BENJAMIN FRANKLINHis Life
ONE
Benjamin Franklin, born in Boston, Massachusetts, January 17, 1706 (January 6, Old Style), of humble parents, was one of the heroes of the War of Independence, one of the cleverest of American diplomats, and one of the greatest American politicians and statesmen. But this was not all: he possessed so many talents that he can only be described properly as a universal genius.
Franklin’s life is one huge catalogue of performances, hard indeed to tabulate, for he went from one thing to another with remarkable rapidity and excelled in everything that he undertook. A recital of his accomplishments sounds like a round of the old counting game, “Doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief.” He was, in fact, all the list but the “thief”—even the “beggarman.”
Franklin’s father, Josiah Franklin, a candle maker, intended that his son should enter the ministry of the Puritan Church, and with this idea sent him, when eight years old, to the Boston Grammar School. A year of this was too much for the slender means of the father, so Benjamin was sent to George Brownell for instruction. A year of this and Franklin’s school days were ended. He worked in his father’s shop for a time, and then apprenticed himself to his brother James, a printer.
While engaged in the printing business (and this did not merely consist of setting type and printing books, but in writing articles for his paper and also many political pamphlets that prepared the way for his future career), he was clerk of the General Assembly in 1736 (holding this office until 1751); postmaster in Philadelphia in 1737; and, after he gave up the post of clerk of the General Assembly, a member of that body for thirteen years (1751-1764). His activity in public affairs was enormous: he organized the first police and fire company in Philadelphia; established an academy which became the University of Pennsylvania; organized an important debating club—the Junto (1727); took the lead in improving the paving of the city; developed the lighting of the streets; organized a militia force; founded a city hospital, and in every way concerned himself with the bettering of conditions, both civic and political. He undertook to provide Braddock with horses and wagons for the march against Fort Duquesne, and, in 1756, he had charge of the Northwest frontier for a month, during which he erected blockhouses and watched the wily Indians.
In 1757, he was sent to London as agent for the people to petition the Crown. He returned home in 1762, expecting to settle down and devote the remainder of his life to scientific investigation and the pleasures of the pen. He brought with him many degrees and honors, and he thought that his public life was over. In two years’ time, however, he was again sent to England as agent to settle questions in relation to taxation, and represented not only Pennsylvania, but New Jersey, Georgia, and Massachusetts. He remained until 1775, and was, therefore, in England during all the stormy days of the Stamp Act. On the day after his return he was elected to the Continental Congress, and was one of the committee of five to draw up the Declaration of Independence. On September 26, 1776, he was chosen commissioner to France with Arthur Lee and Silas Deane, and arrived in Paris on December 22, 1776, after a perilous passage, to be welcomed like a hero. On October 28, 1776, he was appointed sole plenipotentiary to the Court of France. In 1781, he was appointed one of a commission to make peace with Great Britain. He returned to Philadelphia in 1785, having made commercial treaties with Sweden (1783) and Prussia (1785).
Even then, Franklin’s work was not finished. He was elected a member of the municipal council of Philadelphia, and was made a delegate to the Convention that drew up the Federal Constitution. It is interesting, also, to note that he signed a petition to Congress, in 1790, to abolish slavery. He died in Philadelphia on April 17, 1790, aged eighty-four.
These extraordinary activities, including those of a politician, diplomat, philanthropist, civic reformer, philosopher, scientist, printer, and author, covered a period of sixty years. And in between all these separate careers, as we might call them, we find stray hours filled with delightful pursuits and such pleasant diversions as studies in the realm of music, improving the musical glasses, and buying Bow, Worcester, and Chelsea china of the newest fashion. Moreover, Franklin always found time to write beautifully and to enjoy social pleasures.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATIONILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 6. No. 7. SERIAL No. 155COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
FROM AN ENGRAVING BY GEORGE E. PERINE, AFTER A DRAWING BY C. N. COCHINTHE MATURE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 1777
FROM AN ENGRAVING BY GEORGE E. PERINE, AFTER A DRAWING BY C. N. COCHIN
THE MATURE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 1777