Benjamin Franklin's Accomplishments

Eric Marek
HIST1301
21 December 2015
Ben Franklin: The First American “A penny saved is a penny earned.” That well known quote is from none other than the famous Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. Josiah Franklin, Benjamin’s father, was a candle and soap maker. In Josiah’s first marriage with Anne Child, they had seven children together. Then in his second marriage with Abiah Folger, they had ten more children. Ben was his fifteenth child and his youngest son. Franklin had numerous accomplishments and he was also very involved in many careers, including: scientist, inventor, politician, author, printer, statesman, civic activist, political theorist, diplomat, postmaster, and freemason. In his early years
Although his printing career was successful, he had many other accomplishments that make him one of the most influential Founding Fathers in America. A major accomplishment of his was when he successfully negotiated to form an essential military alliance with France in 1778 as the American Revolution progressed, as well as negotiating the Treaty of Paris in 1783 after the Americans emerged victorious in the Revolution. Additionally, Franklin was a significant contributor to the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766. Franklin was appointed to be the first Postmaster General in the U.S. in 1775, and he was one of the five men that drafted the Declaration of Independence in 1776. One of the things that peaks my interest in Benjamin Franklin and what inspired me to choose him for this essay is his passion for science and his inventions. Before he turned his interest to electricity and conducted his renowned kite-and-key experiment to demonstrate that lightning was a form of electricity, he had previously invented a flexible catheter, a heat-efficient stove, the Armonica, swim fins, and bifocals. Franklin got the nickname the “First American” because he was a genuine polymath and tycoon in the eyes of the public. The last public act that he was involved in was in 1789, when he wrote an anti-slavery treatise. The most interesting fact that I discovered about Franklin is that he was an ardent chess player. Seeing as how I really enjoy playing chess, I found this newfound information quite fascinating. In 1999, Ben was initiated into the United States Chess Hall of Fame and the second oldest chess club in the U.S., The Franklin Mercantile Chess Club in Philadelphia, was named in honor of him. If I was given the opportunity to have a face-to-face encounter with the “First American,” Benjamin Franklin, I would ask him if he thought America would