Benjamin Franklin
                     BENJAMIN 
FRANKLIN
Introduction
Benjamin Franklin was America’s 
scientist, inventor, politician, 
philanthropist and business 
man. 
He is best known as one of our 
Founding Fathers and the only 
one who signed all three 
documents that freed America 
from Britain: The Declaration of 
Independence. 
Source: http://www.benjamin-franklin-history.org/
Birth
Franklin was born in a middle 
class family on January 17, 1706 
in the City of Boston, he was the 
15th of 17 children and the 
youngest son. 
With only 2 years of formal 
education he rose to the highest 
level of society. 
Source: http://www.benjamin-franklin-history.org/
Early Life
Franklin learned to read at an 
early age, and despite his 
success at the Boston Latin 
School, he stopped his formal 
schooling at 10 to work full-time 
in his cash-strapped father’s 
candle and soap shop. 
Dipping wax and cutting wicks 
didn’t fire the young boy’s 
imagination, however. 
Source: www.biography.com
Silence 
Dogood
When James refused to publish 
any of his brother’s writing, 16-
year-old Franklin adopted the 
pseudonym Mrs. Silence 
Dogood, and “her” 14 
imaginative and witty letters 
delighted readers of his 
brother’s newspaper, The New 
England Courant.
James grew angry, however, 
when he learned that his 
apprentice had penned the 
letters.
Source: www.biography.com
Living in 
London
Encouraged by Pennsylvania 
Governor William Keith to set up 
his own print shop, Franklin left 
for London in 1724 to purchase 
supplies from stationers, 
booksellers and printers. 
When the teenager arrived in 
England, however, he felt duped 
when Keith’s letters of 
introduction never arrived as 
promised.
Source: www.biography.com
Published 1st 
pamphlet
In 1725 Franklin published his 
first pamphlet, "A Dissertation 
upon Liberty and Necessity, 
Pleasure and Pain," which 
argued that humans lack free 
will and, thus, are not morally 
responsible for their actions. 
Source: www.biography.com
Wife and 
Children
The future Founding Father 
rekindled his romance with 
Deborah Read and he took her 
as his common-law wife in 1730.
Franklin fathered a son, William, 
out of wedlock who was taken in 
by the couple. 
The couple’s only daughter, 
Sarah, was born in 1743.
Source: www.biography.com
Life in 
Philadelphia
After his return to Philadelphia in 
1726, Franklin held varied jobs 
including bookkeeper, 
shopkeeper and currency cutter. 
Source: www.biography.com
Scientist and 
Inventor
In the 1740s, Franklin expanded 
into science and 
entrepreneurship. 
His 1743 pamphlet "A Proposal 
for Promoting Useful Knowledge" 
underscored his interests and 
served as the founding 
document of the American 
Philosophical Society, the first 
scientific society in the colonies.
Source: www.biography.com
Inventions
Franklin was a prolific inventor 
and scientist who was responsible 
for the following inventions:
•Franklin stove: Franklin’s first 
invention, created around 1740, 
provided more heat with less fuel.
•Bifocals: Anyone tired of 
switching between two pairs of 
glasses understands why Franklin 
developed bifocals that could be 
used for both distance and 
reading.
Source: www.biography.com
Inventions 
Continue
•Armonica: Franklin’s inventions 
took on a musical bent when, in 
1761, he commenced 
development on the armonica, a 
musical instrument composed of 
spinning glass bowls on a shaft. 
Both Ludwig van Beethoven and 
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 
composed music for the strange 
instrument.
•Rocking chair
•Flexible catheter
•American penny
Source: www.biography.com
Death
Franklin died on April 17, 1790, 
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at 
the home of his daughter, Sarah 
Bache. 
He was 84, suffered from gout 
and had complained of ailments 
for some time, completing the 
final codicil to his will a little 
more than a year and a half 
prior to his death.
Source: www.biography.com