Benjamin Franklin has been an inspiration to all Americans and many of us have come to learn about his great accomplishments and their impacts on our society usually in the first few years of grammar school. Almost every child learning about Colonial America and the birth of our country comes to recognize the image and legacy of Benjamin Franklin. While there are quite a lot of myths involved in Benjamin Franklin’s life story, many of what we have come to know about Benjamin Franklin is quite accurate. If you have ever been fascinated with Benjamin Franklin, our founding fathers or the birth of our country Smithsonian Magazine offers an intriguing article on the subject.
Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706 and was the 17th child and the youngest of his family. Growing up in such a large family in Massachusetts had both its advantages and disadvantages. While his family was not rich and was not able to give Benjamin the resources he wanted, the fact is that Benjamin Franklin had plenty of talent and resources of his own that he worked hard to develop. You may have thought that Benjamin Franklin was schooled by the best and the brightest as other founding fathers received, but in contrary, Benjamin Franklin received only one year of formal education- enough for him to fall in love with the written word and enjoy reading which ultimately set his course for the future.
At the young age of 12, Benjamin Franklin started his apprenticeship and found a vehicle for his love of reading and writing. His first job was as a printer- at his brother’s print shop. Benjamin worked very long hours each day composing pamphlets, advertising and a variety of products and setting type. Although, this apprenticeship was rewarding, he looked to further his career and decided to leave home and start his own printing enterprise in the city of Philadelphia.
With his new found enterprise becoming extremely successful, Benjamin Franklin became not only wealthy, but renowned for the writings he created. Eventually, he branched out into newspapers and a few titles of his own, one of which is still popular today- Poor Richard’s Almanac. As his popularity and intellectual curiosity excelled, he used this knowledge and power he amassed to do lots of good for not only Philadelphia, but for the American Colonies.
To read more about one of our greatest forefathers, the Smithsonian Magazine has a fascinating article on Benjamin Franklin. Please visit our main website at the following link to read it. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/
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