- Wikipedia

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\"Ben Franklin\" redirects here. For other uses, see Benjamin Franklin (disambiguation).

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Benjamin Franklin FRS FRSA FRSE
Portrait by Joseph Duplessis, 1785

6th President of Pennsylvania
In office October 18, 1785 \u2013 November 5, 1788
Vice President	Charles Biddle Peter Muhlenberg David Redick
Preceded by	John Dickinson
Succeeded by	Thomas Mifflin
United States Minister to Sweden
In office September 28, 1782 \u2013 April 3, 1783
Appointed by	Congress of the Confederation
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Jonathan Russell
United States Minister to France
In office March 23, 1779 \u2013 May 17, 1785
Appointed by	Continental Congress
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Thomas Jefferson
1st United States Postmaster General
In office July 26, 1775 \u2013 November 7, 1776
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Richard Bache
Delegate from Pennsylvania to the Second Continental Congress
In office May 1775 \u2013 October 1776
Postmaster General of British America
In office August 10, 1753 \u2013 January 31, 1774
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Vacant
Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly
In office May 1764 \u2013 October 1764
Preceded by	Isaac Norris
Succeeded by	Isaac Norris
1st President of the University of Pennsylvania
In office 1749\u20131754
Succeeded by	William Smith
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Personal details
Born	January 17, 1706 [O.S. January 6, 1705]^{[Note 1]} Boston, Massachusetts Bay, English America
Died	April 17, 1790(1790-04-17) (aged 84) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Resting place	Christ Church Burial Ground, Philadelphia
Political party	Independent
Spouse	\n Deborah Read \n (m. 1730; died 1774)
Children	William Francis Sarah
Parents	Josiah Franklin Abiah Folger
Education	Boston Latin School
Signature	$\"\"$

Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 [O.S. January 6, 1705]^{[Note 1]} – April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and political philosopher.^[1] Among the most influential intellectuals of his time, Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States; a drafter and signer of the Declaration of Independence; and the first postmaster general.^[2]\n

Born in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing The Pennsylvania Gazette at age 23.^[3] He became wealthy publishing this and Poor Richard's Almanack, which he wrote under the pseudonym \"Richard Saunders\".^[4] After 1767, he was associated with the Pennsylvania Chronicle, a newspaper known for its revolutionary sentiments and criticisms of the policies of the British Parliament and the Crown.^[5] He pioneered and was the first president of the 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 its president in 1769. He was appointed deputy postmaster-general for the British colonies in 1753,^[6] which enabled him to set up the first national communications network.\n

Franklin was active in community affairs and colonial and state politics, as well as national and international affairs. He became a hero in America when, as an agent in London for several colonies, he spearheaded the repeal of the unpopular Stamp Act by the British Parliament. An accomplished diplomat, he was widely admired as the first U.S. ambassador to France and was a major figure in the development of positive Franco\u2013American relations. His efforts proved vital in securing French aid for the American Revolution. From 1785 to 1788, he served as President of Pennsylvania. At some points in his life, he owned slaves and ran \"for sale\" ads for slaves in his newspaper, but by the late 1750s, he began arguing against slavery, became an active abolitionist, and promoted the education and integration of African Americans into U.S. society.^[7]\n

As a scientist, Franklin's studies of electricity made him a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics. He also charted and named the Gulf Stream current. His numerous important inventions include the lightning rod, bifocals, glass harmonica and the Franklin stove.^[8] He founded many civic organizations, including the Library Company, Philadelphia's first fire department,^[9] and the University of Pennsylvania.^[10]\nFranklin earned the title of \"The First American\" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity. He was the only person to sign the Declaration of Independence, Treaty of Paris, peace with Britain and the Constitution. Foundational in defining the American ethos, Franklin has been called \"the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become\".^[11]\n

Franklin's life and legacy of scientific and political achievement, and his status as one of America's most influential Founding Fathers, have seen him honored for more than two centuries after his death on the $100 bill and in the names of warships, many towns and counties, educational institutions and corporations, as well as in numerous cultural references and a portrait in the Oval Office. His more than 30,000 letters and documents have been collected in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. Anne Robert Jacques Turgot said of him: \"Eripuit fulmen c\u0153lo, mox sceptra tyrannis\" (\"He snatched lightning from the sky and the scepter from tyrants\").^[12]\n

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Designations
\nPennsylvania Historical Marker
Official name	Benjamin Franklin (1706\u20131790)
Type	City
Criteria	Government & Politics, Government & Politics 18th Century, Invention, Science & Medicine, Professions & Vocations, Publishing & Journalism, Writers
Designated	June 30, 1990^[294]
Location	Chestnut St. between 3rd & 4th Sts., at Nat'l. Liberty Mus., Philadelphia 39\u00b056\u203256\u2033N 75\u00b008\u203249\u2033W / 39.94881\u00b0N 75.14683\u00b0W / 39.94881; -75.14683
Marker Text	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.
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v t e Benjamin Franklin
\n President of Pennsylvania (1785\u20131788) \n Ambassador to France (1779\u20131785) \n Second Continental Congress (1775\u20131776) \n
Founding of the United States	\n Join, or Die. (1754 political cartoon) \n Albany Plan of Union\n Albany Congress \n Hutchinson letters affair \n Committee of Secret Correspondence \n Committee of Five\n \"...to be self-evident\" \n Declaration of Independence \n Model Treaty\n Franco-American alliance \n Treaty of Amity and Commerce \n Treaty of Alliance \n Staten Island Peace Conference \n 1776 Pennsylvania Constitution \n Libertas Americana \n Treaty of Paris, 1783 \n Delegate, 1787 Constitutional Convention \n Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly \n Postmaster General \n Founding Fathers \n
Inventions, other events	\n Franklin's electrostatic machine \n Bifocals \n Franklin stove \n Glass armonica \n Gulf Stream exploration, naming, and chart \n Lightning rod \n Kite experiment \n Pay it forward \n Associators\n 111th Infantry Regiment \n Junto club \n American Philosophical Society \n Library Company of Philadelphia \n Pennsylvania Hospital \n Academy and College of Philadelphia\n University of Pennsylvania \n Philadelphia Contributionship \n Union Fire Company \n Early American currency \n Continental Currency dollar coin \n Fugio cent \n United States Postal Service \n Street lighting \n President, Pennsylvania Abolition Society \n Master, Les Neuf S\u0153urs \n Gravesite \n
Writings	\n The Papers of Benjamin Franklin \n Founders Online \n Silence Dogood letters (1722) \n A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain (1725) \n The Busy-Body columns (1729) \n The Pennsylvania Gazette (1729\u20131790) \n Early American publishers and printers \n Poor Richard's Almanack (1732\u20131758) \n The Drinker's Dictionary (1737) \n \"Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress\" (1745) \n \"The Speech of Polly Baker\" (1747) \n Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc. (1751) \n Experiments and Observations on Electricity (1751) \n Birch letters (1755) \n The Way to Wealth (1758) \n Pennsylvania Chronicle (1767) \n Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One (1773) \n Proposed alliance with the Iroquois (1775) \n A Letter to a Royal Academy (1781) \n Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America (1784) \n \"The Morals of Chess\" (1786) \n An Address to the Public (1789) \n A Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks (1789) \n The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1771\u20131790, pub. 1791) \n Bagatelles and Satires (pub. 1845) \n Franklin as a journalist \n Franklin's phonetic alphabet \n
Legacy	\n Bibliography \n Franklin Court \n Benjamin Franklin House \n Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology \n Benjamin Franklin Parkway \n Benjamin Franklin National Memorial \n Franklin Institute\n awards \n medal \n Benjamin Franklin Medal \n Royal Society of Arts medal \n Depicted in The Apotheosis of Washington \n Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence \n Treaty of Paris (1783 painting) \n Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky (1816 painting) \n Revolutionary War Door \n Boston statue \n Chicago statue \n Columbus, Ohio, statue \n University of Pennsylvania statue \n Portland, Oregon, statue \n San Francisco statue \n Stanford University statue \n Washington D.C. statue \n Jefferson Memorial pediment \n Refunding Certificate \n Franklin half dollar \n One-hundred-dollar bill \n Franklin silver dollar \n Washington\u2013Franklin stamps\n other stamps \n Cities, counties, schools named for Franklin \n Benjamin Franklin College \n Franklin Field \n Mount Franklin \n State of Franklin \n Sons of Ben (Philadelphia Union) \n Ships named USS Franklin \n Ben Franklin effect \n
In popular culture	\n Ben and Me (1953 short) \n Ben Franklin in Paris (1964 musical play) \n 1776 (1969 musical \n 1972 film) \n Benjamin Franklin (miniseries) (1972) \n A More Perfect Union (1989 film) \n Liberty! (1997 documentary series) \n Liberty's Kids (2002 animated series) \n Benjamin Franklin (2002 documentary series) \n John Adams (2008 miniseries) \n Sons of Liberty (2015 miniseries) \n Benjamin Franklin (2022 documentary) \n Franklin (2024 miniseries) \n
Related	\n Age of Enlightenment \n American Enlightenment \n The New-England Courant \n The American Museum magazine \n American Revolution\n patriots \n Syng inkstand \n
Family	\n Deborah Read (wife) \n William Franklin (son) \n Francis Franklin (son) \n Sarah Franklin Bache (daughter) \n William Franklin (grandson) \n Benjamin F. Bache (grandson) \n Louis F. Bache (grandson) \n Richard Bache Jr. (grandson) \n Andrew Harwood (great-grandson) \n Alexander Bache (great-grandson) \n Josiah Franklin (father) \n James Franklin (brother) \n Jane Mecom (sister) \n Mary Morrell Folger (grandmother) \n Peter Folger (grandfather) \n Richard Bache (son-in-law) \n Ann Smith Franklin (sister-in-law) \n
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Ancestry

Early life and education

Boston

Moves to Philadelphia and London

Junto and library

Newspaperman

Freemasonry

Common-law marriage to Deborah Read

William Franklin

Success as an author

Public life

Early steps in Pennsylvania

Postmaster

Political work

Scientific work

Return to London and Travels in Europe

Defending the American cause

Agent for British and Hellfire Club membership

Coming of revolution

Declaration of Independence

Ambassador to France (1776\u20131785)

Return to North America

President of Pennsylvania and Delegate to the Constitutional convention

Death

Inventions and scientific inquiries

Electricity

Kite experiment and lightning rod

Population studies

Oceanography

Theories and experiments

Decision-making

Views on religion, morality, and slavery

Thirteen Virtues

Slavery

Vegetarianism

View on inoculation

Interests and activities

Musical endeavors

Chess

Legacy

Bequest

Likeness and image

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

Biographies

Scholarly studies

Historiography

Primary sources

For young readers

External links

Biographical and guides

Online writings

Autobiography

In the arts