Benjamin Franklin Essay, Research Paper

As Americans approach the era of a new millennium, they must realize the ever-changing progress of technology in our world. Developments come as fast as time passes, and with each new one, the old one becomes obsolete. Scientists and engineers have made a worldwide impact on how civilization lives, works and plays, and the technology continues to grow through continual research and experimentation. This trend is destined to continue…as time has yet to stop.

?Well done is better than well said,? once said a great man. Americans and all peoples around the globe owe tribute and thank this man, who made a significant impact on technology and the lives of all Americans during his time. Through his genius and diligent dedication to the progress of mankind, he opened up a doorway for many others to follow in his footsteps toward a world of tremendous technological and philosophical growth.

A printer, author, philosopher, scientist, and inventor by trade, this man ? probably one of the most respected of his time ? actually spent most of his time working as a diplomat and revolutionary for the upcoming American colonies. However, he is probably most acclaimed as being America?s greatest statesman ever. His phenomenal accomplishments helped lead to the establishment of the land of the free and the home of the brave, which we now know as the United States of America.

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston, Massachusetts. His father, Josiah Franklin, a tallow chandler by trade, had 17 children; Benjamin was the 15th child and the 10th son. His mother, Abiah Folger, was his father’s second wife. The Franklin family lived modestly, like most New Englanders of the time. Early in his life, Franklin indicated significant intelligence and academic ability. After his attendance at grammar school from age eight to ten, Benjamin was taken into his father’s business. Finding the work uncongenial, he entered the employ of a cutler. At age 13 he was apprenticed to his brother James, who had recently returned from England with a new printing press (Benjamin Franklin, Funk & Wagnall?s Online Encyclopedia). Benjamin learned the printing trade, devoting his spare time to the advancement of his education. As an avid student and reader of classic and contemporary writers, Franklin quickly became adept at writing, and he soon developed his own unique prose style. Franklin?s brother, James Franklin, founded and created his own newspaper, called The New England Courant. Franklin spent his days delivering the newspaper, and worked all night writing articles for it.

In October of 1726, Franklin returned to Philadelphia to continue his trade. In September 1729, he bought the Pennsylvania Gazette, a boring, poorly edited weekly newspaper. Using his wit and tact, Franklin quickly turned the newspaper around, making readers more appreciative of the newspaper. A year later, Franklin married a Philadelphia woman named Deborah Read.

These articles, published anonymously, won wide notice and acclaim for their observations on the current scene. Because of its liberal bias, the New England Courant frequently incurred the displeasure of the colonial authorities. In 1722, as a consequence of an article considered particularly offensive, James Franklin was imprisoned for a month and forbidden to publish his paper, and for a while it appeared under Benjamin’s name (Benjamin Franklin, Funk & Wagnall?s Online Encyclopedia).

After a disagreement with his brother, Franklin left Boston for Philadelphia. He arrived there in 1723, and continued his trade as a printer. Through his work, he was able to attain many friends, one of which was Sir William Keith ? the governor of Pennsylvania. Keith advised and persuaded Franklin to go to London to refine his writing and printing skill and to purchase equipment to return to the colonies. Franklin heeded his advice, and he arrived in London in December of 1724. However, Sir Keith?s letters of introduction and credit had not yet arrived, so 18-year-old Franklin found himself in an unfamiliar land with no means of providing for himself.

Being the incredibly resourceful man that he was, he quickly found himself a job at two of London?s premier printing houses: Palmer?s and Watt?s. Franklin was quick to prove his ability in this field, and he was acclaimed as one of the most distinguished figures in the literary and publishing world.

One of Franklin?s greatest works during his printing career was his almanac. This production, which became known informally as Poor Richard?s Almanac was widely acclaimed. Under the pen name Richard Saunders, Franklin established this periodical journal as ?both entertaining and useful.? Since few Americans could read or write at that time, and even fewer owned many books, Franklin found this as a way to not only provide them with entertainment, but means to educate themselves and their children. (Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, University of Virginia Library Electronic Text) Surprisingly to Franklin, the almanac was a huge success and was always in demand ? selling approximately 10,000 annually. Colonial Americans loved them for their splendid candor and simple quotes and anecdotes about everyday life.

Franklin?s accomplishments were not limited to his work in the printing and literary world, however. Even today, Franklin is recognized as one of the world?s greatest scientists. With the Americas having unlimited untapped resources, they were a haven for many kinds of scientific and technological growth. Not only did the Americas provide for the development of new ideas, they also provided a need for them because of American?s need to adapt to this new way of life.

Franklin was always at the forefront of this scientific growth. He was by far one of the most practical philosophers of his time, which indicates the simplicity of his scientific works. Perhaps his most famous work was related to electricity and lightning (Benjamin Franklin: Experiments with Electricity, John Bigelow, Electric Library). Franklin believed that electricity was a single fluid that moved into or out of objects to produce electric charges. This led to the introduction and usage of the terms positive and negative. Franklin had no way of knowing in which direction the electric fluid moved and made an arbitrary choice of which bodies became positive and negative. He used a capacitor ? a Leyden jar ? lined with foil on the inside and out, as a proving ground for the clarification of his ideas. The development of today?s lightning rod is a direct result of Franklin?s experimentation with lightning and kites. By flying a kite in a thunderstorm, Franklin produced sparks in a Leyden jar on the ground…the wet kite string had conducted the charge from the lightning, thus proving that lightning was indeed electricity. (Benjamin Franklin, The Hutchinson Dictionary of World History)

Franklin also had other scientific and technological contributions. A significant part of his life was spent inventing. He invented and developed many things that were used to improve the way of life in the colonies. He developed things such as bifocal eyeglasses, and a woodstove that burned wood more efficiently, called the Franklin stove. This stove allowed people to heat their homes more effectively while still burning less wood. As a postmaster, Franklin traveled in his own carriage using an odometer that he invented himself in order to establish the shortest routes possible (Glimpses of Benjamin Franklin, The Franklin Institute; via the Internet).

Perhaps Franklin?s most significant contribution to America, however, was not printing nor science ? but his role in America?s struggle for independence. Benjamin Franklin was one of America?s most important leaders in battle ? in battle of rhetoric, diplomacy, and politics. When a problem was to be solved, those who would seek to offer a solution would first turn to Franklin for his approval.

As a leader in the drafting and a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, Franklin was integral in the development of the infrastructure framework of government that we now call democracy. His innovative ideas about government provided a basis on which other colonial leaders could progress and develop upon.

But before the Declaration of Independence could even be considered, many events transpired and a few lives were even lost before the colonists realized that immediate action was necessary because war was imminent. The first of these was the series of acts that preceded the first shots being fired. They were the first sign of serious conflict.

As the Revolutionary movement began, the intensity multiplied with the passing of several acts. These acts, developed by the British Parliament, were intended to tax the colonists in order to pay for the war being waged with France; they claimed however, that it was to pay for the protection of the colonists through resident soldiers in the colonies. The first significant act was called the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act required all colonists to pay heavy duties on things such as newspapers, pamphlets, legal documents, licenses, and ships? papers (American Revolutionary Period, Jensen, Colliers Encyclopedia CD-ROM). Other things, such as glass windows and stained glass were also subject to the heavy tariffs. The colonies resisted, however, angering the monarch and British Parliament. Parliament did, however, unwillingly repeal the Stamp Act in March 1766.

This resistance of the colonies did not help matters, but only triggered more rigid action. Although the Stamp Act was repealed, this passiveness did not last for long. A year later ? in the spring of 1767 ? British Parliament passed the Townshend Acts. Parliament had cut the British land tax, and in order to make up the difference, Charles Townshend promised that the Americans would be taxed (American Revolutionary Period, Jensen, Colliers Encyclopedia CD-ROM). The Townshend Acts were no more successful than the Stamp Act, and they simply stirred more trouble.

Opposition and open resistance to the Townshend Acts were powerful and effective. American merchants had verbal agreements not to import anything made in Britain, thus making tariffs and import taxes virtually ineffective.

Probably one of the least popular and most resisted acts passed was called the Quartering Act. This act provided British soldiers and officers the right to take any private residence as military barracks during times of peace or war. Americans hated redcoats (British troops), known as ?crab-backs? in the Americas, and they hated providing housing to them even more. Many soldiers took advantage of this, often raping the daughters of colonists and burning their homes after they left. This issue became so intense that an amendment preventing this was written into the Constitution.

As anyone knows, the British are worldwide famous for their love of hot tea. Although Americans at heart, the colonists were English born, and they loved tea as much as anyone. Parliament realized this, and they knew that this highly-demanded American import would be accessible nowhere else. In consideration of this indisputable fact, Parliament put a tax on tea, calling it the Tea Act. When the next boatload of taxed tea arrived in the Boston Harbor, colonial rebels ? dressed as Indians ? went and sunk the entire shipment of tea as a display of their open hostility to the English. This became known as the Boston Tea Party, and provoked the British to pass what became known as the Intolerable Acts.

The suppression of the colonies by the British did not go unnoticed. Colonial leaders immediately began to recognize the need for change and opposition. Benjamin Franklin played a key role in the colonist?s organization against the British. He, along with other leaders such as Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, and Patrick Henry helped to lead America to rebel for freedom and independence from the British with backing from many influential people throughout the colonies.

The first organized event was the First Continental Congress, which met in September 1774 (American Revolutionary Period, Jensen, Colliers Encyclopedia CD-ROM). Members concurred: they must resist and oppose the British in an aggressive manner. However, they were unable to agree on a method of defying the British tyranny. The Congress split into two opposing groups. The first wanted to reclaim rights under the English constitution and have a redress of grievances. The other, more radical group, wanted complete and total separation from England under the ?laws of nature? (American Revolutionary Period, Jensen, Colliers Encyclopedia CD-ROM). The Congress adjourned, and agreed to meet once again in the following spring if there had been no redress of grievances by that time.

Immediately thereafter, Americans fought the British in the battles of Lexington and Concord. Meanwhile, delegates met in Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress. Franklin was in attendance. Once again, the group divided and there was strong opposition between both groups. The Congress appointed a group of five men to ?draft a document asserting American independence from foreign, monarchical rule? (An American Parable, Norrell, via the Internet). The group included Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams as well as two others.

These men had been assigned an unimaginable duty with responsibility to one nation and treason to another. The committee asked Jefferson to write the document, which he completed in about two weeks. Franklin and Adams made a few literary changes before the draft was introduced to the Continental Congress (Declaration of Independence, Morris, World Book Encyclopedia). The final draft of the Declaration of Independence and the signatures affixed to this document provided the necessary means to fight for freedom and wage war against Great Britain.

The signing of the Declaration invoked immediate action by the British. They mobilized their troops and prepared to wage a full-fledged war in the Americas. The colonies, in desperate need of money, realized that an alliance with France meant greater chances of success, so they sent Benjamin Franklin to France as an American Ambassador. His success was overwhelming. The French, thoroughly impressed by Franklin?s overall character, were persuaded to sign an alliance treaty with the colonies. Franklin managed to secure a constant flow of loans and monetary gifts from France to the colonies. Many believe that without France?s support, the Americans would have never won the war. In 1778, Franklin remained in France under the title of Minister to France, and he helped draft the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War (Benjamin Franklin, James A. Hutson, World Book Encyclopedia).

Franklin, Jefferson, and Adams also served on another committee together. They were asked to find a seal for the new United States. Today?s national bird of the Bald Eagle was elected by only a narrow margin, as Benjamin Franklin felt that the turkey best represented the ideals of America. However, the eagle prevailed, and Congress passed the current seal on July 20, 1782.

Upon failure of the Articles of Confederation (the first government framework set up after the Revolution), colonial leaders saw a need for major revision. In 1787, they met in Independence Hall at the Constitutional Convention, and 81-year-old Franklin represented Pennsylvania. Delegates from each state discussed how the Articles needed to be modified. Two distinct groups emerged. One group was in favor of starting new with a totally different idea, while another was in favor of simply changing the current plan. Franklin?s poor health prevented him from taking an active part, but he did, however, address the Convention several times, and his wisdom helped hold the group together as they fought over many things, including representation in the new two-house Congress. The new Constitution passed, but it could not have done so without the help of Franklin.

A lifelong civil servant, Franklin?s final act was to sign a petition to Congress asking them for the speedy abolition of slavery (Benjamin Franklin, James A. Hutson, World Book Encyclopedia). At the ripe age of 84, Franklin died in April, 1790. He was honored at his funeral by over 20,000 people. No matter how you view it, Benjamin Franklin?s name should always be on any list of America?s greatest men. His gentle character and terrific wisdom make him America?s man of infinite vision.