Benjamin Franklin Facts & Worksheets

• Angered upon discovering the true author, James further strained their relationship, prompting Franklin to flee Boston in 1723, despite having three years left on his apprenticeship contract. He travelled to New York and then Philadelphia, where he began working for another printer and made Philadelphia his lifelong home.
• Encouraged by Pennsylvania Governor William Keith to open his own print business, Franklin travelled to London in 1724 to buy supplies. 
• However, Keith's promised letters of introduction never arrived, leaving Franklin to work in London’s print shops. 
• Despite this setback, he enjoyed the city's cultural offerings and maintained his love of reading. 
• An avid swimmer, Franklin even created his wooden flippers for swimming the Thames River, earning him honorary membership in the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1968.
• In Philadelphia, Franklin stayed at John Read's house, where he met and courted Deborah Read. Upon returning to Philadelphia in 1726, Franklin discovered Deborah had married and been abandoned by her husband. They resumed their relationship and married in a common-law arrangement in 1730. Around this time, Franklin fathered an illegitimate son, William, who was raised by the couple. Their first child, Francis, was born in 1732 but died of smallpox four years later. In 1743, their daughter, Sarah, was born.
• He resumed printing paper currency in New Jersey in 1728 and later established his own print business in Philadelphia, publishing government documents and books. In 1730, he was appointed Pennsylvania's official printer and founded the "Junto," a self-improvement club for young men discussing morals, philosophy, and politics. When Junto members sought more reading materials, Franklin helped establish America's first subscription library, the Library Company of Philadelphia, in 1731.
• Franklin’s 1729 treatise, "A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency," advocated increasing the money supply to boost the economy. The proceeds allowed him to purchase the Pennsylvania Gazette, transforming it into the most widely read and profitable newspaper in the colonies. He also acquired real estate and businesses, founded the volunteer Union Fire Company and joined the Freemasons, eventually becoming grand master of the Masons of Pennsylvania.
• In 1732, Franklin created the Philadelphische Zeitung, the first German-language newspaper, though it was short-lived. Despite this, Franklin’s popularity and prosperity grew significantly during the 1730s, solidifying his position as a leading figure in Philadelphia.
• Poor Richard's Almanack was first published by Franklin in late 1732. Over its 25-year run, the almanack featured weather forecasts, astronomical data, poetry, proverbs, and Franklin's clever maxims. Among these sayings were "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise," and "He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas."

INVENTIONS

• In the 1740s, Benjamin Franklin broadened his interests to the fields of science and entrepreneurship. His 1743 book, "A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge," exemplified his commitment to intellectual growth and sparked the formation of the American Philosophical Society, the first scientific institution in the American colonies. This was the start of Franklin's career as a scientist and inventor.
• The invention of the Franklin stove in 1740 marked the beginning of Benjamin Franklin's creative talent. This stove was designed to generate more heat while using less fuel, resulting in significant improvements in home heating efficiency. Franklin's idea displayed his practical approach to dealing with common problems using scientific concepts.
• Franklin also invented the bifocal lens. Frustrated with the hassle of switching between distance and reading glasses, Franklin invented bifocals, which combine two types of lenses into a single frame. This idea has had a long-term influence, offering a practical answer to millions of others with similar vision problems. 
• His creative interest expanded into the field of music in 1761, when he invented the harmonica. This is made up of spinning glass bowls, and fascinated many people, including artists such as Beethoven and Mozart, who wrote compositions directly for it. The harmonica demonstrated Franklin's ability to smoothly integrate art and science.
• Franklin's creativity also resulted in more ordinary advancements, such as the rocking chair and the flexible catheter. The rocking chair added comfort and relaxation to the standard chair, while the flexible catheter marked a significant leap in medical technology, providing patients with greater comfort and ease throughout procedures. 
• After returning from a trip across the Atlantic in 1775, Franklin began looking into why westbound trips took longer than eastward trips. His observations and measurements of ocean temperatures resulted in the discovery of the Gulf Stream. This finding drastically decreased the sailing time from Europe to North America, which aided nautical navigation.
• Franklin's creative spirit even influenced the English language. He suggested a phonetic alphabet that would omit the letters C, J, Q, W, X, and Y, which he considered redundant. Although this technique was not widely adopted, it exhibited his willingness to question norms and rethink conventional structures. 
• Franklin's contributions to education were equally important. In 1749, he wrote a treatise on juvenile education in Pennsylvania, laying the framework for the Academy of Philadelphia, which is now the University of Pennsylvania. His pedagogical vision emphasised practical knowledge and critical thinking, which are still influencing current educational ideas today.
• One of Franklin's most renowned experiments involved electricity. In 1752, he conducted the famous kite-and-key experiment, which demonstrated that lightning is a kind of electricity. This resulted in the design of the lightning rod, which protects structures from lightning strikes. His results were put into "Experiments and Observations on Electricity," which was published in England in 1751 and brought concepts like battery, charge, conductor, and electrification into the scientific vocabulary.
• Franklin's prolific inventiveness and scientific curiosity have left an indelible mark on a multitude of fields. His innovations not only addressed immediate needs but also laid the groundwork for future advancements, demonstrating the transformative power of scientific inquiry and practical problem-solving. Through his work, Franklin exemplified the integration of intellectual pursuits with practical applications, enriching both his time and generations to come.

POLITICAL LIFE

• In 1748, Franklin acquired the first of several enslaved people to work in his home and print shop. His views on slavery evolved over the years, and by the 1760s, he considered it inherently evil, eventually freeing his enslaved people. Later, he became a vocal abolitionist, serving as president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and petitioning the U.S. Congress in 1790 to end acts of slavery.
• Franklin joined Philadelphia's city council in 1748 and became a justice of the peace the following year. In 1751, he was elected as a Philadelphia alderman and a representative to the Pennsylvania Assembly, where he served until 1764. In 1756, he was appointed deputy postmaster general of North America.