Benjamin Franklin: A Founding Father, A Renaissance Man

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A Founding Father, a Renaissance Man, and a jack of all trades. Benjamin Franklin was truly one of the greatest Americans during the 18th century. He was one of the framers of the Constitution, and helped draft the Declaration of Independence and end the Revolutionary War. He also invented many things and made many scientific discoveries. Benjamin Franklin’s life was filled with many great accomplishments, which led to him becoming one of the most influential and talented people during American History.
Benjamin Franklin was born on January 7th, 1706 in the Massachusetts colony. He was his mother’s eighth child and his father’s fifteenth. He was the youngest boy in the family, but he did have two younger sisters. When he wasn’t helping out with his father’s candle and soap shop or chores around the house, Benjamin spent his free time swimming in the nearby Mill Pond and journeying around the colony. He was able to read from a very early age, as he states in his autobiography …show more content…

One of these inventions were bifocals, a special pair of glasses that had different kinds of lenses on the top and bottom. The top was for long-distance, and the bottom was for short-distance. The glasses, he said, ¨make my eyes as useful to me as ever they were¨ (USHistory.org). Working off his experience with electricity, he also invented the lightning rod, which was used to prevent lightning bolts from damaging nearby structures by providing the lightning with a safe path to the ground. Some other things he made were the Franklin stove, which was an efficient heater, the armonica, a glass instrument with rings that made clean notes, and swim fins, which enabled people to swim faster. Franklin was very shrewd and modest with his inventions, because he “...invented to help improve society,(so) he refused to take out a patent” (USHistory.org). This shows that he wanted to see his colony thrive and become the best it could

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