Benjamin Franklin was a man of many parts and played a significant social role in colonial British America and took part in the formation of the independent United States from British empire.Franklin demonstrates the possibilities of life in the New World through his own rise from the lower middle class to a successful man. He achieved his success through a solid work ethic. He proved that even undistinguished persons in Boston can, through industry, become great figures of importance in America. When we think of the American Dream today--the ability to rise from rags to riches through hard work--we are usually thinking of the model set forth by Franklin in this autobiography.

1. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
1706-1790
A great wit, a legendarily
hard worker, a charming
diplomat, a tireless
inventor, and a steadfast
patriot, Franklin spent his
life in service to his
family, his community,
and his country.

2. TIMELINE OF BIOGRAPHY
1706 He is born, in Boston, and baptized in the Old South
Church.
1714 At the age of eight, enters the Grammar School.
1716 Becomes his father’s assistant in the tallow-
chandlery business;
1718 Apprenticed to his brother James, printer.
1721 Writes ballads and, in printed form ; contributes,
anonymously, to the “New England Courant,”; temporarily
edits that paper; becomes a freethinker, and a vegetarian.

3.  1723 Breaks his indenture and removes to
Philadelphia; obtaining employment in Keimer’s
printing-office; abandons vegetarianism.
 1724 Is persuaded by Governor Keith to establish
himself independently, and goes to London to buy
type; works at his trade there, and publishes
“Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and
Pain.”
 1726 Returns to Philadelphia; after serving as clerk in
a dry goods store, becomes manager of Keimer’s
printing-house.

4. 1727 Founds the Junto, or “Leathern Apron” Club.
1728 With Hugh Meredith, opens a printing-office.
1729 Becomes proprietor and editor of the
“Pennsylvania Gazette”; prints, anonymously, “Nature
and Necessity of a Paper Currency”; opens a stationer’s
shop.
1730 Marries Rebecca Read.
1731 Founds the Philadelphia Library.
1732 Publishes the first number of “Poor Richard’s
Almanac” under the pseudonym of “Richard Saunders.”

5.  1732 The Almanac, which continued for twenty-five
years to contain his witty, worldly-wise sayings, played
a very large part in bringing together and molding the
American character which was at that time made up
of so many diverse and scattered types.
 1738 Begins to study French, Italian, Spanish, and
Latin.
 1736 Chosen clerk of the General Assembly; forms
the Union Fire Company of Philadelphia.
 1737 Elected to the Assembly; appointed Deputy
Postmaster- General; plans a city police.

6.  1742 Invents the open, or “Franklin,” stove.
 1743 Proposes a plan for an Academy, which is
adopted in 1749 and develops into the University of
Pennsylvania.
 1744 Establishes the American Philosophical Society.
 1746 Publishes a pamphlet, “Plain Truth,” on the
necessity for disciplined defense, and forms a military
company.
 1747 begins electrical experiments.

7.  1748 Sells out his printing business; is appointed on the
Commission of the Peace, chosen to the Common
Council, and to the Assembly.
 1749 Appointed a Commissioner to trade with the Indians.
 1751 Aids in founding a hospital.
 1752 Experiments with a kite and discovers that lightning
is an electrical discharge.
 1753 Awarded the Copley medal for this discovery, and
elected a member of the Royal Society; receives the
degree of M.A. from Yale and Harvard. Appointed joint
Postmaster-General.

8.  1754 Appointed one of the Commissioners from
Pennsylvania to the Colonial Congress at Albany;
proposes a plan for the union of the colonies.
 1755 Pledges his personal property in order that
supplies may be raised for Braddock’s army; obtains a
grant from the Assembly in aid of the Crown Point
expedition; carries through a bill establishing a
voluntary militia; is appointed Colonel, and takes the
field.
 1757 Introduces a bill in the Assembly for paving the
streets of Philadelphia; publishes his famous “Way to
Wealth”.

9.  1757 Goes to England to plead the cause of the
Assembly against the Proprietaries; remains as agent
for Pennsylvania; enjoys the friendship of the scientific
and literary men of the kingdom.
 1760 Secures from the Privy Council, by a compromise,
a decision obliging the Proprietary estates to contribute
to the public revenue.
 1762 Receives the degree of LL.D. from Oxford and
Edinburgh; returns to America.
 1763 Makes a five months’ tour of the northern colonies
for the Purpose of inspecting the post-offices.

10.  1764 Defeated by the Penn faction for reelection to
the Assembly; sent to England as agent for
Pennsylvania.
 1765 Endeavors to prevent the passage of the Stamp
Act.
 1766 Examined before the House of Commons
relative to the passage of the Stamp Act; appointed
agent of Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Georgia;
visits Gottingen University.
 1767 Travels in France and is presented at court.

11.  1769 Procures a telescope for Harvard College.
 1772 Elected Associe Etranger of the French
Academy.
 1774 Dismissed from the office of Postmaster-
General; influences Thomas Paine to emigrate to
America.
 1775 Returns to America; chosen a delegate to the
Second Continental Congress; placed on the
committee of secret correspondence; appointed one
of the commissioners to secure the cooperation of
Canada.

12.  1776 Placed on the committee to draft a Declaration of
Independence; chosen president of the Constitutional
Committee of Pennsylvania; sent to France as agent of
the colonies.
 1778 Concludes treaties of defensive alliance, and of
amity and commerce; is received at court.
 1779 Appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to France.
 1780 Appoints Paul Jones commander of the “Alliance.”
 1782 Signs the preliminary articles of peace.
 1783 Signs the definite treaty of peace.

13.  1785 Returns to America; is chosen
President of Pennsylvania; reelected 1786.
 1787 Reelected President; sent as delegate
to the convention for framing a Federal
Constitution.
 1788 Retires from public life.
 1790 April 17, dies. His grave is in the
churchyard at Fifth and Arch streets,
Philadelphia.

14. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
FROM HIS WRITINGS AND ABOUT HIM

15. Benjamin Franklin was curious about the world around
him and practical-minded in approaching problems. A
visit to Franklin’s Philadelphia home revealed his special
knack for meeting needs with inventions: guests reported
their fascination with such gadgets as the chair/stepstool,
table/fire-screen, and “long arm” pole for reaching books
on high shelves. All of Franklin’s discoveries and
inventions, from his legendary kite and key experiment to
his redesigned fireplaces, arose from his observation-
based thinking and desire to improve daily life.

16. Benjamin Franklin had trouble seeing both near and far.
He had two pairs of glasses, one with lenses for seeing
up close and one with lenses for seeing far away.
Benjamin Franklin grew tired of always switching his
pairs of glasses. He developed BIFOCALS.
Benjamin Franklin loved to read and owned many
books. At his home in Philadelphia, he stacked the
books high on shelves. Benjamin Franklin could not
reach books he wished to read. He invented LONG
ARM _ pole for reaching books on high shelves.

17. Benjamin Franklin is well-known for his aphorisms –
usually printed in his almanacs and public essays ⎯
promoting frugality, hard work, and plain living as the road
to success. This does not mean that Franklin was
opposed to wealth, nor that his later acquisition of luxury
goods was hypocritical. What mattered to Franklin was
how one achieved wealth (honestly) and how one
displayed it (unostentatiously). Indeed, the growing
personal wealth of American colonists in the mid 1700s
was taken by Franklin as a proud sign of the colonies’
success within the empire and their future value to the
world.

18. My list of virtues contained at first but twelve; but a
Quaker friend having kindly informed me that I was
generally thought proud; that my pride showed itself
frequently in conversation; that I was not content with
being in the right when discussing any point, but was
overbearing, and rather insolent, of which he convinced
me by mentioning several instances; I determined
endeavouring to cure myself, if I could, of this vice or
folly among the rest, and I added Humility to my list)
giving an extensive meaning to the word.

19.  1. Temperance Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
 2. Silence Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid
trifling conversation.
 3. Order Let all your things have their places; let each part of your
business have its time.
 4. Resolution Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail
what you resolve.
 5. Frugality Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself, i.e.,
waste nothing.
 6. Industry Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut
off all unnecessary actions.
 7. Sincerity Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if
you speak, speak accordingly.

20.  8. Justice Wrong none by doing injuries or omitting the benefits
that are your duty.
 9. Moderation Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so
much as you think they deserve.
 10. Cleanliness Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or
habitation.
 11. Tranquility Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents
common or unavoidable.
 12. Chastity Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never
to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's
peace or reputation.
 13. Humility Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

21. Temperance first, as it tends to procure that coolness and clearness
of head which is so necessary where constant vigilance was to be
kept up, and guard maintained against the unremitting attraction of
ancient habits and the force of perpetual temptations. This being
acquired and established, Silence would be more easy. My desire
being to gain knowledge at the same time that I improved in virtue,
and considering that in conversation it was obtained rather by the
use of the ears than of the tongue, and therefore wishing to break a
habit I was getting into prattling, punning, and joking, which only
made me acceptable to trifling company, I gave Silence the second
place. This and the next, Order, I expected would allow me more
time for attending to my project and my studies.

22. Resolution, once because habitual, would keep me firm in my
endeavors to obtain all the subsequent virtues; Frugality and
Industry, freeing me from my remaining debt, and producing
affluence and independence, would make more easy the practice
of Sincerity and Justice, etc., Conceiving, then, that, agreeably to
the advice of Pythagoras in his Garden Verses, daily examination
would be necessary, I contrived the a method for conducting that
examination.
Here will I hold. If there's a power above us (And that there is, all
nature cries aloud Thro' all her works), He must delight in virtue;
And that which He delights in must be happy.

23. A Prayer
Father of light and life, thou Good Supreme!
O teach me what is good; teach me Thyself!
Save me from folly, vanity, and vice,
From every low pursuit; and fill my soul
With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure;
Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!

24. In 1727, he formed a group of Philadelphia men, many of
them tradesmen like himself, who could benefit
themselves and their community through conversations.
Members of this group, called the Junto or the Leather
Apron Club, gathered on Fridays and discussed matters of
business and society. Junto nicely demonstrates one of
the central tenets of his Enlightenment perspective—that
is, that humans can greatly improve themselves and their
world through collaboration. “The Junto,” biographer Leo
Lemay notes, “served as the incubation chamber for
several public projects.”

25. One of these projects was the first subscription library in
the colonies, the Library Company of Philadelphia,
founded in 1731. In these early decades of his life,
Franklin also played important roles, partly through his
writing, in the formations of a fire department, a night
watch, a hospital, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Like many young men, Franklin was carving out his
identity as a public person at the same time that he was
facing momentous developments in his personal life. In
1730, he entered into a common-law marriage with
Deborah Read Rogers.

26. First example of the fulfillment of the American Dream is
the life of Ben Franklin. Franklin demonstrates the
possibilities of life in the New World through his own rise
from the lower middle class as a youth to one of the most
admired men in the world as an adult. Furthermore, he
asserts that he achieved his success through a solid work
ethic. He proved that even undistinguished persons in
Boston can, through industry, become great figures of
importance in America. When we think of the American
Dream today [before Trump] - the ability to rise from rags
to riches through hard work--we are usually thinking of
the model set forth by Franklin.

27. The Philadelphia Academy, forerunner of the University of
Pennsylvania, organized by Benjamin Franklin, reflected the spirit
of toleration by giving representation on the board of trustees to
several religious sects.
It was Franklin's idea that his college should prepare young men to
serve in public office as leaders of the people. Private tutoring in
the home was common.
In still more families there were intelligent children who grew up in
the great colonial school of adversity and who trained themselves.
Such, for example, was Benjamin Franklin, whose charming
autobiography, in addition to being an American classic, is a fine
record of self-education.

28. Franklin’s most famous sketch, “The Speech of Miss
Polly Baker,” appeared in a London periodical, the
General Advertiser, in 1747. From his press came his
greatest commercial success, Poor Richard’s Almanac,
later known as Poor Richard Improved, which
appeared annually from 1732 until 1758.
A compilation of information on astronomy, weather,
and other matters, along with clever and amusing
aphorisms, this book became one of the period’s best-
sellers.

29. THE SPEECH OF POLLY BAKER.
The Speech of Miss Polly Baker before a Court of
Judicatory, in New England, where she was
prosecuted or a fifth time, for having a Bastard
Child ;
 which influenced the Court to dispense with
her punishment, and
which induced one of her judges to marry her the
next day by whom she had fifteen children.

30. Continued…. SPEECH OF POLLY BAKER
 I readily consented to the only proposal of marriage that
ever was made me, which was when I was a virgin, but
too easily confiding in the person ‘s sincerity that made it,
I unhappily lost my honour by trusting to his ; for he got
me with child, and then forsook me.
 That very person, you all know, he is now become a
magistrate of this country;
 I must now complain of it, as unjust and unequal,
that my betrayer, and undoer, should be advanced to
honor and power in the government that punishes my
misfortunes with stripes and infamy.

31. Indian peace was as important to the history of the continent
as Indian war, in the mid-eighteenth century. Out of English
efforts at alliance with the Iroquois came a need for treaty
councils, which brought together leaders of both cultures. In
the earliest days of his professional life, Franklin was drawn
to the diplomatic and ideological interchange of these
councils -- first as a printer of their proceedings, then as a
Colonial envoy, the beginning of one of the most
distinguished diplomatic careers in American history. Out of
these councils grew an early campaign by Franklin for
Colonial union on a federal model, very similar to the
Iroquois system.

32. Contact with Indians and their ways of ordering life left a
imprint on Franklin and others who were seeking, during the
prerevolutionary period, alternatives to a European order
against which revolution would be made. To Jefferson, and
Franklin, the Indians had what the colonists wanted:
societies free of oppression and class stratification. The
Iroquois and other Indian nations fired the imaginations of
the revolution’s architects. As Henry Steele Commager has
written, America acted the Enlightenment as European
radicals dreamed it. Extensive, intimate contact with Indian
nations was a major reason for this difference.

33. The "Age of Discovery" that Columbus initiated in 1492
was also an age of cultural interchange between the
peoples of Europe and the Americas. Each learned
from the other, borrowing artifacts -- and ideas. This
traffic continues today. The result of such extensive
communication across cultural lines has produced in
contemporary North America a composite culture that is
rich in diversity, and of a type unique in the world. The
Vikings left some tools behind in northeast North
America. But while pottery, tools, and other things may
be traced and dated, ideas are harder to follow through
time.

34. Americanization of the white man
The question of American Indian influence on the
intellectual traditions of Euro-American culture has been
raised, especially during the last thirty years. These
questions, however, have not yet been examined in the
depth that the complexity of Indian contributions
warrant. America unique, built from contributions not
only by Europeans and American Indians, but also by
almost every other major cultural and ethnic group that
has taken up residence in the Americas.

35. American nation gathers its people from many peoples of the Old
World, its language and its free institutions it inherits from England, its
civilization and art from Greece and Rome, its religion from Judea --
and even these red men of the forest have wrought some of the chief
stones in our national temple. In an early history of the relations
between Sir William Johnson and the Iroquois, William E. Griffis in
1891 advised further study of Iroquoian influence on the formation of
the United States, especially Benjamin Franklin’s role in this
interaction.
Here, then, we find the right of popular nomination, the right of recall
and of woman suffrage flourishing in the old America of the Red Man
and centuries before it became the clamor of the new America of the
white invader. Who now shall call the Indians and Iroquois savages?