Benjamin Franklin

Who was Benjamin Franklin?

Born in Boston in 1706, Benjamin Franklin built his name as a Philadelphia printer. His books, newspapers and electrical experiments made him famous across the world. In 1754 he put forward the Albany Plan to join the colonies for defence. He argued against the Stamp Act while in London, and later sat in the Continental Congress. There he helped with the Declaration of Independence. As the American envoy in France he won the alliance that helped the colonies win the war, and he helped negotiate the 1783 peace. In 1787, aged 81, he was the oldest man at the Constitutional Convention.

Political views

• In 1754 he put forward the Albany Plan, a scheme to bring the colonial governments together for shared defence.Source: loc.gov
• He helped to write the Declaration of Independence, and also the Articles of Confederation, the first plan of national government.Source: loc.gov
• At the 1787 Convention he proposed that the head of the national government should get no pay, so that office would not attract the ambitious and greedy.Source: avalon.law.yale.edu
• He asked fellow delegates to accept compromise and backed the Constitution even though he saw flaws in it.Source: avalon.law.yale.edu
• He headed the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery.Source: archives.gov
• In 1790 he sent a petition to the First Congress calling for an end to slavery and the slave trade.Source: archives.gov

Legacy

Americans remember Franklin as a self-made man who rose from a printing shop to world affairs. Admirers praise his diplomacy in Paris and his calming hand in 1787. They also admire the public projects he began, including a lending library, a volunteer fire company and a hospital. His Autobiography made hard work and self-improvement famous ideals. His record on slavery is mixed. The National Archives notes that he owned enslaved people when he was younger and printed slave sale notices in his newspaper. He turned against slavery only late in life. Critics also point to his 1751 essay about German immigrants. Defenders reply that one of his final public acts was an abolition petition, which the House set aside.

In their own words