Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was born into a big family. He was the 15th child of seventeen children in the family. His father, Josiah, was a candle maker. Benjamin helped him make candles and soap. His father wanted him to take over the family business when he grew up, but he wasn't interested. When Benjamin was twelve years old his father apprenticed him to his older brother James, who was a printer.

Benjamin ran away and went to Philadelphia. He started his own successful printing business and published a newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette, for many years. He started the first library in America, the first volunteer fire department in Philadelphia, and the first hospital in Pennsylvania. They appointed him postmaster and he created a working postal system. He even created the "Dead Letter Office".

During the American Revolution, he convinced the French to help the Americans. He told the French that if the Redcoats won the war the British would be too powerful. The French and British were enemies, so they didn’t want them to be that powerful. The French sent supplies to the colonists through Benjamin and his spies. He became popular in France once the colonists won the war. Also he helped write the Constitution of the United States, which were the laws for the new country, and he signed four of the most important documents in the country's history. These were the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Treaty of Alliance with France, and the Treaty of Paris. Benjamin Franklin did amazing things to help the new country going.