Chang Jin Lee
Professor Mohammed Jamil
HIST 1301
3 March. 2015
An Interesting Life of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was a profoundly influential American because he changed “the beginnings and future landscape of the country’s political, international, and social life.” (Anderson 8) He had a varied career throughout his lifetime. He was a writer, printer, editor, free-thinker, inventor, and diplomat. He earned the title of “the First American” for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity; as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies, then as the first United States Ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation.
Born 1706 in Boston, Benjamin Franklin was the youngest son and tenth child in a family of seventeen children. He went to school to become a minister because his father, Josiah, wanted him to be a minister. However, that idea was dropped after Franklin became interested in reading and writing. He worked under his brother, James at a young age, but Benjamin Franklin decided he would leave soon after fighting with his brother. The fighting between James and Franklin was because James was unhappy with Franklin when he discovered the popular correspondent was Franklin.
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, Franklin took over the newspaper and had Mrs. Dogood proclaim, “Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech. Later, he quit the job and moved to Philadelphia, where he worked for a man named Samuel Keimer.
When he first arrived, he worked several printer shops around town, but he was not satisfied by the immediate prospects. Later, he also worked as a typesetter in a printer’s shop in what is now “the Church of St Bartholomew-the-Great in the Smithfield area of London. He was able to meet several political figures. After befriending some political figures, including the royal governor, Franklin left for England. Franklin created a debating club called the Junto, a group of “like minded aspiring artisans and tradesmen who hoped to improve themselves while they improved their community.” (Anderson 116) The club subsequently gave rise to many organization in Philadelphia. Two year later, he took over “the Pennsylvania Gazette from Keimer and turned it into a successful publication with tools from London. In 1730, Franklin wed Deborah Read, and they had two children. Throughout the 1730s, Franklin held some minor positions doing printing work for the government. In that time, he became postmaster of Philadelphia. Besides his printing business and associational involvement, Franklin became interested in the study of science and invention. He invented the Franklin stove. In addition, in the 1740s, Franklin worked on several projects as well as inventing, including the fire brigade, the police force, the University of Pennsylvania, the street sweeping service and some other smaller public works projects.
He retired from the printing