packages/inquirer/How_Franklin_s_chart_resurfaced.html "How Franklin's chart resurfaced"], ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', posted December 18, 2005, accessed November 26, 2010</ref> This find received front-page coverage in ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>John N. Wilford, "Prints of Franklin's chart of Gulf Stream found", ''New York Times'', pp. A1, B7 (February 6, 1980).</ref>
It took many years for British sea captains to adopt Franklin's advice on navigating the current; once they did, they were able to trim two weeks from their sailing time.<ref>1785: Benjamin Franklin's "Sundry Maritime Observations,"
The Academy of Natural Sciences, April 1939 m</ref><ref>[http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/library/readings/gulf/gulf.html ''1785: Benjamin Franklin's 'Sundry Maritime Observations' ''.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002000344/http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/library/readings/gulf/gulf.html |date=October 2, 2008 }} NOAA Ocean Explorer.</ref> In 1853, the oceanographer and cartographer [[Matthew Fontaine Maury]] noted that while Franklin charted and codified the Gulf Stream, he did not discover it:
{{quote|Though it was Dr. Franklin and Captain Tim Folger, who first turned the Gulf Stream to nautical account, the discovery that there was a Gulf Stream cannot be said to belong to either of them, for its existence was known to [[Peter Martyr d'Anghiera]], and to [[Sir Humphrey Gilbert]], in the 16th century.<ref>Source: ''Explanations and Sailing Directions to Accompany the Wind and Current Charts'', 1853, p. 53, by [[Matthew Fontaine Maury]]</ref>}}
===Wave theory of light===
Franklin was, along with his contemporary [[Leonhard Euler]], the only major scientist who supported [[Christiaan Huygens]]'s [[wave theory of light]], which was basically ignored by the rest of the [[scientific community]]. In the 18th century, [[Isaac Newton|Newton's]] [[corpuscular theory of light|corpuscular theory]] was held to be true; only after [[Thomas Young (scientist)|Young's]] well-known [[slit experiment]] in 1803 were most scientists persuaded to believe Huygens's theory.<ref>Jogn Gribbin, "In search of Schrödinger's cat", Black Swan, p. 12</ref>
===Meteorology===
On October 21, 1743, according to the popular myth, a storm moving from the southwest denied Franklin the opportunity of witnessing a [[lunar eclipse]]. Franklin was said to have noted that the [[prevailing winds]] were actually from the northeast, contrary to what he had expected. In correspondence with his brother, Franklin learned that the same storm had not reached Boston until after the eclipse, despite the fact that Boston is to the northeast of Philadelphia. He deduced that storms do not always travel in the direction of the prevailing wind, a concept that greatly influenced [[meteorology]].<ref>Heidorn, Keith C. Heidorn, PhD. [http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2003/alm03oct.htm ''Eclipsed By Storm''.] The Weather Doctor. October 1, 2003.</ref>
After the Icelandic volcanic eruption of [[Laki]] in 1783, and the subsequent harsh European winter of 1784, Franklin made observations connecting the causal nature of these two separate events. He wrote about them in a lecture series.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dartmouth.edu/~volcano/Fr373p77.html|title=Memoirs of the literary and philosophical society of Manchester|website=www.dartmouth.edu|access-date=December 3, 2019}}</ref>
===Traction kiting===
Though Benjamin Franklin has been most noted kite-wise for his lightning experiments, he has also been noted by many for using kites to pull humans and ships across waterways.<ref>{{cite book| url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/34193/34193-h/34193-h.htm| title= The True Benjamin Franklin| first= Sydney George| last= Fisher| year=1903 |publisher=J.B. Lippincott Company| location=Philadelphia| edition=5|page=19}}</ref> The [[George Pocock (inventor)|George Pocock]] in the book ''A TREATISE on The Aeropleustic Art, or Navigation in the Air, by means of Kites, or Buoyant Sails''<ref>{{cite book| url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_oMo-DVp_ypUC| title= A TREATISE on The Aeropleustic Art, or Navigation in the Air, by means of Kites, or Buoyant Sails| first=George| last=Pocock| page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_oMo-DVp_ypUC/page/n16 9]| publisher=Longmans, Brown, and Co.| location=London| year=1851}}</ref> noted being inspired by Benjamin Franklin's traction of his body by kite power across a waterway. In his later years, he suggested using the technique for pulling ships.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
===Concept of cooling===
Franklin noted a principle of [[refrigeration]] by observing that on a very hot day, he stayed cooler in a wet shirt in a breeze than he did in a dry one. To understand this phenomenon more clearly Franklin conducted experiments. In 1758 on a warm day in [[Cambridge]], England, Franklin and fellow scientist [[John Hadley (chemist)|John Hadley]] experimented by continually wetting the ball of a mercury [[thermometer]] with [[diethyl ether|ether]] and using [[bellows]] to evaporate the ether.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/letter1.htm |title=The Writings of Benjamin Franklin: London, 1757–1775 |publisher=Historycarper.com |access-date=September 14, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110128075748/http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/letter1.htm |archive-date=January 28, 2011 }}</ref> With each subsequent [[evaporation]], the thermometer read a lower temperature, eventually reaching {{convert|7|F}}. Another thermometer showed that the room temperature was constant at {{convert|65|F}}. In his letter ''[[Cooling by Evaporation]]'', Franklin noted that, "One may see the possibility of freezing a man to death on a warm summer's day."{{CN|date=December 2020}}
===Temperature's effect on electrical conductivity===
According to [[Michael Faraday]], Franklin's experiments on the non-conduction of ice are worth mentioning, although the law of the general effect of liquefaction on electrolytes is not attributed to Franklin.<ref>{{cite book |last=Faraday |first=Michael |title=Experimental researches in electricity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XuITAAAAQAAJ&pg=PR5 |page=v |volume=2 |year=1839 |publisher=R. & J.E. Taylor |quote=Franklin's experiments on the non-conduction of ice ...}}</ref> However, as reported in 1836 by Prof. A. D. Bache of the University of Pennsylvania, the law of the effect of heat on the conduction of bodies otherwise non-conductors, for example, glass, could be attributed to Franklin. Franklin writes, "... A certain quantity of heat will make some bodies good conductors, that will not otherwise conduct ..." and again, "... And water, though naturally a good conductor, will not conduct well when frozen into ice."<ref>{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Thomas P. |title=Journal of the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zV9DAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP7 |pages=182–83 |year=1836 |quote=In the fourth series of his electrical researches, Mr. Faraday ... |publisher=Pergamon Press}}</ref>
===Oceanography findings===
[[File:BenFranklin Waterspout 1806.jpg|thumb|An illustration from Franklin's paper on "[[waterspout|Water-spouts]] and Whirlwinds"]]
An aging Franklin accumulated all his oceanographic findings in ''Maritime Observations'', published by the Philosophical Society's ''transactions'' in 1786.<ref>{{cite book
|last1=Price
|first1=Richard
|last2=Thomas
|first2=David Oswald
|last3=Peach
|first3=Bernard
|author-link1=Richard Price
|author-link2=David Oswald Thomas
|year=1994
|title=The Correspondence of Richard Price: February 1786 – February 1791
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fPQfNx2TQLAC&pg=RA1-PA23
|page=23
|publisher=Duke University Press
|isbn=978-0-8223-1327-4
|access-date=October 2, 2009}}</ref> It contained ideas for [[sea anchor]]s, [[catamaran]] hulls, [[watertight compartment]]s, shipboard lightning rods and a soup bowl designed to stay stable in stormy weather.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
===Decision-making===
In a 1772 letter to [[Joseph Priestley]], Franklin lays out the earliest known description of the Pro & Con list,<ref name="decisions">{{cite book |last=Franklin |first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin Franklin |year=1975 |orig-year=1772 |chapter=To Joseph Priestley |editor-last=Willcox |editor-first=William Bradford |title=The papers of Benjamin Franklin: January 1 through December 31, 1772 |volume=19 |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press |pages=299–300 |isbn=978-0-300-01865-3 |oclc=310601 |chapter-url=http://franklinpapers.org/yale?vol=19&page=299a }}</ref> a common [[decision-making]] technique, now sometimes called a [[decisional balance sheet]]:
{{quote|... my Way is, to divide half a Sheet of Paper by a Line into two Columns, writing over the one ''Pro'', and over the other ''Con''. Then during three or four Days Consideration I put down under the different Heads short Hints of the different Motives that at different Times occur to me for or against the Measure. When I have thus got them all together in one View, I endeavour to estimate their respective Weights; and where I find two, one on each side, that seem equal, I strike them both out: If I find a Reason ''pro'' equal to some two Reasons ''con'', I strike out the three. If I judge some two Reasons ''con'' equal to some three Reasons ''pro'', I strike out the five; and thus proceeding I find at length where the Ballance lies; and if after a Day or two of farther Consideration nothing new that is of Importance occurs on either side, I come to a Determination accordingly.<ref name="decisions" />}}
{{anchor|Science humor}} <!-- former title of this ↓↓ subsection, kept in case of links -->
===Oil on water===
While traveling on a ship, Franklin had observed that the wake of a ship [[storm oil|was diminished]] when the cooks scuttled their greasy water. He studied the effects on a large pond in [[Clapham Common]], London. "I fetched out a cruet of oil and dropt a little of it on the water ... though not more than a teaspoon full, produced an instant calm over a space of several yards square." He later used the trick to "calm the waters" by carrying "a little oil in the hollow joint of my cane".<ref>*W. Gratzer, Eurekas and Euphorias, pp. 80–81</ref>
==Musical endeavors==
[[File:Glassharmonica.png|thumb|[[Glass harmonica]]]]
Franklin is known to have played the violin, the [[harp]], and the guitar. He also composed music, notably a [[string quartet]] in [[classical period (music)|early classical style]]. While he was in London, he developed a much-improved version of the [[glass harmonica]], in which the glasses rotate on a shaft, with the player's fingers held steady, instead of the other way around. He worked with the London glassblower Charles James to create it, and instruments based on his mechanical version soon found their way to other parts of Europe.<ref>Bloch, Thomas. [http://www.finkenbeiner.com/gh.html ''The Glassharmonica''.] GFI Scientific.</ref> [[Joseph Haydn]], a fan of Franklin's enlightened ideas, had a glass harmonica in his instrument collection.<ref>{{cite book |first=Robin |last=Watefield |author-link=Robin Waterfield |title=Hidden Depths: The Story of Hypnosis: The Story of Hypnosis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JtJ5F1cr8WEC&pg=PA67 |publisher=Routledge |date=August 1, 2003 |page=67 |isbn=978-1-135-40367-6}}</ref> [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] composed for Franklin's glass harmonica,<ref name="Harvard">{{cite book |last=Apel |first=Willi |year=1969 |chapter=Glass harmonica |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=TMdf1SioFk4C&pg=PA347 |title=Harvard Dictionary of Music |page=347 |publisher=Harvard |isbn=9780674375017}}</ref> as did [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://articles.latimes.com/2001/feb/25/news/mn-30005 |title='Armonicists' Debate Source of Beethoven's Maladies |first=Richard |last=Benke |date=February 25, 2001 |access-date=August 21, 2018 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1983/1129/112916.html |title=Franklin invented it, Mozart wrote for it: the 'armonica' returns |last=Carmel |first=Jeffrey J. |date=November 22, 1983 |access-date=August 21, 2018 |work=The Christian Science Monitor}}</ref> [[Gaetano Donizetti]] used the instrument in the accompaniment to Amelia's aria "Par che mi dica ancora" in the tragic opera ''[[Il castello di Kenilworth]]'' (1821),<ref name="Osborne1994">{{cite book|author=Charles Osborne|title=The bel canto operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini|url=https://archive.org/details/belcantooperasof0000osbo|url-access=registration|date=April 1, 1994|publisher=Amadeus Press|isbn=978-0-931340-71-0}}</ref> as did [[Camille Saint-Saëns]] in his 1886 ''[[The Carnival of the Animals]]''.<ref>{{IMSLP|work=La_Carnaval_des_Animaux_%28Saint-Sa%C3%ABns%2C_Camille%29|cname=''The Carnival of the Animals''}}</ref> [[Richard Strauss]] calls for the glass harmonica in his 1917 ''[[Die Frau ohne Schatten]]'',<ref name="Harvard"/> and numerous other composers used Franklin's instrument as well.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
==Chess==
Franklin was an avid [[chess]] player. He was playing chess by around 1733, making him the first chess player known by name in the American colonies.<ref name="McCraryChessandFranklin">{{cite web |first=John |last=McCrary |url=http://www.benfranklin300.org/_etc_pdf/Chess_John_McCrary.pdf |title=Chess and Benjamin Franklin-His Pioneering Contributions |access-date=April 26, 2009 }}</ref> His essay on "[[The Morals of Chess]]" in ''[[Columbian Magazine]]''<!-- WAIT--WAIT! Before you remove the brackets, consider writing a new article! -- Paine --> in December 1786 is the second known writing on chess in America.<ref name="McCraryChessandFranklin"/> This essay in praise of chess and prescribing a code of behavior for the game has been widely reprinted and translated.<ref>[[David Vincent Hooper|David Hooper]] and [[Kenneth Whyld]], ''The Oxford Companion to Chess'', Oxford University Press (2nd ed. 1992), p. 145. {{ISBN|0-19-866164-9}}.</ref><ref>The essay appears in [[Marcello Truzzi]] (ed.), ''Chess in Literature'', Avon Books, 1974, pp. 14–15. {{ISBN|0-380-00164-0}}.</ref><ref>The essay appears in a book by the felicitously named Norman Knight, ''Chess Pieces'', [[CHESS magazine]], [[Sutton Coldfield]], England (2nd ed. 1968), pp. 5–6. {{ISBN|0-380-00164-0}}.</ref><ref>Franklin's essay is also reproduced at the [https://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/museums/u.s.-chess-center-museum-and-hall-of-fame,800594.html U.S. Chess Center Museum and Hall of Fame] in Washington, DC. Retrieved December 3, 2008.</ref> He and a friend also used chess as a means of learning the Italian language, which both were studying; the winner of each game between them had the right to assign a task, such as parts of the Italian grammar to be learned by heart, to be performed by the loser before their next meeting.<ref>[[William Temple Franklin]], ''Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin'', reprinted in Knight, ''Chess Pieces'', pp. 136–37.</ref>
Franklin was able to play chess more frequently against stronger opposition during his many years as a civil servant and diplomat in England, where the game was far better established than in America. He was able to improve his playing standard by facing more experienced players during this period. He regularly attended [[Old Slaughter's Coffee House]] in London for chess and socializing, making many important personal contacts. While in Paris, both as a visitor and later as ambassador, he visited the famous [[Café de la Régence]], which France's strongest players made their regular meeting place. No records of his games have survived, so it is not possible to ascertain his playing strength in modern terms.<ref>{{cite book |title=The History of Chess in Fifty Moves |first=Bill |last=Price |publisher=Firefly Books (U.S.) Inc. |location=Buffalo, New York |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-77085-529-8 |pages=90–95 }}</ref>
Franklin was inducted into the [[World Chess Hall of Fame|U.S. Chess Hall of Fame]] in 1999.<ref name="McCraryChessandFranklin"/> The Franklin Mercantile Chess Club in Philadelphia, the second oldest chess club in the U.S., is named in his honor.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
==Public life==
===Early steps in Pennsylvania===
[[File:Benjamin Franklin - Join or Die.jpg|thumb|''[[Join, or Die]]'': This political cartoon by Franklin urged the colonies to join together during the [[French and Indian War]] ([[Seven Years' War]]).]]
In 1736, Franklin created the [[Union Fire Company]], one of the first [[Volunteer fire department|volunteer firefighting companies]] in America. In the same year, he printed a new currency for [[New Jersey]] based on innovative anti-[[counterfeit]]ing techniques he had devised. Throughout his career, Franklin was an advocate for [[Banknote|paper money]], publishing ''A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency'' in 1729, and his printer printed money. He was influential in the more restrained and thus successful monetary experiments in the Middle Colonies, which stopped [[deflation]] without causing excessive inflation. In 1766 he made a case for paper money to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|British House of Commons]].<ref>[[John Kenneth Galbraith]]. (1975). ''Money: Where It Came, Whence It Went'', pp. 54–54. Houghton Mifflin Company.</ref>
As he matured, Franklin began to concern himself more with public affairs. In 1743, he first devised a scheme for [[The Academy and College of Philadelphia|the Academy, Charity School, and College of Philadelphia]]. However, the person he had in mind to run the academy, Rev. [[Richard Peters (priest)|Richard Peters]], refused and Franklin put his ideas away until 1749 when he printed his own pamphlet, ''Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania.''<ref name="MontgomeryHistory">{{cite book | title=A History of the University of Pennsylvania from Its Foundation to A.D. 1770 | url=https://archive.org/details/ahistoryunivers02montgoog | publisher=George W. Jacobs & Co. | author=Montgomery, Thomas Harrison | year=1900 | location=Philadelphia | lccn=00003240}}</ref>{{rp|30}} He was appointed president of the Academy on November 13, 1749; the Academy and the charity school opened on August 13, 1751.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
In 1743, Franklin founded the [[American Philosophical Society]] to help scientific men discuss their discoveries and theories. He began the electrical research that, along with other scientific inquiries, would occupy him for the rest of his life, in between bouts of politics and moneymaking.<ref name="vandoren"/>
During [[King George's War]] (1744–1748), Franklin raised a militia called the Association for General Defense, because the legislators of the city decided to take no action to defend Philadelphia "either by erecting fortifications or building Ships of War". He raised money to create earthwork defenses and buy artillery. The largest of these was the "Association Battery" or "Grand Battery" of 50 guns.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dorwart |first=Jeffery |title=Fort Mifflin of Philadelphia: An Illustrated History |pages=9–11 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-8122-1644-8 }}</ref><ref name=Kyria1>{{cite book|title=Philadelphia's Lost Waterfront|first =Harry |last = Kyriakodis|publisher= The History Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-62584-188-9 |page=114 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Lt2CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT114 |chapter = 16. At Washington Avenue}}</ref>
In 1747, Franklin (already a very wealthy man) retired from printing and went into other businesses.<ref>James N. Green, "English Books and Printing in the Age of Franklin", in ''The Colonial Book in the Atlantic World'' (2002), 257.</ref> He created a partnership with his foreman, [[David Hall (publisher)|David Hall]], which provided Franklin with half of the shop's profits for 18 years. This lucrative business arrangement provided leisure time for study, and in a few years he had made discoveries that gave him a reputation with educated persons throughout Europe and especially in France.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
[[File:PennsylvaniaHospitalWilliamStrickland.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|[[Pennsylvania Hospital]] by [[William Strickland (architect)|William Strickland]], 1755]]
Franklin became involved in Philadelphia politics and rapidly progressed. In October 1748, he was selected as a councilman, in June 1749 he became a [[Justice of the Peace]] for Philadelphia, and in 1751 he was elected to the [[Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly|Pennsylvania Assembly]]. On August 10, 1753, Franklin was appointed deputy postmaster-general of [[British North America]], ([[#Postmaster|see below]]). His most notable service in domestic politics was his reform of the postal system, with mail sent out every week.<ref name="vandoren"/>
In 1751, Franklin and [[Thomas Bond (American physician)|Thomas Bond]] obtained a charter from the Pennsylvania legislature to establish a hospital. [[Pennsylvania Hospital]] was the first hospital in what was to become the United States of America.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
In 1752, Franklin organized the [[Philadelphia Contributionship]], the first [[homeowner's insurance]] company in what would become the United States.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Landers|first1=Jackson|title=In the Early 19th Century, Firefighters Fought Fires ... and Each Other|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/early-19-century-firefighters-fought-fires-each-other-180960391/|access-date=December 10, 2017|work=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|date=September 27, 2016|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=McGuire|first1=Virginia|title=What Are Those Little Shields Above the Doorways of Philadelphia Homes?|url=http://www.phillymag.com/property/2013/05/03/the-storied-fire-marks-of-philadelphia/|access-date=December 10, 2017|work=[[Philadelphia (magazine)|Philadelphia]]|publisher=[[Metrocorp]]|date=May 3, 2013}}</ref>
[[File:1757 UPenn Seal.png|thumb|upright|Seal of the College of Philadelphia]]
Between 1750 and 1753, the "educational triumvirate"<ref>Olsen, Neil C., ''Pursuing Happiness: The Organizational Culture of the Continental Congress'', Nonagram Publications, {{ISBN|978-1-4800-6550-5}}, 2013, p. 174</ref> of Benjamin Franklin, the American [[Samuel Johnson (American educator)|Samuel Johnson]] of [[Stratford, Connecticut]], and the immigrant Scottish schoolteacher [[William Smith (Episcopal priest)|William Smith]] built on Franklin's initial scheme and created what [[James Madison (bishop)|Bishop James Madison]], president of the [[College of William & Mary]], called a "new-model"<ref>Smith, Horace Wemyss, ''The Life and Correspondence of the Rev. Wm. Smith, D.D.'', Philadelphia, 1880, Volume 1: pp. 566–67.</ref> plan or style of American college. Franklin solicited, printed in 1752, and promoted an American textbook of [[ethics|moral philosophy]] by Samuel Johnson, titled ''Elementa Philosophica'',<ref>Samuel Johnson, ''Elementa philosophica: containing chiefly, Noetica, or things relating to the mind or understanding: and Ethica, or things relating to the moral behaviour. Philadelphia'', Printed by B. Franklin and D. Hall, at the new-printing-office, near the market, 1752</ref> to be taught in the new colleges to replace courses in denominational divinity.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
In June 1753, Johnson, Franklin, and Smith met in Stratford.<ref>Olsen, pp. 163–274</ref> They decided the new-model college would focus on the professions, with classes taught in English instead of Latin, have subject matter experts as professors instead of one tutor leading a class for four years, and there would be no religious test for admission.<ref>Olsen, p. 163</ref> Johnson went on to found King's College (now [[Columbia University]]) in New York City in 1754, while Franklin hired Smith as Provost of the College of Philadelphia, which opened in 1755. At its first commencement, on May 17, 1757, seven men graduated; six with a Bachelor of Arts and one as Master of Arts. It was later merged with the University of the State of Pennsylvania to become the [[University of Pennsylvania]]. The college was to become influential in guiding [[:Template:Founding Documents of America|the founding documents of the United States]]: in the [[Continental Congress]], for example, over one-third of the college-affiliated men who contributed the ''[[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]'' between September 4, 1774, and July 4, 1776, was affiliated with the college.<ref>Olsen, p. 308</ref>
In 1753, both [[Harvard University|Harvard]]<ref>[http://www.harvard.edu/honorary-degrees Honorary Degrees] Harvard University. Retrieved August 20, 2012.</ref> and [[Yale]]<ref>[http://ris-systech2.its.yale.edu/hondegrees/hondegrees.asp Honorary Degrees] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610204206/http://ris-systech2.its.yale.edu/hondegrees/hondegrees.asp |date=June 10, 2010 }} Yale University. Retrieved August 20, 2012.</ref> awarded him honorary master of arts degrees.<ref>[http://www.benfranklinexhibit.org/resume ''Benjamin Franklin resume''.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120625095432/http://benfranklinexhibit.org/resume |date=June 25, 2012 }} In Search of a Better World. Benjamin Franklin Exhibit. Retrieved August 20, 2012.</ref>
[[File:Sketch of Tun Tavern in the Revolutionary War.jpg|thumb|Sketch of the original [[Tun Tavern]]]]
In 1754, he headed the Pennsylvania delegation to the [[Albany Congress]]. This meeting of several colonies had been requested by the [[Board of Trade]] in England to improve relations with the Indians and defense against the French. Franklin proposed a broad [[Albany Plan|Plan of Union]] for the colonies. While the plan was not adopted, elements of it found their way into the [[Articles of Confederation]] and the [[United States Constitution|Constitution]].{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
In 1756, Franklin received an honorary Master of Arts degree from the [[College of William & Mary]].<ref>{{cite book |last=College of William and Mary |first=College of William and Mary |date=1874 |title=The History of the College of William and Mary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfaiLj00yFYC&pg=PA48 |location=Richmond, VA |publisher=J.W. Randolph & English |page=148|isbn=978-1-4290-4333-5 }}</ref> Later in 1756, Franklin organized the Pennsylvania Militia (see "Associated Regiment of Philadelphia" under heading of Pennsylvania's 103rd Artillery and [[111th Infantry Regiment (United States)|111th Infantry Regiment]] at [[Continental Army]]). He used [[Tun Tavern]] as a gathering place to recruit a regiment of soldiers to go into battle against the Native American uprisings that beset the American colonies. Reportedly Franklin was elected "Colonel" of the Associated Regiment but declined the honor.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
===Decades in London===
From the mid-1750s to the mid-1770s, Franklin spent much of his time in London. Officially he was there on a political mission, but he used his time to further his scientific explorations as well, meeting many notable people.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
====Political work in London====
In 1757, he was sent to England by the Pennsylvania Assembly as a colonial agent to protest against the political influence of the [[Penn family]], the [[proprietary colony|proprietors of the colony]]. He remained there for five years, striving to end the proprietors' prerogative to overturn legislation from the elected Assembly, and their exemption from paying taxes on their land. His lack of influential allies in [[Whitehall]] led to the failure of this mission.
[[File:US-Colonial (PA-115)-Pennsylvania-18 Jun 1764.jpg|thumb|left|Pennsylvania colonial currency printed by Franklin in 1764]]
At this time, many members of the Pennsylvania Assembly were feuding with [[List of colonial governors of Pennsylvania#Proprietors|William Penn's heirs]], who controlled the colony as proprietors. After his return to the colony, Franklin led the "anti-proprietary party" in the struggle against the Penn family, and was elected [[Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives|Speaker of the Pennsylvania House]] in May 1764. His call for a change from proprietary to royal government was a rare political miscalculation, however: Pennsylvanians worried that such a move would endanger their political and religious freedoms. Because of these fears, and because of political attacks on his character, Franklin lost his seat in the October 1764 Assembly elections. The anti-proprietary party dispatched Franklin to England again to continue the struggle against the Penn family proprietorship. During this trip, events drastically changed the nature of his mission.<ref name="ANB">J.A. Leo Lematy, "Franklin, Benjamin". ''[[American National Biography]] Online'', February 2000.</ref>
In London, Franklin opposed the [[Stamp Act 1765|1765 Stamp Act]]. Unable to prevent its passage, he made another political miscalculation and recommended a friend to the post of stamp distributor for Pennsylvania. Pennsylvanians were outraged, believing that he had supported the measure all along, and threatened to destroy his home in Philadelphia. Franklin soon learned of the extent of colonial resistance to the Stamp Act, and he testified during the House of Commons proceedings that led to its repeal.<ref>Peter Charles Hoffer, ''Benjamin Franklin Explains the Stamp Act Protests to Parliament, 1766'' (2015)</ref>
[[File:Benjamin Franklin 1767.jpg|thumb|upright|Franklin in London, 1767, wearing a blue suit with elaborate gold braid and buttons, a far cry from the simple dress he affected at the [[Court (royal)|French court]] in later years. Painting by [[David Martin (artist)|David Martin]], displayed in the [[White House]].]]
With this, Franklin suddenly emerged as the leading spokesman for American interests in England. He wrote popular essays on behalf of the colonies. [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[New Jersey]], and [[Massachusetts]] also appointed him as their agent to the Crown.<ref name="ANB" />
Franklin lodged in a house in Craven Street, just off [[Strand, London|The Strand]] in [[central London]].{{CN|date=December 2020}} During his stays there, he developed a close friendship with his landlady, Margaret Stevenson, and her circle of friends and relations, in particular, her daughter Mary, who was more often known as Polly. Their house, which he used on various lengthy missions from 1757 to 1775, is the only one of his residences to survive.{{CN|date=December 2020}} It opened to the public as the [[Benjamin Franklin House]] museum in 2006.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
Franklin conversed and corresponded with many important Britons during this period. Among his inner circle were the printer [[William Strahan (publisher)|William Strahan]] and the jurist [[Richard Jackson (colonial agent)|Richard Jackson]]. He also corresponded with leading figures in the [[Scottish Enlightenment]], including [[David Hume]].{{CN|date=December 2020}}
Whilst in London, Franklin became involved in [[Radicalism (historical)|radical]] politics. He belonged to a [[gentleman's club]] (which he called "the honest [[Radical Whigs|Whigs]]"), which held stated meetings, and included members such as [[Richard Price]], the minister of [[Newington Green Unitarian Church]] who ignited the [[Revolution controversy]], and [[Andrew Kippis]].<ref>Duncan Wu, ''William Hazlitt (1737–1820), the Priestley Circle, and "The Theological Repository:" A Brief Survey and Bibliography'', The Review of English Studies New Series, Vol. 56, No. 227 (Nov. 2005), pp. 758–66 [762]. Published by: Oxford University Press {{jstor|3661246}}</ref>
In 1763, Franklin's illegitimate son [[William Franklin]], by then an attorney and assistant to Franklin's colonial advocacy in London, was appointed [[Governor of New Jersey|Colonial Governor of New Jersey]].<ref name="vandoren"/>
====Scientific work in London====
In 1756, Franklin had become a member of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (now the [[Royal Society of Arts]] or RSA), which had been founded in 1754 and whose early meetings took place in [[English coffeehouses in the 17th and 18th centuries|Covent Garden coffee shops]].{{CN|date=December 2020}} After his return to the United States in 1775, Franklin became the Society's Corresponding Member, continuing a close connection. The RSA instituted a [[Benjamin Franklin Medal (Royal Society of Arts)|Benjamin Franklin Medal]] in 1956 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of his birth and the 200th anniversary of his membership of the RSA.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
The study of [[natural philosophy]] (what we would call science) drew him into overlapping circles of acquaintance. Franklin was, for example, a corresponding member of the [[Lunar Society of Birmingham]], which included such other scientific and industrial luminaries as [[Matthew Boulton]], [[James Watt]], [[Josiah Wedgwood]] and [[Erasmus Darwin]]; on occasion he visited them.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
In 1759, the [[University of St Andrews]] awarded Franklin an honorary doctorate in recognition of his accomplishments.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/inde/learn/historyculture/people-franklin-resume.htm|title=Benjamin Franklin's Resume – Independence National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)|website=www.nps.gov}}</ref> He was also awarded an honorary doctorate by [[Oxford University]] in 1762. Because of these honors, Franklin was often addressed as "{{abbr|Dr.|Doctor}} Franklin."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benjamin-Franklin|title=Benjamin Franklin – American author, scientist, and statesman}}</ref>
While living in London in 1768, [[Benjamin Franklin's phonetic alphabet|he developed a phonetic alphabet]] in ''A Scheme for a new Alphabet and a Reformed Mode of Spelling''. This reformed alphabet discarded six letters Franklin regarded as redundant (c, j, q, w, x, and y), and substituted six new letters for sounds he felt lacked letters of their own. This alphabet never caught on, and he eventually lost interest.<ref>[http://www.omniglot.com/writing/franklin.htm ''Benjamin Franklin's Phonetic Alphabet''.] Omniglot.com.</ref>
===Travels around Britain and Ireland===
Franklin used London as a base to travel. In 1771, he made short journeys through different parts of England, staying with [[Joseph Priestley]] at [[Leeds]], [[Thomas Percival]] at [[Manchester]] and [[Erasmus Darwin]] at [[Lichfield]].<ref name="sparks">Sparks, Jared. [http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/biography/chap05.htm ''Life of Benjamin Franklin''.] US History.org.</ref>
In Scotland, he spent five days with [[Henry Home, Lord Kames|Lord Kames]] near [[Stirling]] and stayed for three weeks with [[David Hume]] in Edinburgh. In 1759, he visited [[Edinburgh]] with his son, and recalled his conversations there as "the ''densest'' happiness of my life".<ref>Buchan, James. ''Crowded with Genius: The Scottish Enlightenment: Edinburgh's Moment of the Mind''. HarperCollins Publishers. 2003. p. 2</ref> In February 1759, the [[University of St Andrews]] awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. From then he was known as "Doctor Franklin".<ref>{{cite book|last=Gaustad|first=Edwin S|title=Benjamin Franklin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yrnUhKvBumAC&pg=PA41|access-date=May 1, 2016|year=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=40|isbn=978-0-19-970936-6}}</ref> In October of the same year he was granted [[Freedom of the City|Freedom of the Borough]] of [[St Andrews]].<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.katekennedyclub.org.uk/news.aspx#19 |title=The Kate Kennedy Club |publisher=The Kate Kennedy Club |access-date=September 21, 2009|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090327111941/http://katekennedyclub.org.uk/news.aspx |archive-date= March 27, 2009}}</ref>
He had never been to Ireland before, and met and stayed with [[Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire|Lord Hillsborough]], who he believed was especially attentive. Franklin noted of him that "all the plausible behaviour I have described is meant only, by patting and stroking the horse, to make him more patient, while the reins are drawn tighter, and the spurs set deeper into his sides."<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BL1VXdTbDucC&pg=PR21 |title= Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |editor=Nathan Haskell Dole |year= 2003|access-date=September 21, 2009|isbn=978-0-7661-4375-3}}</ref> In [[Dublin]], Franklin was invited to sit with the members of the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]] rather than in the gallery. He was the first American to receive this honor.<ref name="sparks" /> While touring Ireland, he was deeply moved by the level of poverty he witnessed. The [[Ireland#Economy|economy]] of the [[Kingdom of Ireland]] was affected by the same trade regulations and laws that governed the Thirteen colonies. Franklin feared that the American colonies could eventually come to the same level of poverty if the regulations and laws continued to apply to them.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/exp_worldly_ireland.html ''Benjamin Franklin''.] PBS.org.</ref>
===Visits to Europe===
Franklin spent two months in German lands in 1766, but his connections to the country stretched across a lifetime. He declared a debt of gratitude to German scientist [[Otto von Guericke]] for his early studies of electricity. Franklin also co-authored the first [[Treaty of Amity and Commerce (Prussia–United States)|treaty of friendship]] between Prussia and America in 1785.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
In September 1767, Franklin visited Paris with his usual traveling partner, [[Sir John Pringle, 1st Baronet]]. News of his electrical discoveries was widespread in France. His reputation meant that he was introduced to many influential scientists and politicians, and also to [[Louis XV of France|King Louis XV]].<ref name="isaacson">Isaacson, Walter. ''Benjamin Franklin: An American Life''. Simon & Schuster. 2003.</ref>
===Defending the American cause===
One line of argument in Parliament was that Americans should pay a share of the costs of the [[French and Indian War]], and that therefore taxes should be levied on them. Franklin became the American spokesman in highly publicized testimony in Parliament in 1766. He stated that Americans already contributed heavily to the defense of the Empire. He said local governments had raised, outfitted and paid 25,000 soldiers to fight France—as many as Britain itself sent—and spent many millions from American treasuries doing so in the [[French and Indian War]] alone.<ref>{{cite book|last=James A. Henretta, ed.|title=Documents for America's History, Volume 1: To 1877|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h_rsacFjVCAC&pg=PA110|year=2011|publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's|page=110|isbn=978-0-312-64862-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Isaacson|title=Benjamin Franklin: An American Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L64OOJGaCKIC&pg=PA229|year=2004|pages=229–30|isbn=978-0-7432-5807-4}}</ref>
In 1773, Franklin published two of his most celebrated pro-American satirical essays: [[s:Rules By Which A Great Empire May Be Reduced To A Small One|"Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One"]], and "An Edict by the King of Prussia".<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/pa-1773.htm| title=reprinted on The History Carper| last=Franklin| first=Benjamin| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060103051246/http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/pa-1773.htm| archive-date=January 3, 2006| df=mdy-all}}</ref>
===Hutchinson letters leak===
{{main|Hutchinson Letters Affair}}
In 1772, Franklin obtained private letters of [[Thomas Hutchinson (governor)|Thomas Hutchinson]] and [[Andrew Oliver]], [[Governor of Massachusetts|governor]] and [[Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts|lieutenant governor]] of the [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]], proving that they had encouraged the Crown to crack down on Bostonians. Franklin sent them to America, where they escalated the tensions. The letters were finally [[News leak|leaked]] to the public in the ''[[Boston Gazette]]'' in mid-June 1773,<ref>{{cite book|last=Bailyn|first=Bernard|title=The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson|location=Cambridge, MA|year=1974|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-64160-0|oclc=6825524|url=https://archive.org/details/ordealofthomashu00bern}}, p. 240</ref> causing a political firestorm in Massachusetts and raising significant questions in England.<ref name=Penegar29>{{cite book|last=Penegar|first=Kenneth|title=The Political Trial of Benjamin Franklin|publisher=Algora Publishing|year=2011|isbn=978-0-87586-849-3|location=New York|oclc=696296728}}, p. 29</ref> The British began to regard him as the fomenter of serious trouble. Hopes for a peaceful solution ended as he was systematically ridiculed and humiliated by [[Solicitor General for England and Wales|Solicitor-General]] [[Alexander Wedderburn, 1st Earl of Rosslyn|Alexander Wedderburn]], before the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]] on January 29, 1774. He returned to Philadelphia in March 1775, and abandoned his accommodationist stance.<ref>Sheila L. Skemp, ''The Making of a Patriot: Benjamin Franklin at the Cockpit'' (Oxford University Press; 2012)</ref>
=== Agent for British and Hellfire club membership ===
Franklin is known to have occasionally attended the [[Hellfire Club]]'s meetings during 1758 as a non-member during his time in England. However, some authors and historians would argue Benjamin Franklin was in fact a British spy. As there are no records left (having been burned in 1774<ref>''City of Blood, Cities of the Underworld'' – History Channel 2 (H2), 2008</ref>), many of these members are just assumed or linked by letters sent to each other.<ref>Ashe, Geoffrey. ''The Hell-Fire Clubs: A History of Anti-Morality''. Great Britain: Sutton Publishing, 2005., p. 121</ref> One early proponent that Franklin was a member of the Hellfire Club and a double agent was the historian [[Donald McCormick]],<ref>[https://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/fc/deacononfranklin.html Famous British Historian Claims Benjamin Franklin Was A British Spy], Originally published in Argosy magazine, July 1970, pp. 34 ff; Richard Deacon was a pseudonym for Donald McCormick</ref> who has a history of making controversial claims.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
===Coming of revolution===
In 1763, soon after Franklin returned to Pennsylvania from England for the first time, the western frontier was engulfed in a bitter war known as [[Pontiac's Rebellion]]. The [[Paxton Boys]], a group of settlers convinced that the Pennsylvania government was not doing enough to protect them from [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indian]] raids, murdered a group of peaceful [[Susquehannock]] Indians and marched on Philadelphia. Franklin helped to organize a local [[militia]] to defend the capital against the mob. He met with the Paxton leaders and persuaded them to disperse. Franklin wrote a scathing attack against the [[racism|racial prejudice]] of the Paxton Boys. "If an ''Indian'' injures me", he asked, "does it follow that I may revenge that Injury on all ''Indians''?"<ref>Franklin, Benjamin. [http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/massacre.htm "A Narrative of the Late Massacres ..."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427070508/http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/massacre.htm |date=April 27, 2006 }} reprinted on The History Carper.</ref>
He provided an early response to British surveillance through his own network of [[Surveillance art|counter-surveillance and manipulation]]. "He waged a public relations campaign, secured secret aid, played a role in privateering expeditions, and churned out effective and inflammatory propaganda."<ref>{{cite journal| last=Crews| first= Ed| title= Spies and Scouts, Secret Writing, and Sympathetic Citizens| journal= Colonial Williamsburg Journal| url=http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/Summer04/spies.cfm| date=Summer 2004| access-date=April 19, 2009}}</ref>
===Declaration of Independence===
[[File:Declaration independence.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=About 50 men, most of them seated, are in a large meeting room. Most are focused on the five men standing in the center of the room. The tallest of the five is laying a document on a table.|[[John Trumbull]] depicts the [[Committee of Five]] presenting their work to the Congress.<ref>[http://www.americanrevolution.org/deckey.html Key to Declaration] American Revolution.org.</ref>]]
By the time Franklin arrived in Philadelphia on May 5, 1775, after his second mission to Great Britain, the [[American Revolution]] had begun—with skirmishes breaking out between colonials and British at [[Battles of Lexington and Concord|Lexington and Concord]].{{CN|date=December 2020}} The New England militia had forced the main British army to remain inside Boston.{{CN|date=December 2020}} The Pennsylvania Assembly unanimously chose Franklin as their delegate to the [[Second Continental Congress]].{{CN|date=December 2020}} In June 1776, Franklin was appointed a member of the [[Committee of Five]] that drafted the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]. Although he was temporarily disabled by [[gout]] and unable to attend most meetings of the committee,{{CN|date=December 2020}} Franklin made several "small but important" changes to the draft sent to him by [[Thomas Jefferson]].<ref>Isaacson, pp. 311–12</ref>
At the signing, he is quoted as having replied to a comment by [[John Hancock]] that they must all hang together: "Yes, we must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."<ref>{{Cite book
|url=https://archive.org/details/lifebenjaminfra00spargoog|quote=franklin shall all hang separately sparks.|title=The Life of Benjamin Franklin: Containing the Autobiography, with Notes and a Continuation
|first=Jared
|last=Sparks
|author-link=Jared Sparks
|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifebenjaminfra00spargoog/page/n437 408]
|publisher=Whittemore, Niles and Hall
|location=Boston
|year=1856
|access-date=December 16, 2007
}}</ref>
===Postmaster===
<!--The 'Franklin on US Postage' section links to this section/image file. -->
[[File:Franklin SC1 1847.jpg|thumb|upright|First issue of Benjamin Franklin on US [[#Franklin on U.S. Postage|postage stamp]], issue of 1847]]
Well known as a printer and publisher, Franklin was appointed postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737, holding the office until 1753, when he and publisher [[William Hunter (publisher)|William Hunter]] were named deputy postmasters–general of British North America, the first to hold the office. ([[Postmaster General of the United Kingdom#Two Postmasters General|Joint appointments]] were standard at the time, for political reasons.) Franklin was responsible for the British colonies from Pennsylvania north and east, as far as the [[Newfoundland (island)|island of Newfoundland]]. A post office for local and outgoing mail had been established in [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]], by local stationer Benjamin Leigh, on April 23, 1754, but service was irregular. Franklin opened the first post office to offer regular, monthly mail in what would later become Canada, at Halifax, on December 9, 1755. Meantime, Hunter became postal administrator in [[Colonial Williamsburg|Williamsburg]], [[Virginia]] and oversaw areas south of [[Annapolis]], [[Maryland]]. Franklin reorganized the service's accounting system, then improved speed of delivery between Philadelphia, New York and Boston. By 1761, efficiencies led to the first profits for the colonial post office.<ref>[http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/cpm/chrono/ch1753ae.shtml "1753 Benjamin Franklin"], Stéphanie Ouellet, in A Chronology of Canadian Postal History, National Museum of History, Ottawa.</ref>
When the lands of [[New France]] were ceded to the British under the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]] in 1763, the new British [[Province of Quebec (1763–91)|province of Quebec]] was created among them, and Franklin saw mail service expanded between [[Montreal]], [[Trois-Rivières]], Quebec City, and New York. For the greater part of his appointment, Franklin lived in England (from 1757 to 1762, and again from 1764 to 1774)—about three-quarters of his term.<ref>[http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/cpm/chrono/chs1760e.shtml#yr-1774 "1760–1840 Planting the Imperial Postal System in British North America"], A Chronology of Canadian Postal History, National Museum of History, Ottawa.</ref> Eventually, his sympathies for the rebel cause in the American Revolution led to his dismissal on January 31, 1774.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
On July 26, 1775, the [[Second Continental Congress]] established the [[United States Postal Service|United States Post Office]] and named Benjamin Franklin as the first [[United States Postmaster General|United States postmaster general]]. Franklin had been a postmaster for decades and was a natural choice for the position.<ref>Walter Isaacson. ''Benjamin Franklin: an American life'', pp. 206–09, 301</ref> He had just returned from England and was appointed chairman of a Committee of Investigation to establish a postal system. The report of the committee, providing for the appointment of a postmaster general for the 13 American colonies, was considered by the Continental Congress on July 25 and 26. On July 26, 1775, Franklin was appointed Postmaster General, the first appointed under the Continental Congress. It established a postal system that became the United States Post Office, a system that continues to operate today.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blmailus1.htm#CONGRESS |title=History of the United States Postal Systems |publisher=Inventors.about.com |access-date=June 20, 2011}}</ref>
{{Anchor|Ambassador to France}}
===Ambassador to France: 1776–1785===
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[[File:Franklin1877.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Franklin, in his [[fur]] hat, charmed the French with what they perceived as rustic New World [[genius]].{{refn|group=Note|Portraits of Franklin at this time often contained an inscription, the best known being [[Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune|Turgot's]] acclamation, "{{lang|la|Eripuit fulmen coelo sceptrumque tyrannis.}}" (He snatched the lightning from the skies and the scepter from the tyrants.) Historian [[Friedrich Christoph Schlosser]] remarked at the time, with ample hyperbole, that "Such was the number of portraits, busts and medallions of him in circulation before he left Paris, that he would have been recognized from them by any adult citizen in any part of the civilized world." – {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Franklin, Benjamin}}}}]]
In December 1776, Franklin was dispatched to France as [[commissioner]] for the United States.<ref>[http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/ead/upenn_rbml_MsColl900 Benjamin Franklin papers], [http://www.library.upenn.edu/kislak/ Kislak Center for Special Collections], Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania</ref> He took with him as secretary his 16-year-old grandson, [[William Temple Franklin]]. They lived in a home in the Parisian suburb of [[Passy]], donated by [[Jacques-Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont]], who supported the United States. Franklin remained in France until 1785. He conducted the affairs of his country toward the French nation with great success, which included securing a critical military alliance in 1778 and negotiating the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)]].{{CN|date=December 2020}}
Among his associates in France was [[Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau]]—a French Revolutionary writer, orator and statesman who in early 1791 would be elected president of the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Assembly]].<ref>"[http://www.isthisjefferson.org/DLP_D04.html?zoom_highlight=Franklin The Book in the Painting: De la Caisse d'Escompte]." [http://www.isthisjefferson.org/DLP_D04.html?zoom_highlight=Franklin isthisjefferson.org] Accessed February 1, 2013.</ref> In July 1784, Franklin met with Mirabeau and contributed anonymous materials that the Frenchman used in his first signed work: ''Considerations sur l'ordre de Cincinnatus''.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/cihm_39568#page/n3/mode/2up ''Considerations sur l'ordre de Cincinnatus''], December 2011.</ref> The publication was critical of the [[Society of the Cincinnati]], established in the United States. Franklin and Mirabeau thought of it as a "noble order", inconsistent with the [[egalitarian]] ideals of the new republic.<ref>Van Doren, Carl. ''Benjamin Franklin'' (The Viking Press: New York). 1938. pp. 709–10.</ref>
During his stay in France, Benjamin Franklin was active as a [[freemasonry|Freemason]], serving as Venerable Master of the Lodge [[Les Neuf Sœurs]] from 1779 until 1781. He was the 106th member of the Lodge.{{CN|date=December 2020}} In 1784, when [[Franz Mesmer]] began to publicize his theory of "[[animal magnetism]]" which was considered offensive by many, [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]] appointed a commission to investigate it. These included the chemist [[Antoine Lavoisier]], the physician [[Joseph-Ignace Guillotin]], the astronomer [[Jean Sylvain Bailly]], and Benjamin Franklin.<ref>Schwartz, Stephan A. "[http://www.americanheritage.com/content/franklin%E2%80%99s-forgotten-triumph-scientific-testing Franklin's Forgotten Triumph: Scientific Testing]" ''[[American Heritage (magazine)|American Heritage]]'', October 2004.</ref> In 1781, he was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]].<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter F|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterF.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=July 28, 2014}}</ref>
[[File:Libertas Americana silver medallion 1783.jpg|thumb|While in France Franklin designed and commissioned [[Augustin Dupré]] to engrave the medallion ''"Libertas Americana"'' minted in Paris in 1783.]]
Franklin's advocacy for religious tolerance in France contributed to arguments made by French philosophers and politicians that resulted in [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]]'s signing of the [[Edict of Versailles]] in November 1787. This edict effectively nullified the [[Edict of Fontainebleau]], which had denied non-Catholics civil status and the right to openly practice their faith.<ref>[http://booking-help.org/book_338_glava_314_Edict_of_Versailles_%281787%29.html "Edict of Versailles (1787)"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120714094231/http://booking-help.org/book_338_glava_314_Edict_of_Versailles_(1787).html |date=July 14, 2012 }}, ''Encyclopedia of the Age of Political Ideals'', downloaded January 29, 2012</ref>
Franklin also served as American minister to Sweden, although he never visited that country.<ref name="hist_Benj">{{cite web |title=Benjamin Franklin – People – Department History – Office of the Historian |work=history.state.gov |access-date=February 27, 2019 |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/franklin-benjamin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023040237/https://www.history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/franklin-benjamin |archive-date=October 23, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He negotiated a [[Treaty of Amity and Commerce (United States–Sweden)|treaty]] that was signed in April 1783. On August 27, 1783, in Paris, Franklin witnessed the world's first hydrogen [[balloon (aircraft)|balloon]] flight.<ref name="EcceF">{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5_7IRHZGyzMC&pg=PA36 |title=Eccentric France: Bradt Guide to mad, magical and marvellous France| author=Piers Letcher – Jacques Charles |year= 2003|access-date=March 17, 2010| isbn=978-1-84162-068-8}}</ref> ''[[Robert brothers#First hydrogen balloon|Le Globe]]'', created by professor [[Jacques Charles]] and [[Robert brothers|Les Frères Robert]], was watched by a vast crowd as it rose from the [[Champ de Mars]] (now the site of the [[Eiffel Tower]]).<ref name="Sci&Soc">{{cite web| url=http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10447673 |title=Science and Society, Medal commemorating Charles and Robert's balloon ascent, Paris, 1783 |publisher=Scienceandsociety.co.uk |access-date=March 17, 2010}}</ref> Franklin became so enthusiastic that he subscribed financially to the next project to build a manned hydrogen balloon.<ref name="Fid Green">{{cite web| url=https://www.fiddlersgreen.net/models/Aircraft/Balloon-Charles.html |title=Fiddlers Green, History of Ballooning, Jacques Charles |publisher=Fiddlersgreen.net |access-date=June 20, 2011}}</ref> On December 1, 1783, Franklin was seated in the special enclosure for honoured guests when ''[[Robert brothers#First manned hydrogen balloon flight|La Charlière]]'' took off from the [[Jardin des Tuileries]], piloted by Jacques Charles and [[Robert brothers|Nicolas-Louis Robert]].<ref name="EcceF"/><ref name="FAI">{{cite web| url=http://www.fai.org/ballooning/newsletter/pr00-02.htm |title=Federation Aeronautique Internationale, Ballooning Commission, Hall of Fame, Robert Brothers |publisher=Fai.org |access-date=March 17, 2010| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080516222023/http://www.fai.org/ballooning/newsletter/pr00-02.htm |archive-date=May 16, 2008}}</ref>
===Constitutional Convention===
[[File:Franklin's return to Philadelphia 1785 cph.3g09906.jpg|thumb|''Franklin's return to Philadelphia, 1785'', by [[Jean Leon Gerome Ferris]]]]
[[File:Foundation of the American Government by Henry Hintermeister.jpg|thumb|right|[[Gouverneur Morris]] signs the Constitution before [[George Washington|Washington]]. Franklin is behind Morris. Painting by [[John Henry Hintermeister|Hintermeister]], 1925.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=Raymond H. |title= George Washington: American Symbol|chapter= The Marketing of an Icon |year=1999 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=eLxsfeV43-wC&q=foundation%20of%20the%20American%20government%2C%20John%20Henry%20Hintermeister&pg=PA117 |page= 117 |isbn=9781555951481 |quote= Figure 56 John Henry Hintermeister (American 1869–1945) ''Signing of the Constitution'', 1925...Alternatively labeled ''Title to Freedom'' and the ''Foundation of American Government''...".}}</ref>]]
When he returned home in 1785, Franklin occupied a position only second to that of [[George Washington]] as the champion of American independence. Franklin returned from France with an unexplained shortage of 100,000 pounds in Congressional funds. In response to a question from a member of Congress about this, Franklin, quoting the Bible, quipped: "Muzzle not the ox that treadeth out his master's grain." The missing funds were never again mentioned in Congress.<ref>Harlow Giles Unger, "Thomas Paine and the Clarion Call for American Independence" (New York: Da Capo Press, 2019), p. 90</ref>
Le Ray honored him with a commissioned portrait painted by [[Joseph Duplessis]], which now hangs in the [[National Portrait Gallery (United States)|National Portrait Gallery]] of the [[Smithsonian Institution]] in Washington, D.C. After his return, Franklin became an [[Abolitionism|abolitionist]] and freed his two slaves. He eventually became president of the [[Pennsylvania Abolition Society]].<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_citizen_abolitionist.html ''Citizen Ben, Abolitionist''], PBS</ref>
In 1787, Franklin served as a delegate to the [[Philadelphia Convention]]. He held an honorary position and seldom engaged in debate. He is the only Founding Father who is a signatory of all four of the major documents of the founding of the United States: the Declaration of Independence, the [[Treaty of Alliance (1778)|Treaty of Alliance]] with France, the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] and the [[United States Constitution]].{{CN|date=December 2020}}
In 1787, a group of prominent ministers in [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania]], proposed the foundation of a new college named in Franklin's honor. Franklin donated £200 towards the development of Franklin College (now called [[Franklin & Marshall College]]).{{CN|date=December 2020}}
Between 1771 and 1788, he finished his [[The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin|autobiography]]. While it was at first addressed to his son, it was later completed for the benefit of mankind at the request of a friend.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
Franklin strongly supported the right to [[freedom of speech]]:
{{quote|In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own. Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech ...
Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom, and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech, which is the right of every man ...|[[Silence Dogood]] no. 8, 1722<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Coffman |editor1-first=Steve |title=Words of the Founding Fathers: Selected Quotations of Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Hamilton, with Sources |year=2012 |publisher=McFarland |location=Jefferson, NC |isbn=978-0-7864-5862-2| page=97| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PsFnB7FA11YC&pg=PA97 }}</ref>}}
===President of Pennsylvania===
[[File:FRANKLIN, Benjamin (signed check).jpg|thumb|Franklin autograph check signed during his Presidency of Pennsylvania]]
Special balloting conducted October 18, 1785, unanimously elected Franklin the sixth [[List of governors of Pennsylvania|president]] of the [[Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania|Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania]], replacing [[John Dickinson]]. The office was practically that of [[List of governors of Pennsylvania|governor]]. Franklin held that office for slightly over three years, longer than any other, and served the constitutional limit of three full terms. Shortly after his initial election, he was re-elected to a full term on October 29, 1785, and again in the fall of 1786 and on October 31, 1787. In that capacity he served as host to the [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|Constitutional Convention of 1787]] in Philadelphia.<ref>Brands, ''The First American'', pp. 654–55, 694</ref>
==Virtue, religion, and personal beliefs==
[[File:Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) MET DT2883.jpg|thumb|upright|A bust of Franklin by [[Jean-Antoine Houdon]], 1778]]
Like the other advocates of [[Republicanism in the United States|republicanism]], Franklin emphasized that the new republic could survive only if the people were virtuous. All his life he explored the role of civic and personal virtue, as expressed in ''Poor Richard's'' [[aphorism]]s. Franklin felt that organized religion was necessary to keep men good to their fellow men, but rarely attended religious services himself.<ref>Franklin, ''Autobiography'', ed. Lemay, p. 65</ref> When Franklin met [[Voltaire]] in Paris and asked his fellow member of the Enlightenment vanguard to bless his grandson, Voltaire said in English, "God and Liberty", and added, "this is the only appropriate benediction for the grandson of Monsieur Franklin."<ref>Isaacson, 2003, p. 354</ref>
[[File:Pedro Américo - Voltaire abençoando o neto de Franklin em nome de Deus e da Liberdade.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|''Voltaire blessing Franklin's grandson, in the name of God and Liberty'', by [[Pedro Américo]], 1889–90]]
Franklin's parents were both pious [[Puritan]]s.<ref>Isaacson, 2003, pp. 5–18</ref> The family attended the [[Old South Church]], the most liberal Puritan congregation in Boston, where Benjamin Franklin was baptized in 1706.<ref>{{cite web| author=Old South Church |url=http://www.oldsouth.org/history.html |title=Isaacson, 2003, p. 15 |publisher=Oldsouth.org |access-date=September 21, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080531090015/http://www.oldsouth.org/history.html |archive-date = May 31, 2008}}</ref> Franklin's father, a poor [[chandlery|chandler]], owned a copy of a book, ''Bonifacius: Essays to Do Good'', by the Puritan preacher and family friend [[Cotton Mather]], which Franklin often cited as a key influence on his life.<ref>"If I have been", Franklin wrote to Cotton Mather's son seventy years later, "a useful citizen, the public owes the advantage of it to that book." in Isaacson, 2003, p. 26</ref> Franklin's first pen name, Silence Dogood, paid homage both to the book and to a widely known sermon by Mather. The book preached the importance of forming [[voluntary association]]s to benefit society. Franklin learned about forming do-good associations from Cotton Mather, but his organizational skills made him the most influential force in making [[Voluntarism (action)|voluntarism]] an enduring part of the American ethos.<ref>Isaacson, 2003, p. 102</ref>
Franklin formulated a presentation of his beliefs and published it in 1728.<ref>{{cite web| last = Franklin| first = Benjamin| title = Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion| work = Benjamin Franklin Papers| publisher = franklinpapers.org| date = November 20, 1728| url = http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/yale;jsessionid=9379F5D050E36AA9D1F95700EE223865?d=-363718316&d=1379669530&vol=1&page=101a| access-date = December 24, 2010| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110726104638/http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/yale;jsessionid=9379F5D050E36AA9D1F95700EE223865?d=-363718316&d=1379669530&vol=1&page=101a| archive-date = July 26, 2011| url-status=dead| df = mdy-all}}</ref> It did not mention many of the Puritan ideas regarding salvation, the [[divinity of Jesus]], or indeed much religious dogma. He clarified himself as a [[Deism|deist]] in his 1771 autobiography,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Franklin|first=Benjamin|title=Autobiography and other writings|publisher=Riverside|year=1771|location =Cambridge|page=52}}</ref> although still considered himself a Christian.<ref name="Christian">{{cite book| last=Olson| first=Roger| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rGMKbaNIjIoC&pg=PA61 |title=The Mosaic of Christian Belief: Twenty Centuries of Unity and Diversity |publisher=InterVarsity Press |quote=Other Deists and natural religionists who considered themselves Christians in some sense of the word included Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.| year= 2009| isbn=978-0-8308-2695-7}}</ref> He retained a strong faith in a God as the wellspring of morality and goodness in man, and as a Providential actor in history responsible for American independence.<ref>Isaacson, 2003, p. 486</ref>
[[File:Benjamin Franklin by Hiram Powers.jpg|thumb|Benjamin Franklin by [[Hiram Powers]]]]
It was Ben Franklin who, at a critical impasse during the [[Philadelphia Convention|Constitutional Convention]] in June 1787, attempted to introduce the practice of daily common prayer with these words:
{{quote|... In the beginning of the contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the Divine Protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a Superintending providence in our favor. ... And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need His assistance. I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that "except the Lord build they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: ... I therefore beg leave to move—that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that service.<ref>{{cite web| author=Michael E. Eidenmuller |url=http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/benfranklin.htm |title=Online Speech Bank: Benjamin Franklin's Prayer Speech at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 |publisher=Americanrhetoric.com |access-date=September 21, 2009}}</ref>
}}
The motion met with resistance and was never brought to a vote.<ref>[[Clinton Rossiter|Rossiter, Clinton]]. 1787. ''The Grand Convention'' (1966), pp. 184–85</ref>
Franklin was an enthusiastic supporter of the evangelical minister [[George Whitefield]] during the [[First Great Awakening]]. Franklin did not subscribe to Whitefield's theology, but he admired Whitefield for exhorting people to worship God through good works. Franklin published all of Whitefield's sermons and journals, thereby earning a lot of money and boosting the Great Awakening.<ref>Isaacson, 2003, pp. 107–13</ref>
When he stopped attending church, Franklin wrote in his autobiography:
{{quote|... Sunday being my studying day, I never was without some religious principles. I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity; that He made the world, and governed it by His providence; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter.<ref name="autogenerated1">Franklin Benjamin [http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/autobiography/singlehtml.htm "Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography".] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905094326/http://ushistory.org/franklin/autobiography/singlehtml.htm |date=September 5, 2008 }} Section 2 reprinted on UShistory.org.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111frank2.html |title=Benjamin Franklin |publisher=History.hanover.edu |access-date=September 21, 2009}}</ref>
}}
Franklin retained a lifelong commitment to the Puritan virtues and political values he had grown up with, and through his civic work and publishing, he succeeded in passing these values into the American culture permanently. He had a "passion for virtue".<ref>Isaacson, p. 485</ref> These Puritan values included his devotion to egalitarianism, education, industry, thrift, honesty, temperance, charity and community spirit.<ref>Isaacson, 2003, p. 149</ref>
The classical authors read in the Enlightenment period taught an abstract [[Republicanism in the United States|ideal of republican government]] based on hierarchical social orders of king, aristocracy and commoners. It was widely believed that English liberties relied on their balance of power, but also hierarchal deference to the privileged class.<ref>Bailyn, 1992, pp. 273–74, 299–300</ref> "Puritanism ... and the epidemic evangelism of the mid-eighteenth century, had created challenges to the traditional notions of social stratification"<ref name="Bailyn303" /> by preaching that the Bible taught all men are equal, that the true value of a man lies in his moral behavior, not his class, and that all men can be saved.<ref name="Bailyn303">Bailyn, 1992, p. 303</ref> Franklin, steeped in Puritanism and an enthusiastic supporter of the evangelical movement, rejected the salvation dogma, but embraced the radical notion of egalitarian democracy.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
Franklin's commitment to teach these values was itself something he gained from his Puritan upbringing, with its stress on "inculcating virtue and character in themselves and their communities."<ref>Isaacson, 2003, pp. 10, 102, 489</ref> These Puritan values and the desire to pass them on, were one of Franklin's quintessentially American characteristics, and helped shape the character of the nation. Franklin's writings on [[virtue]] were derided by some European authors, such as Jackob Fugger in his critical work ''Portrait of American Culture''. [[Max Weber]] considered Franklin's ethical writings a culmination of the [[Protestant work ethic|Protestant ethic]], which ethic created the social conditions necessary for the birth of [[capitalism]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Weber |first=Max |title=The Protestant Ethic and the "Spirit of Capitalism" |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ez7CAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT11 |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2002 |translator=Peter Baehr |translator2=Gordon C. Wells |pages=9–11 |isbn=9780486122373 }}</ref>
One of Franklin's notable characteristics was his respect, tolerance and promotion of all churches. Referring to his experience in Philadelphia, he wrote in [[The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin|his autobiography]], "new Places of worship were continually wanted, and generally erected by voluntary Contribution, my Mite for such purpose, whatever might be the Sect, was never refused."<ref name="autogenerated1" /> "He helped create a new type of nation that would draw strength from its religious pluralism."<ref name="Isaacson 2003 p 93ff">Isaacson,2003 pp. 93ff</ref> The evangelical revivalists who were active mid-century, such as Franklin's friend and preacher, George Whitefield, were the greatest advocates of religious freedom, "claiming liberty of conscience to be an 'inalienable right of every rational creature.'"<ref>Bailyn, 1992, p. 249</ref> Whitefield's supporters in Philadelphia, including Franklin, erected "a large, new hall, that ... could provide a pulpit to anyone of any belief."<ref>Isaacson, 2003, p. 112</ref> Franklin's rejection of dogma and doctrine and his stress on the God of ethics and morality and [[civic virtue]] made him the "prophet of tolerance."<ref name="Isaacson 2003 p 93ff"/> Franklin composed "A Parable Against Persecution", an apocryphal 51st chapter of Genesis in which God teaches Abraham the duty of tolerance.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mOEjB0Pdq8oC&pg=PA109|title=The Political Thought of Benjamin Franklin|isbn=978-0-87220-683-0|last1=Franklin|first1=Benjamin|year=2003}}</ref> While he was living in London in 1774, he was present at the birth of [[General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches|British Unitarianism]], attending the inaugural session of the [[Essex Street Chapel]], at which [[Theophilus Lindsey]] drew together the first avowedly [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] congregation in England; this was somewhat politically risky, and pushed religious tolerance to new boundaries, as a denial of the doctrine of the [[Trinity]] was illegal until [[Doctrine of the Trinity Act 1813|the 1813 Act]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unitarian.org.uk/support/doc-EssexHall1.shtml |title=Chapter 2, ''The History of Essex Hall'' by Mortimer Rowe B.A., D.D. Lindsey Press, 1959 |publisher=Unitarian.org.uk |access-date=June 20, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326074021/http://www.unitarian.org.uk/support/doc-EssexHall1.shtml |archive-date=March 26, 2012 }}</ref>
[[File:Dr Richard Price, DD, FRS - Benjamin West.jpg|thumb|[[Richard Price|Dr Richard Price]], the radical minister of [[Newington Green Unitarian Church]], holding a letter from Franklin]]
Although Franklin's parents had intended for him to have a career in the Church,<ref name="autobio" /> Franklin as a young man adopted the Enlightenment religious belief in [[deism]], that God's truths can be found entirely through nature and reason,<ref>Isaacson, 2003, p. 46</ref> declaring, "I soon became a thorough Deist."<ref>Franklin, Benjamin. [http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/preservation/bios/franklin/chpt4.htm ''Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography''.] Chapter IV. reprinted on USGenNet.org.</ref> As a young man he rejected Christian dogma in a 1725 pamphlet ''[[A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf1/m7.htm |title=A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain |publisher=Historycarper.com |access-date=September 21, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090528094815/http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf1/m7.htm |archive-date=May 28, 2009 }}</ref> which he later saw as an embarrassment,<ref name="Isaacson45">{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oIW915dDMBwC&pg=PA45 | title=Isaacson, 2003, p. 45 |year= 2004 |access-date=September 21, 2009| isbn=978-0-684-80761-4| author1=Isaacson, Walter}}</ref> while simultaneously asserting that God is "all wise, [[Omnibenevolence|all good]], [[Omnipotence|all powerful]]."<ref name="Isaacson45" /> He defended his rejection of religious dogma with these words: "I think opinions should be judged by their influences and effects; and if a man holds none that tend to make him less virtuous or more vicious, it may be concluded that he holds none that are dangerous, which I hope is the case with me." After the disillusioning experience of seeing the decay in his own moral standards, and those of two friends in London whom he had converted to Deism, Franklin turned back to a belief in the importance of organized religion, on the pragmatic grounds that without God and organized churches, man will not be good.<ref>Isaacson, 2003, pp. 46, 486</ref> Moreover, because of his proposal that [[Christian prayer|prayers]] be said in the [[Constitutional Convention of 1787]], many have contended that in his later life Franklin became a [[piety|pious]] Christian.<ref name="Pious">{{cite book| author=Henry Louis Mencken, George Jean Nathan| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LqJUonES6m8C |title=The American Mercury, Volume 8| publisher=Garber Communications| quote=It is well known that in his youth Benjamin Franklin was a thorough-going Deist, but because he proposed that prayers be said in the Constitution Convention of 1787 many have contended that in later life he became a pious Christian.| date=October 19, 2009}}</ref><ref name="Faith">{{cite book |author=Ralph Frasca |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CY2UVzcU5l0C&pg=PA40 |page=40 |title=Benjamin Franklin's Printing Network: Disseminating Virtue in Early America |publisher=[[University of Missouri Press]] |quote=Despite being raised a Puritan of the Congregationalist stripe by his parents, who "brought me through my Childhood piously in the Dissenting Way", Franklin recalled, he abandoned that denomination, briefly embraced deism, and finally became a non-denominational Protestant Christian. |year= 2009 |isbn=978-0-8262-6492-3}}</ref>
According to David Morgan,<ref>Morgan, David T. "Benjamin Franklin: Champion of Generic Religion". ''The Historian''. 62#4 2000. pp. 722+</ref> Franklin was a proponent of religion in general. He prayed to "Powerful Goodness" and referred to God as "the infinite". [[John Adams]] noted that Franklin was a mirror in which people saw their own religion: "The [[Catholic Church|Catholics]] thought him almost a Catholic. The [[Church of England]] claimed him as one of them. The [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterians]] thought him half a Presbyterian, and the [[Quakers|Friends]] believed him a wet Quaker." Whatever else Franklin was, concludes Morgan, "he was a true champion of generic religion." In a letter to Richard Price, Franklin stated that he believed that religion should support itself without help from the government, claiming, "When a Religion is good, I conceive that it will support itself; and, when it cannot support itself, and God does not take care to support, so that its Professors are oblig'd to call for the help of the Civil Power, it is a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one."<ref>Benjamin Franklin to Richard Price, October 9, 1780 ''Writings'' 8:153–54</ref>
In 1790, just about a month before he died, Franklin wrote a letter to [[Ezra Stiles]], president of [[Yale University]], who had asked him his views on religion:
{{quote|As to [[Jesus of Nazareth]], my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupt changes, and I have, with most of the present [[English Dissenters|Dissenters in England]], some Doubts as to his divinity; tho' it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and I think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed, if that belief has the good consequence, as it probably has, of making his doctrines more respected and better observed; especially as I do not perceive that the Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the unbelievers in his government of the world with any particular marks of his displeasure.<ref name="vandoren"/>}}
On July 4, 1776, Congress appointed a three-member committee composed of Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams to design the [[Great Seal of the United States]]. Franklin's proposal (which was not adopted) featured the motto: "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God" and a scene from the [[Book of Exodus]], with [[Moses]], the [[Israelites]], the [[Pillar of Fire (theophany)|pillar of fire]], and [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]] depicted as [[Pharaohs in the Bible#Pharaoh of the Exodus|pharaoh]]. The design that was produced was never acted upon by Congress, and the Great Seal's design was not finalized until a third committee was appointed in 1782.<ref>"[https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/27807.pdf The Great Seal of the United States]" (July 2003). [[Bureau of Public Affairs]], [[United States Department of State]].</ref><ref>"1782: Original Design of the Great Seal of the United States", ''Our Documents: 100 Milestone Documents from the National Archives''. [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]] ([[Oxford University Press]], 2006), pp. 18–19.</ref>
===Thirteen Virtues===
[[File:Franklin bust at Columbia University IMG 0924.JPG|thumb|Franklin bust in the Archives Department of [[Columbia University]] in New York City]]
Franklin sought to cultivate his character by a plan of 13 virtues, which he developed at age 20 (in 1726) and continued to practice in some form for the rest of his life. His [[The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin|autobiography]] lists his 13 virtues as:{{CN|date=December 2020}}
# "[[Temperance (virtue)|Temperance]]. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation."
# "[[Silence]]. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation."
# "[[Order (virtue)|Order]]. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time."
# "[[Result|Resolution]]. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve."
# "[[Frugality]]. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing."
# "Industry. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions."
# "[[Sincerity]]. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly."
# "[[Justice]]. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty."
# "[[Moderation]]. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve."
# "[[Cleanliness]]. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation."
# "[[Tranquility]]. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable."
# "[[Chastity]]. Rarely use [[Human sexuality|venery]] but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation."
# "[[Humility]]. Imitate Jesus and [[Socrates]]."
Franklin did not try to work on them all at once. Instead, he would work on one and only one each week "leaving all others to their ordinary chance." While Franklin did not live completely by his virtues, and by his own admission he fell short of them many times, he believed the attempt made him a better man contributing greatly to his success and happiness, which is why in his autobiography, he devoted more pages to this plan than to any other single point; in his autobiography Franklin wrote, "I hope, therefore, that some of my descendants may follow the example and reap the benefit."<ref>[http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/autobiography/page38.htm ''Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin page 38 forward''] by Benjamin Franklin</ref>
==Slavery==
Franklin owned as many as seven slaves, including two men who worked in his household and his shop.<ref>For more details, see Nash, Gary B. "Franklin and Slavery." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 150, no. 4 (2006): 620.</ref> Franklin posted paid ads for the sale of slaves and for the capture of runaway slaves and allowed the sale of slaves in his general store. Franklin profited from both the international and domestic slave trade, even criticizing slaves who had run away from their masters to join the [[British Army]] during the various wars the Thirteen Colonies were involved in during the 1740s and 1750s.{{CN|date=December 2020}} Franklin, however, later became a "cautious [[Abolitionism|abolitionist]]" and became an outspoken critic of slavery as practiced by the American upper class.{{CN|date=December 2020}} In 1758, Franklin advocated the opening of a school for the education of black slaves in Philadelphia.{{CN|date=December 2020}} Franklin took two slaves to England with him, Peter and King, and King left his service there in 1756: by 1758 he was working for a household in [[Suffolk]].<ref>{{Cite book|title = Benjamin Franklin: An American Life|url = https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00isaa_0|url-access = registration|last = Isaacson|first = Walter|publisher = Simon & Schuster|year = 2003|location = New York|chapter = Chapter Eight}}</ref> Whether Franklin could have forced King to return is open to doubt in the light of earlier English [[Common Law]] decisions and the subsequent case of ''[[Shanley v Harvey]]'', but in any case he did not attempt to do so.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
After returning from England in 1762, Franklin became notably more abolitionist in nature, attacking American slavery. In the wake of [[Somersett's case]], Franklin voiced frustration at the British for celebrating the freeing of one slave (James Somersett) that had come to British soil while the [[Parliament of Great Britain|British Parliament]] refused to pass laws that would abolish the [[Atlantic slave trade|slave trade]].<ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_History_of_Abraham_Lincoln_and_the_O/RW0FAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA27 The History of Abraham Lincoln, and the Overthrow of Slavery], p. 27</ref><ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Equiano_the_African/yrNQ_PlooJwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA206 Equiano, the African – Biography of a Self-made Man], p. 206</ref><ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_American_Counterrevolution/T1F1H2KUj80C?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA92 The American Counterrevolution], p. 92</ref><ref>[https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-19-02-0128 The Sommersett Case and the Slave Trade, 18–20 June 1772]</ref> Franklin, however, refused to publicly debate the issue of slavery at the [[1787 Constitutional Convention]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Waldstreicher, David|title=Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, and the Founders: On the dangers of reading backwards|journal=Common-Place|volume=04|number=4|date=July 2004|url=http://commonplace.online/article/benjamin-franklin-slavery/}}</ref> Franklin tended to take both sides of the issue of slavery, never fully divesting himself from the institution.<ref>Hoffer (2011), pp. 30–31</ref><ref>Waldstreicher (2004), pp. xii, xiii</ref>
At the time of the American Founding, there were about half a million slaves in the United States, mostly in the five southernmost states, where they made up 40 percent of the population. Many of the leading American Founders-most notably Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and James Madison-owned slaves, but many did not. Benjamin Franklin thought that slavery was "an atrocious debasement of human nature" and "a source of serious evils." He and Benjamin Rush founded the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery in 1774.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Pennsylvania Abolition Society|url = https://www.heritage.org/american-founders/report/how-understand-slavery-and-the-american-founding}}</ref>
In his later years, as Congress was forced to deal with the issue of slavery, Franklin wrote several essays that stressed the importance of the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolition of slavery]] and of the integration of blacks into American society. These writings included:
* ''[[s:An Address to the Public|An Address to the Public]]'' (1789)
* ''[[s:A Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks|A Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks]]'' (1789)
* ''Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim on the Slave Trade'' (1790)<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=Myra |editor-last=Jehlen |editor-first2=Michael |editor-last2=Warner |title=The English Literatures of America, 1500–1800 |publisher=Psychology Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LAYDAZmrKkgC&pg=PA891 |page=891 |year=1997 |isbn=0-415-91903-7}}</ref>
In 1790, [[Quakers]] from New York and Pennsylvania presented their petition for abolition to Congress. Their argument against slavery was backed by the [[Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society]] and its president, Benjamin Franklin.<ref>Benjamin Franklin for The Pennsylvania Abolition Society to the United States Congress, ''The memorial of the Pennsylvania Society for promoting the Abolition of Slavery, the relief of free Negroes unlawfully held in bondage, and the Improvement of the Conditions of the African Race'' (February 3, 1790)</ref>
==Vegetarianism==
Franklin became a vegetarian when he was a teenager apprenticing at a print shop, after coming upon a book by the early vegetarian advocate [[Thomas Tryon]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kaiser |first1=Larry |title=What Benjamin Franklin Really Said About Vegetarianism |url=https://www.vrg.org/history/benjamin_franklin.htm |website=The Vegetarian Resource Group |access-date=February 8, 2020}}</ref> In addition, Franklin would have also been familiar with the moral arguments espoused by prominent vegetarian [[Quakers]] in colonial Pennsylvania, such as [[Benjamin Lay]] and [[John Woolman]]. His reasons for vegetarianism were based on health, ethics, and economy:
{{quote|When about 16 years of age, I happen'd to meet with a book written by one [[Thomas Tryon|Tryon]], recommending a vegetable diet. I determined to go into it ... [By not eating meat] I presently found that I could save half what [my brother] paid me. This was an additional fund for buying books: but I had another advantage in it ... I made the greater progress from that greater clearness of head and quicker apprehension which usually attend temperance in eating and drinking.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |url=https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofb20203gut |chapter=Part One |author=Benjamin Franklin}}</ref>}}
Franklin also declared the consumption of meat to be "unprovoked murder".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Richards |first1=Jennie |title=Benjamin Franklin said "Eating Flesh is Unprovoked Murder" |url=https://www.humanedecisions.com/benjamin-franklin-said-eating-flesh-is-unprovoked-murder/ |website=Humane Decisions |access-date=February 8, 2020}}</ref> Despite his convictions, he [[Pescetarianism|began to eat fish]] after being tempted by fried cod on a boat sailing from Boston, justifying the eating of animals by having observed that the fish's stomach contained other fish. Nonetheless, Franklin recognized the faulty ethics in this argument,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lamb |first1=Camille |title=Ben Franklin Practiced Vegetarianism |url=https://www.miaminewtimes.com/restaurants/ben-franklin-practiced-vegetarianism-6599949 |website=Miami New Times |access-date=February 8, 2020}}</ref> and would continue to be vegetarian on and off. He was "excited" by [[tofu]], which he learned of from the writings of Spanish missionary to China, [[Domingo Fernández Navarrete]]. Franklin sent a sample of [[soybean]]s to prominent American botanist [[John Bartram]], and had previously written to British diplomat and Chinese trade expert [[James Flint (merchant)|James Flint]] inquiring as to [[Tofu#Production|how tofu was made]],<ref name="feast">{{cite web |title=Benjamin Franklin on Food |url=http://feastandphrase.com/gastronomy-and-non-fiction/benjamin-franklin-on-food/ |website=Feast and Phrase |access-date=February 8, 2020}}</ref> with their correspondence believed to be the first documented use of the word "tofu" in the English language.<ref>{{cite book|title=History of Tofu and Tofu Products (965 CE to 2013)|last1 = Shurtleff|first1 = William| last2 = Aoyagi| first2 = Akiko|year=2013|isbn=9781928914556|page=73|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gGrUNvZt0_YC&pg=PA73 |publisher=Soyinfo Center}}</ref>
Franklin's "Second Reply to ''Vindex Patriae''", a 1766 letter advocating self-sufficiency and less dependence on England, lists various examples of the bounty of American agricultural products, and does not mention meat.<ref name="feast" /> Detailing new American customs, Franklin writes that, "[t]hey resolved last spring to eat no more lamb; and not a joint of lamb has since been seen on any of their tables … the sweet little creatures are all alive to this day, with the prettiest fleeces on their backs imaginable."<ref>{{cite web |title="Homespun": Second Reply to "Vindex Patriae" |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-13-02-0003 |website=Founders Online |publisher=National Archives: National Historical Publications and Records Commission |access-date=February 8, 2020}}</ref>
==Death==
[[File:Benjamin Franklin's grave 2010.JPG|thumb|The grave of Benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]]
Franklin suffered from obesity throughout his middle-aged and later years, which resulted in multiple health problems, particularly [[gout]], which worsened as he aged. In poor health during the signing of the US Constitution in 1787, he was rarely seen in public from then until his death.{{CN|date=December 2020}}
Benjamin Franklin died from [[Pleurisy|pleuritic attack]]<ref>{{cite book| last=Isaacson| first=Walter| title=Benjamin Franklin: an American life| url=https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00isaa_0| url-access=registration| year=2003| publisher=Simon & Schuster| location=New York}}</ref><!-- nothing is mentioned about pleurisy in the Timeline:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.benfranklin300.org/etc_timeline_1.htm|title=Franklin & Marshall College – ''Ben Franklin: A Timeline''|access-date=October 7, 2014}}</ref> --> at his home in Philadelphia on April 17, 1790.<ref>{{cite web|title=Later Years and Death|website=Benjamin Franklin Historical Society|url=http://www.benjamin-franklin-history.org/later-years-and-death/|access-date=September 11, 2019}}</ref> He was aged 84 at the time of his death. His last words were reportedly, "a dying man can do nothing easy", to his daughter after she suggested that he change position in bed and lie on his side so he could breathe more easily.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/58534/64-people-and-their-famous-last-words|title=64 People and Their Famous Last Words|date=February 1, 2016|website=mentalfloss.com|language=en|access-date=February 17, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/benjamin-franklins-last-days-funeral-and-a-u-s-senate-slight|title=It was 228 years ago today: Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia – National Constitution Center|website=National Constitution Center – constitutioncenter.org|access-date=February 17, 2019}}</ref> Franklin's death is described in the book ''The Life of Benjamin Franklin'', quoting from the account of [[John Paul Jones|John Jones]]:
{{quote|... when the pain and difficulty of breathing entirely left him, and his family were flattering themselves with the hopes of his recovery, when an imposthume, which had formed itself in his lungs, suddenly burst, and discharged a quantity of matter, which he continued to throw up while he had power; but, as that failed, the organs of respiration became gradually oppressed; a calm, lethargic state succeeded; and on the 17th instant (April 1790), about eleven o'clock at night, he quietly expired, closing a long and useful life of eighty-four years and three months.<ref>Sparks, pp. 529–30.</ref>
}}
Approximately 20,000 people attended his funeral. He was interred in [[Christ Church Burial Ground]] in Philadelphia.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.ushistory.org/tour/christ-church-burial-ground.htm |title=Christ Church Burial Grounds |access-date=June 22, 2020 |work=[[Ushistory.org]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2016808354/ |title=Benjamin Franklin's grave [Christ Church Burial Ground], Philadelphia |work=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=June 22, 2020 |year=1900}}</ref> In 1728, aged 22, Franklin wrote what he hoped would be his own epitaph:
{{quote|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 the Work shall not be wholly lost: For it will, as he believ'd, appear once more, In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and Amended By the Author.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/franklin-epitaph.html ''Benjamin Franklin: In His Own Words''.] Library of Congress.</ref>}}
Franklin's actual grave, however, as he specified in his final will, simply reads "Benjamin and Deborah Franklin".<ref>[http://sln.fi.edu/franklin/family/lastwill.html ''The Last Will and Testament of Benjamin Franklin''.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821230120/http://sln.fi.edu/franklin/family/lastwill.html |date=August 21, 2009 }} The Franklin Institute Science Museum.</ref>
==Legacy==
{{Infobox designation list
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| designation1 = Pennsylvania
| designation1_offname = Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)
| designation1_type = City
| designation1_criteria = Government & Politics, Government & Politics 18th Century, Invention, Science & Medicine, Professions & Vocations, Publishing & Journalism, Writers
| designation1_date = June 30, 1990<ref>{{cite web |title=Pennsylvania Historical Marker Search |url=http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/PHMCWebSearch/ViewMarker.aspx?markerId=1045 |website=PHMC |access-date=November 3, 2018}}</ref>
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| designation1_free1value = [[Chestnut Street (Philadelphia)|Chestnut St.]] between 3rd & 4th Sts., at [[National Liberty Museum|Nat'l. Liberty Mus.]], [[Philadelphia]]<br /><small>{{coord|39.94881|-75.14683|display=inline}}</small>
| designation1_free2name = Marker Text
| designation1_free2value = <small>Printer, author, inventor, diplomat, philanthropist, statesman, and scientist. The eighteenth century's most illustrious Pennsylvanian built a house in Franklin Court starting in 1763, and here he lived the last five years of his life.</small>
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[[File:New100front.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Franklin on the Series 2009 [[United States one hundred-dollar bill|hundred dollar bill]]]]
{{external media| float = right| width = 230px | video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?409189-1/benjamin-franklins-legacy Presentation by Franklin biographer Walter Isaacson to the New York Historical Society on Benjamin Franklin's legacy, May 11, 2016], [[C-SPAN]]| video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?190532-1/benjamin-franklin-search-better-world Panel discussion with Ellen R. Cohn, Emma J. Lapsansky-Werner, J.A. Leo Lemay, Billy Gordon Smith, James Srodes, and Page Talbott on ''Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World'', November 30, 2005], [[C-SPAN]]}}
[[File:Benjamin Franklin National Memorial.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Marble memorial statue, [[Benjamin Franklin National Memorial]]]]A signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, Franklin is considered one of the [[Founding Fathers of the United States]]. His pervasive influence in the early history of the nation has led to his being jocularly called "the only president of the United States who was never president of the United States".<ref>[[Everything You Know Is Wrong|Firesign Theater quote, meant humorously but poignantly.]]</ref>
Franklin's likeness is ubiquitous. Since 1928, it has adorned American [[United States one hundred-dollar bill|$100 bills]], which are sometimes referred to in slang as "Benjamins" or "Franklins."{{CN|date=December 2020}} From 1948 to 1963, Franklin's portrait was on the [[Franklin half dollar|half-dollar]].{{CN|date=December 2020}} He has appeared on a [[United States fifty-dollar bill|$50 bill]] and on several varieties of the $100 bill from 1914 and 1918.{{CN|date=December 2020}} Franklin appears on the $1,000 Series EE [[Treasury security#Savings bond|Savings bond]].{{CN|date=December 2020}}
In 1976, as part of a [[United States Bicentennial|bicentennial]] celebration, [[United States Congress|Congress]] dedicated a {{convert|20|ft|adj=on|0}} marble statue in Philadelphia's [[Franklin Institute]] as the [[Benjamin Franklin National Memorial]].{{CN|date=December 2020}} Many of Franklin's personal possessions are also on display at the institute, one of the few national memorials located on [[property|private property]].{{CN|date=December 2020}}
In London, his house at 36 Craven Street, which is the only surviving former residence of Benjamin Franklin, was first marked with a [[blue plaque]] and has since been opened to the public as the [[Benjamin Franklin House]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Benjamin Franklin House |journal=Nature |volume=160 |issue=4053 |page=15 |bibcode=1947Natur.160S..15. |year=1947 |doi=10.1038/160015c0 |doi-access=free }}</ref> In 1998, workmen restoring the building dug up the remains of six children and four adults hidden below the home. ''[[The Times]]'' reported on February 11, 1998:
{{quote|Initial estimates are that the bones are about 200 years old and were buried at the time Franklin was living in the house, which was his home from 1757 to 1762 and from 1764 to 1775. Most of the bones show signs of having been dissected, sawn or cut. One skull has been drilled with several holes. Paul Knapman, the Westminster Coroner, said yesterday: "I cannot totally discount the possibility of a crime. There is still a possibility that I may have to hold an inquest.{{CN|date=December 2020}}}}
The Friends of Benjamin Franklin House (the organization responsible for the restoration) note that the bones were likely placed there by [[William Hewson (surgeon)|William Hewson]], who lived in the house for two years and who had built a small anatomy school at the back of the house. They note that while Franklin likely knew what Hewson was doing, he probably did not participate in any dissections because he was much more of a physicist than a medical man.<ref>[http://www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org/site/sections/news/pdf/Issue2.pdf ''The Craven Street Gazette''] ([[PDF]]), Newsletter of the Friends of Benjamin Franklin House, Issue 2, Autumn 1998</ref>
===Bequest===
Franklin [[bequest|bequeathed]] £1,000 (about $4,400 at the time, or about $125,000 in 2018 dollars<ref>[http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/relativevalue.php Measuring Worth] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523080025/http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/relativevalue.php|date=May 23, 2013}} Select $4,400 and 1790 and 2018 in online calculator</ref>) each to the cities of Boston and Philadelphia, in trust to gather interest for 200 years. The trust began in 1785 when the French mathematician [[Charles-Joseph Mathon de la Cour]], who admired Franklin greatly, wrote a friendly parody of Franklin's ''Poor Richard's Almanack'' called ''Fortunate Richard''. The main character leaves a smallish amount of money in his will, five lots of 100 ''[[French livre|livres]]'', to collect interest over one, two, three, four or five full centuries, with the resulting astronomical sums to be spent on impossibly elaborate utopian projects.<ref>Richard Price. ''Observations on the Importance of the American Revolution, and the Means of Making it a Benefit to the World. To which is added, a Letter from M. Turgot, late Comptroller-General of the Finances of France: with an Appendix, containing a Translation of the Will of M. Fortuné Ricard, lately published in France.'' London: T. Cadell, 1785.</ref> Franklin, who was 79 years old at the time, wrote thanking him for a great idea and telling him that he had decided to leave a bequest of 1,000 pounds each to his native Boston and his adopted Philadelphia. By 1990, more than $2,000,000 had accumulated in Franklin's Philadelphia trust, which had loaned the money to local residents. From 1940 to 1990, the money was used mostly for mortgage loans. When the trust came due, Philadelphia decided to spend it on scholarships for local high school students. Franklin's Boston trust fund accumulated almost $5,000,000 during that same time; at the end of its first 100 years a portion was allocated to help establish a [[Vocational school|trade school]] that became the [[Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology|Franklin Institute of Boston]], and the whole fund was later dedicated to supporting this institute.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mathsci.appstate.edu/~sjg/class/1010/wc/finance/franklin1.html |title=Excerpt from Philadelphia Inquirer article by Clark De Leon |publisher=Mathsci.appstate.edu |date=February 7, 1993 |access-date=September 21, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100510050913/http://www.mathsci.appstate.edu/~sjg/class/1010/wc/finance/franklin1.html |archive-date=May 10, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bfit.edu/aboutus/history.php |title=History of the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology |publisher=Bfit.edu |access-date=September 21, 2009| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080731130624/http://www.bfit.edu/aboutus/history.php| archive-date = July 31, 2008}}</ref>
===Franklin on U.S. postage===
Benjamin Franklin is a prominent figure in American history comparable to Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln, and as such he has been honored on U.S. postage stamps many times. The image of Franklin, the first [[United States Postmaster General|postmaster general]] of the United States, occurs on the face of U.S. postage more than any other notable American save that of [[George Washington]].<ref name="Scotts">Scotts Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps</ref>
Franklin appeared on the first U.S. postage stamp [[#Postmaster|(displayed above)]] issued in 1847. From 1908 through 1923, the U.S. Post Office issued a series of postage stamps commonly referred to as the [[Washington-Franklin Issues]] where, along with George Washington, Franklin was depicted many times over a 14-year period, the longest run of any one series in U.S. postal history. Along with the regular issue stamps Franklin however only appears on a few [[:File:Ben Franklin 250th 1956 issue-3c.jpg|commemorative stamps]]. Some of the finest portrayals of Franklin on record can be found on the engravings inscribed on the face of U.S. postage.<ref name="Scotts"/>
{{Multiple image
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| image1 = Benjamin Franklin 1861 Issue-1c.jpg
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| image2 = Benjamin Franklin2 1895 Issue-1c.jpg
| caption2 = Issue of 1895
| image3 = Benjamin Franklin 2-Big-Bens 1918 Issue.jpg
| caption3 = Issue of 1918
}}
===Bawdy Ben===
"[[Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress]]" is a letter written by Benjamin Franklin, dated June 25, 1745, in which Franklin gives advice to a young man about channeling sexual urges. Due to its licentious nature, the letter was not published in collections of Franklin's papers during the nineteenth century. Federal court decisions from the mid-to-late twentieth century cited the document as a reason for overturning obscenity laws, using it to make a case against censorship.<ref>{{cite book|author=Carl Japikse, ed.|title=Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8I3bAlV25kC&pg=PA8|year=2003|publisher=Frog Books|page=8|isbn=978-1-58394-079-2}}</ref>
===Exhibitions===
[[File:2012-07 ncc 04.JPG|thumb|Life-size bronze statue of Benjamin Franklin (seated) in the [[National Constitution Center]], Philadelphia]]
"The Princess and the Patriot: [[Yekaterina Vorontsova-Dashkova|Ekaterina Dashkova]], Benjamin Franklin and the Age of Enlightenment" exhibition opened in Philadelphia in February 2006 and ran through December 2006.{{CN|date=December 2020}} Benjamin Franklin and Dashkova met only once, in Paris in 1781. Franklin was 75, and Dashkova was 37. Franklin invited Dashkova to become the first woman to join the American Philosophical Society; she was the only woman so honored for another 80 years. Later, Dashkova reciprocated by making him the first American member of the [[Russian Academy of Sciences]].{{CN|date=December 2020}}
===Places and things named after Benjamin Franklin===
{{Further|List of places named for Benjamin Franklin}}
<!-- This list is not intended to be comprehensive. To prevent this list from becoming too long, please consider adding additional places named for Franklin to the separate article titled "List of places named for Benjamin Franklin" as noted at the top of this section -->
As a founding father of the United States, Franklin's name has been attached to many things. Among these are:{{CN|date=December 2020}}
* The [[State of Franklin]], a short-lived independent state formed during the American Revolutionary War
* [[County (United States)|Counties]] in at least 16 U.S. states
* The [[Franklin Institute Awards]] (presented by the [[Franklin Institute]]) for significant contributions in the fields of science and engineering.
* [[The Franklin Inn Club]], founded in 1902 as a literary society, was one of the four historic gentlemen's clubs in Philadelphia's Center City and was the first to open membership to women in Philadelphia.
* Several major landmarks in and around [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, Franklin's longtime home, including:
** [[Franklin and Marshall College]] in nearby [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]]
** [[Franklin Field]], a [[American football|football]] field once home to the [[Philadelphia Eagles]] of the [[National Football League]] and the home field of the [[Penn Quakers football|University of Pennsylvania Quakers]] since 1895
** Philadelphia's [[Benjamin Franklin Parkway]] (a major thoroughfare)
** The [[Benjamin Franklin Bridge]] across the [[Delaware River]] between Philadelphia and [[Camden, New Jersey]]
* Several [[US Navy]] ships have been named the {{USS|Franklin}} or the {{USS|Bonhomme Richard}}, the latter being a French translation of his penname "Poor Richard". Two aircraft carriers, {{USS|Franklin|CV-13}} and {{USS|Bon Homme Richard|CV-31}}, were simultaneously in commission and in operation during World War II, and Franklin, therefore, had the distinction of having two simultaneously operational US Navy warships named in his honor. The [[French ship Franklin (1797)|French ship ''Franklin'' (1797)]] was also named in Franklin's honor.
* [[CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin|CMA CGM ''Benjamin Franklin'']], a Chinese-built French-owned [[Explorer-class container ship]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://money.cnn.com/2016/01/31/news/economy/china-container/index.html|title=This is the biggest container ship ever to dock in the U.S.|first1=Rebecca|last1=Wright|first2=Matt|last2=Rivers|date=January 31, 2016|work=CNN Money}}</ref>
==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Benjamin Franklin in popular culture]]
* [[United States Constitution#Sessions of the "House"|U.S. Constitution]], floor leader in Convention
* [[Fugio Cent]], 1787 coin designed by Franklin
* [[Thomas Birch]]'s newly discovered Franklin letters
* [[William Goddard (patriot/publisher)]], apprentice/partner of Franklin
* [[Franklin's electrostatic machine]]
* [[Louis Timothee]], apprentice/partner of Franklin
* [[Elizabeth Timothy]], apprentice/partner of Franklin
* [[James Parker (publisher)]], apprentice/partner of Franklin
* [[commons:Category:Benjamin Franklin on stamps|Benjamin Franklin on postage stamps]]
* ''[[Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc.]]'', by Franklin
* [[Order (virtue)]]
* [[List of richest Americans in history]]
* [[List of wealthiest historical figures]]
* [[List of slave owners]]
* [[List of abolitionist forerunners]]
* [[List of opponents of slavery]]
{{div col end}}
==Notes==
{{reflist|group=Note}}
==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
==Further reading==
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?159616-1/first-american-benjamin-franklin Presentation by H.W. Brands on ''The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin'', October 5, 2000], C-SPAN| video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?177514-1/benjamin-franklin-american-life Presentation by Walter Isaacson on ''Benjamin Franklin: An American Life'', July 22, 2003], C-SPAN| video3 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?174035-1/benjamin-franklin Presentation by Edmund S. Morgan on ''Benjamin Franklin'', November 12, 2002], C-SPAN| video4 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?186653-1/great-improvisation Presentation by Stacy Schiff on ''A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America'', April 12, 2005], C-SPAN| video5 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?170126-1/franklin-essential-founding-father ''Booknotes'' interview with James Srodes on ''Franklin: The Essential Founding Father'', May 19, 2002], C-SPAN| video6 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?182263-1/americanization-benjamin-franklin Interview with Gordon S. Wood on ''The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin'', June 4, 2004], C-SPAN |video7 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?190664-1/life-legacy-benjamin-franklin Panel discussion on Franklin with Walter Isaacson, Gordon Wood, and Stacy Schiff, hosted by Jim Lehrer, January 8, 2006], C-SPAN}}
'''Biographies'''
* [[Carl L. Becker|Becker, Carl Lotus]]. "Benjamin Franklin", ''Dictionary of American Biography'' (1931) – vol 3, with links [http://tigger.uic.edu/~rjensen/franklin.htm#becker online]
* [[H. W. Brands|Brands, H.W.]] ''The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin'' (2000) {{ISBN|978-0-385-49540-0}} – scholarly biography; [https://archive.org/details/firstamericanlif00bran online free]
* Crane, Vernon W. ''Benjamin Franklin and a rising people'' (1954) [https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00cran short biography by a scholar; online free]
* Franklin, Benjamin. ''The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin''; many editions
* Gaustad, Edwin S. ''Benjamin Franklin'' (2006). {{doi|10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305357.001.0001}} online
* {{Cite book| first=Walter| last=Isaacson| author-link=Walter Isaacson| title=Benjamin Franklin: An American Life| year=2003| location=New York| publisher=Simon & Schuster| isbn=978-0-7432-6084-8|url=https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00isaa_0| url-access=registration| quote=Benjamin Franklin: An American Life.}}, popular biography; [https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00isaa online free]
* Ketcham, Ralph. ''Benjamin Franklin'' (1966) 228 pp [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=34300175 online edition], short biography by scholar
* [[Leo Lemay|Lemay, J.A. Leo]]. ''The Life of Benjamin Franklin'', scholarly biography, 3 volumes appeared before the author's death in 2008
** ''Volume 1: Journalist, 1706–1730'' (2005) 568 pp {{ISBN|978-0-8122-3854-9}}
** ''Volume 2: Printer and publisher, 1730–1747'' (2005) 664 pp {{ISBN|978-0-8122-3855-6}}
** ''Volume 3: Soldier, scientist, and politician, 1748–1757'' (2008), 768 pp {{ISBN|978-0-8122-4121-1}}
* [[Edmund Morgan (historian)|Morgan, Edmund S]]. ''Benjamin Franklin'' (2003), interpretation by leading scholar [https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00edmu online free]
* [[Stacy Schiff|Schiff, Stacy]], ''A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America'', (2005) Henry Holt
* [[James Srodes]], ''Franklin, The Essential Founding Father'', (2002, softcover 2003, Regnery History) {{ISBN|978-0-89526-163-2|978-0-89526-104-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Van Doren|first=Carl|title=Benjamin Franklin|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.182793|year=1938|author-link=Carl Van Doren|publisher=Viking|isbn=978-1-931541-85-5}}, Pulitzer Prize winning biography; [https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00vand online free]
* [[Gordon S. Wood|Wood, Gordon]]. ''The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin'' (2005) {{ISBN|978-0-14-303528-2}}, intellectual history by leading historian.
* [[Esmond Wright|Wright, Esmond]]. ''Franklin of Philadelphia'' (1986) {{ISBN|978-0-674-31810-6}} – scholarly study
'''For young readers'''
* [[Isaac Asimov|Asimov, Isaac]]. ''The Kite That Won the Revolution'', a biography for children that focuses on Franklin's scientific and diplomatic contributions.
* Fleming, Candace. ''Ben Franklin's Almanac: Being a True Account of the Good Gentleman's Life.'' Atheneum/Anne Schwart, 2003, 128 pp. {{ISBN|978-0-689-83549-0}}.
* Miller, Brandon. Benjamin Franklin, American Genius: His Life and Ideas with 21 Activities (For Kids series) 2009 Chicago Review Press
'''Scholarly studies'''
* Anderson, Douglas. ''The Radical Enlightenments of Benjamin Franklin'' (1997) – fresh look at the intellectual roots of Franklin
* Buxbaum, M.H., ed. ''Critical Essays on Benjamin Franklin'' (1987)
* Chaplin, Joyce. ''The First Scientific American: Benjamin Franklin and the Pursuit of Genius.'' (2007)
* Cohen, I. Bernard. ''Benjamin Franklin's Science'' (1990) – Cohen, the leading specialist, has several books on Franklin's science
* Conner, Paul W. ''Poor Richard's Politicks'' (1965) – analyzes Franklin's ideas in terms of the Enlightenment and republicanism
* Dull, Jonathan. ''Benjamin Franklin and the American Revolution'' (2010)
* Dull, Jonathan. ''A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution'' (1985)
* [[Philip Dray|Dray, Philip]]. ''Stealing God's Thunder: Benjamin Franklin's Lightning Rod and the Invention of America.'' (2005). 279 pp.
* Ford, Paul Leicester. ''The Many-Sided Franklin'' (1899) [https://archive.org/details/manysidedfrankli01ford online edition] – collection of scholarly essays
** [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABP2287-0057-169 "Franklin as Printer and Publisher"] in ''The Century'' (April 1899) v. 57 pp. 803–18.
** [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABP2287-0058-172 "Franklin as Scientist"] in ''The Century'' (September 1899) v.57 pp. 750–63. By Paul Leicester Ford.
** [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABP2287-0058-201 "Franklin as Politician and Diplomatist"] in ''The Century'' (October 1899) v. 57 pp. 881–99. By Paul Leicester Ford.
* {{cite journal | last1 = Gleason | first1 = Philip | year = 2000 | title = Trouble in the Colonial Melting Pot | journal = Journal of American Ethnic History | volume = 20 | issue = 1| pages = 3–17 }}
* Houston, Alan. ''Benjamin Franklin and the Politics of Improvement'' (2009)
* Lemay, J.A. Leo, ed. ''Reappraising Benjamin Franklin: A Bicentennial Perspective'' (1993) – scholarly essays
* Mathews, L.K. "Benjamin Franklin's Plans for a Colonial Union, 1750–1775." ''American Political Science Review'' 8 (August 1914): 393–412.
* {{cite journal | last1 = McCoy | first1 = Drew R. | author-link = Drew R. McCoy | year = 1978 | title = Benjamin Franklin's Vision of a Republican Political Economy for America | journal = William and Mary Quarterly | volume = 35 | issue = 4| pages = 607–28 | jstor=1923207| doi = 10.2307/1923207 }}
* Merli, Frank J., and Theodore A. Wilson, eds. ''Makers of American diplomacy, from Benjamin Franklin to Henry Kissinger'' (1974) [https://archive.org/details/makersofamerican00merl online free]
* Newman, Simon P. "Benjamin Franklin and the Leather-Apron Men: The Politics of Class in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia", ''Journal of American Studies'', August 2009, Vol. 43#2 pp. 161–75; Franklin took pride in his working class origins and his printer's skills.
* Olson, Lester C. ''Benjamin Franklin's Vision of American Community: A Study in Rhetorical Iconology.'' (2004). 323 pp.
* Schiffer, Michael Brian. ''Draw the Lightning Down: Benjamin Franklin and Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment.'' (2003). 383 pp.
* [http://www.bartleby.com/225/index.html#6 Stuart Sherman "Franklin"] 1918 article on Franklin's writings.
* Skemp, Sheila L. ''Benjamin and William Franklin: Father and Son, Patriot and Loyalist'' (1994) – Ben's son was a leading Loyalist
* Sletcher, Michael. 'Domesticity: The Human Side of Benjamin Franklin', ''Magazine of History'', XXI (2006).
* Waldstreicher, David. ''Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, and the American Revolution.'' Hill and Wang, 2004. 315 pp.
* [[Kerry S. Walters|Walters, Kerry S.]] ''Benjamin Franklin and His Gods.'' (1999). 213 pp. Takes position midway between D H Lawrence's brutal 1930 denunciation of Franklin's religion as nothing more than a bourgeois commercialism tricked out in shallow utilitarian moralisms and [[Owen Aldridge]]'s sympathetic 1967 treatment of the dynamism and protean character of Franklin's "polytheistic" religion.
* York, Neil. "When Words Fail: William Pitt, Benjamin Franklin and the Imperial Crisis of 1766", ''Parliamentary History'', October 2009, Vol. 28#3 pp. 341–74
'''Historiography'''
* Waldstreicher, David, ed. ''A Companion to Benjamin Franklin'' (2011), 25 essays by scholars emphasizing how historians have handled Franklin. [https://www.questia.com/library/120084135/a-companion-to-benjamin-franklin online edition]
'''Primary sources'''
* ''Silence Dogood, The Busy-Body, & Early Writings'' (J.A. Leo Lemay, ed.) ([[Library of America]], 1987 one-volume, 2005 two-volume) {{ISBN|978-1-931082-22-8}}
* ''Autobiography, Poor Richard, & Later Writings'' (J.A. Leo Lemay, ed.) ([[Library of America]], 1987 one-volume, 2005 two-volume) {{ISBN|978-1-883011-53-6}}
* Bailyn, Bernard, ''The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution'' (1992)
* Benjamin Franklin papers, M.S. Coll. 900, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. [http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/ead/upenn_rbml_MsColl900 Finding aid]
* {{cite journal | last1 = Bailly | first1 = J.-S. | s2cid = 143420875 | year = 2002| title = Secret Report on Mesmerism or Animal Magnetism | journal = International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis | volume = 50 | issue = 4| pages = 364–68 | doi = 10.1080/00207140208410110 | pmid = 12362952 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Franklin | first1 = B. | last2 = Majault | first2 = M.J. | last3 = Le Roy | first3 = J.B. | last4 = Sallin | first4 = C.L. | last5 = Bailly | first5 = J.-S. | last6 = d'Arcet | first6 = J. | last7 = de Bory | first7 = G. | last8 = Guillotin | first8 = J.-I. | last9 = Lavoisier | first9 = A. | s2cid = 36506710 | year = 2002| title = Report of The Commissioners charged by the King with the Examination of Animal Magnetism | journal = International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis | volume = 50 | issue = 4| pages = 332–63 | doi = 10.1080/00207140208410109 | pmid = 12362951 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100928051438/http://www.yale.edu/franklinpapers/indexintro.html The Papers of Benjamin Franklin] online, Sponsored by The American Philosophical Society and Yale University
* ''Benjamin Franklin Reader'' edited by Walter Isaacson (2003)
* ''Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography'' edited by J.A. Leo Lemay and P.M. Zall, (Norton Critical Editions, 1986); 390 pp. text, contemporary documents and 20th century analysis
* Houston, Alan, ed. ''Franklin: The Autobiography and other Writings on Politics, Economics, and Virtue.'' Cambridge University Press, 2004. 371 pp.
* Ketcham, Ralph, ed. ''The Political Thought of Benjamin Franklin.'' (1965, reprinted 2003). 459 pp.
* Leonard Labaree, and others., eds., ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20060214030435/http://www.yale.edu/franklinpapers/index.html The Papers of Benjamin Franklin]'', 39 vols. to date (1959–2008), definitive edition, through 1783. This massive collection of BF's writings, and letters to him, is available in large academic libraries. It is most useful for detailed research on specific topics. [http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/ The complete text of all the documents are online and searchable]; {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100928051438/http://www.yale.edu/franklinpapers/indexintro.html |date=September 28, 2010 |title=The ''Index'' is also online }}.
* ''[[The Way to Wealth]]''. Applewood Books; 1986. {{ISBN|0-918222-88-5}}
* ''[[Poor Richard's Almanack]]''. Peter Pauper Press; 1983. {{ISBN|0-88088-918-7}}
* ''Poor Richard Improved'' by Benjamin Franklin (1751)
* ''Writings (Franklin)|Writings''. {{ISBN|0-940450-29-1}}
* "''On Marriage''."
* "''Satires and Bagatelles''."
* "''[[A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain]]''."
* "''[[Fart Proudly]]: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School''." Carl Japikse, Ed. Frog Ltd.; Reprint ed. 2003. {{ISBN|1-58394-079-0}}
* "''Heroes of America Benjamin Franklin''."
* "''[[Experiments and Observations on Electricity]]''." (1751)
==External links==
{{Sister project links|s=Author:Benjamin Franklin|wikt=Franklin|v=Virtues/thirteen virtues|b=American Literature/Enlightenment Period (1760s–1820s)}}
{{Spoken Wikipedia|date=2008-08-04|Benjamin Franklin 1.ogg|Benjamin Franklin 2.ogg|Benjamin Franklin 3.ogg}}
{{Library resources box|by=yes|onlinebooks=yes|viaf=56609913}}
* [http://www.compadre.org/psrc/Franklin/ Benjamin Franklin and Electrostatics] experiments and Franklin's electrical writings from Wright Center for Science Education
* [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ockhamsrazor/stories/2006/1814928.htm Franklin's impact on medicine] – talk by medical historian, Dr. Jim Leavesley celebrating the 300th anniversary of Franklin's birth on ''Okham's Razor'' ABC [[Radio National]] – December 2006
* [http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/ead/upenn_rbml_MsColl900 Benjamin Franklin Papers, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.]
'''Biographical and guides'''
* [http://www.time.com/time/2003/franklin/bffranklin.html Special Report: Citizen Ben's Greatest Virtues] Time Magazine
* {{CongLinks | congbio = F000342}}
* [https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/franklin/franklin.html Finding Franklin: A Resource Guide] Library of Congress
* [http://tigger.uic.edu/~rjensen/franklin.htm Guide to Benjamin Franklin] By a history professor at the University of Illinois.
* [https://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/ Benjamin Franklin: An extraordinary life] PBS
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131102055511/http://history.state.gov/milestones/1776-1783/BFranklin Benjamin Franklin: First American Diplomat, 1776–1785] US State Department
* [http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/ The Electric Benjamin Franklin] ushistory.org
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120502102128/http://www.english.udel.edu/lemay/franklin/ Benjamin Franklin: A Documentary History] by J.A. Leo Lemay
* [http://www.librarything.com/profile/BenjaminFranklin Online edition of Franklin's personal library]
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Franklin, Benjamin}}
* [http://www.c-span.org/video/?163159-1/writings-benjamin-franklin "Writings of Benjamin Franklin"] from [[C-SPAN]]'s ''[[American Writers: A Journey Through History]]''
'''Online writings'''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100928051438/http://www.yale.edu/franklinpapers/indexintro.html Yale edition of complete works], the standard scholarly edition
** [https://founders.archives.gov/about Founders Online, searchable edition]
* {{Gutenberg author |id=Franklin,+Benjamin | name=Benjamin Franklin}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Benjamin Franklin}}
* {{Librivox author |id=350}}
* [http://www.bartleby.com/people/FranklinB.html Online Works by Franklin]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090821230120/http://sln.fi.edu/franklin/family/lastwill.html Franklin's Last Will & Testament] Transcription.
* [https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/franklin-home.html Library of Congress web resource: ''Benjamin Franklin ... In His Own Words'']
* [https://archive.org/details/SilenceDogood_201306 "A Silence Dogood Sampler" – Selections from Franklin's Silence Dogood writings]
* [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Franklin%20Abridged/index.html Abridgement of the Book of Common Prayer (1773), by Benjamin Franklin and Francis Dashwood], transcribed by Richard Mammana
'''Autobiography'''
* [http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/autobiography/index.htm ''The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin''] [https://web.archive.org/web/20080905094326/http://ushistory.org/franklin/autobiography/singlehtml.htm Single page version], UShistory.org
* [http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/Franklin/header.html ''The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin''] from American Studies at the University of Virginia
* [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/148 ''The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin''] at Project Gutenberg
* [http://librivox.org/the-autobigraphy-of-benjamin-franklin-ed-by-frank-woodworth-pine/ ''The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin''] LibriVox recording
'''In the arts'''
* [http://www.benfranklin300.com/ Benjamin Franklin 300 (1706–2006)] Official web site of the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary.
* The [http://www.hsp.org/files/findingaid215franklin.pdf Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection of Benjamin Franklin Papers], including correspondence, government documents, writings and a copy of his will, are available for research use at the [[Historical Society of Pennsylvania]].
* [http://www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org/ The Benjamin Franklin House] Franklin's only surviving residence.
{{Benjamin Franklin}}
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