Born in Boston on January 17, 1706, Benjamin Franklin was the tenth son of soap maker Josiah Franklin, who fathered 17 children. Benjamin's mother was Abiah Folger, the second wife of Josiah.
Franklin died on April 17, 1790 at the age of 84. 20,000 people attended the funeral.
Some of his major achievements include:
- 1789 - Served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and signed the Constitution. One of his last public acts was writing an anti-slavery treatise in 1789
- 1783 - Signed the Treaty of Paris that ended the American war with Britain
- 1776 - Signed the Declaration of Independence, and afterward sailed to France as an ambassador to the Court of Louis XVI
- 1775 - Elected to the Second Continental Congress and worked on a committee of five that helped to draft the Declaration of Independence
- 1765 - His testimony before Parliament helped persuade the members to repeal the Stamp Tax law.
- 1757-75 - Colonial representative in England for Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts
- 1749 - Retired from business and started concentrating on science, experiments, and inventions
- 1752 - Helped to found the Philadelphia Contribution for Insurance Against Loss by Fire
- 1751 - Brought together a group who formed the Pennsylvania Hospital
- 1743 - Invented a heat-efficient stove, called the Franklin stove, to help warm houses
- 1743 - Helped to launch the American Philosophical Society
- 1736 - Organized Philadelphia's Union Fire Company -- the first in the city
- 1733 - Started publishing Poor Richard's Almanack
- 1731 - Started America's first library -- The Library Company
- 1721 - Bought the newspaper The New England Courant
- 1721 - Under the pseudonym of Silence Dogood, wrote letters published in The New England Courant
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