Franklin was born in Boston, in the colony of Massachusetts. He was the youngest son in a large, poor family. When he was ten, Ben left school to work in the family’s shop making soap and candles. He soon found his job dull. He loved to read newspapers and books, so he asked to work in a printing shop run by his brother. There, Ben learned how to set type, run a printing press, and write for a newspaper.

When Franklin was 17, he quarreled with his brother and ran away, first to New York City and then to Philadelphia. Within a dew years, he was writing and printing his own newspaper. The Pennsylvania Gazette became one of the most widely read newspaper in the colonies. Franklin also began to publish a kind of yearly calendar called Poor Richard’s Almanack. Many of Poor Richard’s sayings are famous even today. While he was building his business, Franklin was also helping his city. He b

The British government ruled the colonies and collected taxes from the colonists. The colonists thought the taxes were too high and that some of the laws were unfair. The colonists of Pennsylvania sent Franklin to Great Britain to present their complaints. He spent 18 years there trying to persuade the British to govern the colonists more fairly. But the British and the colonists continued to quarrel.

By the time he was 42, Franklin’s printing business was a success. He had more time to work on other things. He became director of the postal service for the American colonies. His plans helped get letters delivered quickly. He also served as a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, which helped to govern the colony.

One useful result of his discovery was the lightning rod. Lightning often struck barns and houses and set them afire. Hoping to prevent this, Franklin put a metal rod on his roof. A metal wire connects the rod to the ground. In a storm, lightning struck the rod, not the house. The metal wire conducted the electricity safely into the ground. Once people realized rods worked, they quickly started using them.

Franklin was interested in solving everyday problems, too.

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