Ben Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. He was the fifteenth child of seventeen to a candlemaker, Josiah Franklin. As a boy he attended school for only a mere two years, where he excelled in writing. He had no interest in taking up his fathers trade, candlemaking. Ben’s real love, beyond books, was ships and the water. He was an excellent swimmer, partly due to swimming aids he had created for himself, which are considered the forerunners for today’s swimming gear. Fearing that he might run away to the sea, Benjamin’s father apprenticed Ben to his older brother, James, who was a printer (Donovan 12-17).

Benjamin was eager to write for his brothers newspaper, but he knew that he, a young boy, had little or no chance of getting something published. He submitted an article to the paper under the pen name of Silence Dogood. The article was printed soon after. Benjamin thrived on the idea that people all over town were not on

ly reading it but debating it. He went on to write thirteen more of the Silence Dogood letters which commented on the aspects of Boston culture. James was a hard worker, and Benjamin was a cocky young boy, partly due to the success of his letters. When he was seventeen years old he broke his apprenticeship agreement with his brother and ran away (Eberle 19-25). Ben took a ship to New Jersey, and from there he earned his way to Philadelphia by pulling an oar in a boat while going down the Delaware River (Donovan 22).

In London, during the years just before the American Revolution, Franklin was busy gathering support for the colonies through the British press (Donovan 101). He gained a tremendous amount of support form Edmund Burke and other people in the British Parliament, and also from British merchants as well. All his efforts were not enough though. Benjamin Franklin was on the first ship back home when the war started at Lexington and Concord. The American Revolution had broken out into full swing, and by this time Franklin was sixty nine years old. He immediately put himself behind the cause for independence (Donovan 109).

Benjamin hated the idea of being in debt, he felt it made him a slave to the lender. He decided to start a newspaper in order to compete with another printing company owned by Andrew Bradford. He was very excited about his plans and wanted very much to share his excitement with others. He confided in one of Keimer’s workers who immediately informed Keimer of Benjamin’s plans. Keimer then rushed to print his own paper before Benjamin had a chance. Franklin then did the only thing he could do, he began to publish articles for Bradford’s paper. He started writing articles for the paper and signed them, The Busy Body. They appropriately became known as The Busy Body articles. They became so popular that no one bothered to read Keimer’s paper. In fear of bankruptcy, Keimer sold his paper at the cheapest possible price to Benjamin. Ben then quit Bradford’s paper of course and devoted all his time to his new paper which he entitled The Pennsylvania Gazette (Fleming 31).

When Ben landed he was tired, hungry, and had only a few pennies on him. He spent three of those pennies on some rolls of bread (Donovan 22-23). Benjamin quickly found a job working for a man named Keimer, who although was a printer, was not skilled at it. Franklin quickly put the shop into good working condition. His work attracted the attention of the governor of Pennsylvania, Sir William Keith. Keith offered to set Ben, who was only eighteen at the time, up with his own business. He told Benjamin that all he had to do was go to England and pick up the equipment, and that there would be a letter waiting there for him. However, when he did arrive there was no such letter to be found. Once again Benjamin was alone and broke (Eberle 32-38).

By the age of forty two Benjamin Franklin was a wealthy man who could have easily afforded to retire. In 1748 he gave up his active interest in printing and began to take interest in other projects. He had previously organized a club of young men called the Junto. They met once a week to discuss papers that the men had prepared on something that they had a genuine interest in (Fleming 28-29). The Junto members collected all their books, ordered more from England, and together they started America’s first circulating library (Eberle 74). Ben wrote to scholars in all the colonies, suggesting that they form

Some topics in this essay:
Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin England, Ben Franklin, Silence Dogood, France America, Josiah Franklin, Poor Richard, River Donovan, American Revolution, Gazette Fleming, benjamin franklin, ben franklin, american revolution, constitutional convention, bradford’s paper, franklin talked, articles confederation, fleet french, french sign, silence dogood,