Benjamin Franklin

"Never confuse motion with action." --Benjamin Franklin

b. January 17, 1706 Boston, Massachusetts -- d. April 17, 1790, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

m. Deborah Read Rogers 1730 (1708-1774)

two sons: William b. 1731 (mother unknown; prob. Deborah) -- d. 1813

Francis b. 1732 -- d. 1736

daughter: Sarah ("Sally") b. 1743 -- d. 1808

1729 sole owner and publisher of the Pennsylvania Gazette

1732-1758 publishes the annual Poor Richard: An Almanack

1737 appointed Postmaster of Philadelphia

1739 with his Leather Apron Club opens the first lending library in America, Philadelphia

1748 sells printing office, retiring from business

1751 his book Experiments and Observations on Electricity is published in London

1752, June, famous kite experiment

1752 founds first American fire insurance company

1769 elected President of the American Philosophical Society

1775 elected to Continental Congress; submits Articles of Confederation of United Colonies

1776 signs the Declaration of Independence; presides at Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention; sails to France as American Commissioner

1778 negotiates and signs Treaty of Alliance with France

1779 appointed Minister to France

1782 negotiates, with John Adams and John Jay, the Treaty of Peace with Great Britain

1783 in Paris, watches the Montgolfier brothers become the first men to fly in a balloon

1784 negotiates treaties with Prussia and other European countries

1787 elected president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery; delegate to the Constitutional Convention


Benjamin Franklin's 300th Birthday

The World of Benjamin Franklin

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin and the Armonica - the Glass Harmonica

Benjamin Franklin: What to Remember About America's Favorite Polymath

Benjamin Franklin: An Enlightened American

Benjamin Franklin - Librarian

The Electric Franklin

Benjamin Franklin by Edmund S. Morgan


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