Being a runaway made it difficult for Ben to find work, but he eventually did, as an apprentice printer. While working Ben stayed with the Reed family, and met a girl named Deborah . Ben loved her but, she started talking marriage, and Ben wasn’t ready for that. In the mean time Ben was doing so well at his job, that the governor of Pennsylvania offered to set him up with his own printing business, if Ben would go to London to buy printing supplies. Ben went to London, but the governor broke his deal, and Ben was forced to work for months as a printer to get back to America. While he was away, Deborah Reed married someone else.
When Ben returned to Philadelphia, he worked hard and was eventually able to set up his own printing shop. Because he worked so hard, he started getting contracts to do work for the government. Ben’s business was doing very well, and in 1730, Deborah Reed’s husband ran off, and Ben married her.
Ben’s next adventure was to buy a newspaper called The Pennsylvania Gazette. Ben not only printed it, but also wrote articles under a fake name. The paper did very well, and Ben wrote the very first political cartoon . At this time the people started to notice Ben, because he was so active in public matters, and he was respected in the community.
Ben, always working, did a number of things over the years. In 1731, Ben was responsible for creating the first library, so people who couldn’t afford books, could check them out. In 1751, Franklin got a group of people to set up the Pennsylvania Hospital . Ben Franklin was a busy man. He even had time in his busy life, to do experiments with electricity. Who doesn’t know the famous kite story?
In the 1750’s Franklin became more and more involved in politics. He had a strong love for England, but was tired of the growing corruption in the royal circles. Ben started to believe America should break free of England. During this time, there was a governor in Massachusetts named Thomas Hutchinson , who was supposed to be backing American ideas, was secretly working for the King of England. Ben was able to expose him by sending letters the governor wrote, to America. The American public was very angry with this, so the English Foreign Ministry, called for Ben, and condemned him in public. This is when Franklin started working for American Independence, and was eventually elected to the Second Continental Congress, and helped draft the Declaration of Independence. In 1776 Ben Franklin made history with his signature, and helped form a great America.
In his later years, after his wife died, Franklin spent a few years in France, where he continued to be active publicly, but he eventually came back to America, where he became President of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania, and was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Benjamin Franklin was one of the few who had the privilege to sign the Constitution.
Benjamin Franklin died on April 17, 1790. At his funeral, 20,000 people were there to honor this great man.
The Last Will and Testament of Benjamin Franklin
