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Dylan Carter DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 2/01/2010 By Dylan Carter Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts. His father came over from England and his mother was born here in America. They both were Puritans, Bible-believing Christians. He was home-schooled by his mother starting at three years of age. She taught Benjamin to read using the Bible. He was encouraged to grow in his faith in Christ and to have a servant’s heart. God blessed Ben with many creative talents and he put them to good use. At the young age of twelve, he began inventing helpful things such as flippers to swim faster. Ben worked with his father at his candle shop until his older brother James started a newspaper and Ben went there to help his brother with the printing. Ben was only fifteen when he began writing articles for the newspaper, under the pen name,” Silence do-good” to disguise him self. Benjamin wrote famous writings like “Poor Richards Almanac” and the “Pennsylvania Gazette”. He wrote a list of thirteen moral virtues and daily kept a journal of his success and failure in keeping them. He also wrote many maxims and expressions that are still said today such as, “No pain, and no gain” and “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Benjamin was one of the United States of America’s founding fathers. He was one of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was active on many committees including the one that drafted the Declaration of Independence. He was involved in debates over the Articles of Confederation. He served as the Pennsylvania delegate to the Constitutional Convention of Philadelphia. Many of Benjamin’s letters are published in his autobiography. He played an instrumental role as America’s ambassador to the French, the British and the Native Indians. He traveled to France and succeeded in gaining their alliance with America to help fight the British to gain our independence. He worked to end slavery in America and was named president of Pennsylvania Abolition Society in 1787. Benjamin was always looking for ways to serve people and America. He founded the first U.S. post office and was a mail governor. He made maps for the mail carriers so they would avoid the Gulf Stream, which slowed the mail down up to two weeks at a time. He founded the University of Pennsylvania for boys. Benjamin founded the first volunteer fire department, and the first public lending library. Through his creativity and ingenuity people have enjoyed the benefits of his remarkable ideas and inventions. He discovered lightning was electricity and he conducted lots of scientific experiments, which led to helpful inventions, such as the lightning rod, which saved thousands of homes and is still used today. Some other notable inventions are the bifocals glasses for reading, Franklin stove for heating homes, odometer for recording distance traveled and the “Armonica” a musical instrument. His portrait is well known for being seen on the American $100 bill. Benjamin Franklin died at 84 in 1790, more than 2,000 people attended his funeral. This made most colonists and the French sad. Famous quotes from Dr. Benjamin Franklin on faith and liberty in America. “ God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel” –Constitutional Convention of 1787 | original manuscript of this speech “In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered… do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?” [Constitutional Convention, Thursday June 28, 1787] In Benjamin Franklin's 1749 plan of education for public schools in Pennsylvania, he insisted that schools teach "the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern." In 1787 when Franklin helped found Benjamin Franklin University, it was dedicated as "a nursery of religion and learning, built on Christ, the Cornerstone." “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.” “When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.” “God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say: This is my country.” Bibliography Life and letters by Benjamin Debate of the Constitution\ part one- Library of America Benjamin Franklin: Portrait of Ben Franklin Benjamin Franklin by Tom Streissguth Ben Franklin’s almanac By Candace Flemming Ben Franklin By Brenda Haughn MEET Benjamin Franklin By Kathryn Satterfield Drive Thru History By Nita Thompson Wikipedia.org Highlights Magazine Cherie Carter My Mom and teacher |
Mar 02 |
