Benjamin+Franklin

 ** BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ** Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston. He started a printing business with his brother. When he turned 17 he walked all the way from Boston to Philadelphia. He opened his own printing shop and wrote __Poor Richard’s Almanac__. In 1730 he married Deborah Read. He invented bifocal eyeglasses and the Franklin stove, and proved that lightening is made of electricity.

In 1764 Franklin went to England to talk to the king about rights and freedom for America. The king would not listen, so the colonists started a war, called the American Revolution. Franklin helped write the Declaration of Independence. He also got France to help the colonists with the war. After the Americans won the war, he helped write the constitution, which told how the new country should work. He was the first governor of Pennsylvania. He died on April 17, 1790.

Benjamin Franklin is one of the most important founding fathers of our country. If it weren’t for him, we might still be a part of England. Also, he started the Postal system and fire departments in Philadelphia. He was a great writer and inventor, but mostly a statesman.