Benjamin Franklin-Signer of the Constitution

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.  As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."

These are just a few short words of wisdom from Benjamin Franklin, a man who every American should know about because of his great efforts in the creation of the United States.  (Yes, you should know more about him than the fact that he is on the hundred dollar bill.)

Benjamin Franklin was a man who was known throughout the United States and Europe as being a writer, scientist, philosopher, statesman, and newspaper publisher.  He was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts and he died April 17, 1790 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Franklin was the tenth son of a soap and candle maker.  He self-taught himself in about everything he knew.  He began as a printer who started publishing the New England Courant, one of the colonies four major papers.  Franklin moved to Philadelphia, after a falling out with one of his brothers, were he served in Pennsylvania's legislature from 1736 to 1764.  During that time he began publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette and, one of the best selling publications of its time, Poor Richard's Almanac.  Through his publications he was able to become quite a philanthropist who contributed to many causes such as public education, the building of libraries, and the building of street lamps.  Franklin also contributed a great deal to the starting of the American Philosophical Society, of which many founders like Washington, Jefferson, and Adams were members. Ben Franklin served in London as an agent in representing Pennsylvania and he later represented Georgia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.

At the start of the Revolutionary War, Benjamin Franklin helped develop the Declaration of Independence as he served on the committee to draft it.  He also signed the Declaration of Independence and said to his fellow signers, "Gentlemen, we must now all hang together, or we shall most assuredly all hang separately." 

One of the most important roles Franklin played was during the war as an ambassador to France.  In France he became well respected and well liked, which gave him a lot of sway with the French government.  Because of Franklin, France committed loans, supplies, and some of their military to the Patriots efforts in the United States.  At the end of the war, Franklin was there in Paris with John Adams and John Jay to negotiate the Treaty of Paris.

At the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was the oldest and perhaps wisest member at the age of eighty-one.  He was a delegate from Pennsylvania along with seven others.  Concerning Dr. Franklin's character William Pierce classified him as "the greatest philosopher of the present age.  He is [eighty-one] years old, and possesses an activity of mind equal to a youth of twenty-five."  Franklin was instrumental in helping mash out compromises, but none of his major ideas such as: an executive board rather than a president, a single-chambered legislature, and public service without pay were implemented into the Constitution.  Concerning compromises, Franklin was most influential in dealing with the compromise on representation.  He used his prestige, humor, and diplomatic powers to soothe disputes and encourage compromise.  Relating to the Virginia/New Jersey plan compromise Franklin said, "If a property representation takes place, the small states contend their liberties will be in danger. If an equality of votes takes place, the large states say their money will be in danger. When a broad table is to be made, and the planks do not fit, the artist takes a little from both, and makes a good joint."  As a wise old statesman, among other things, Benjamin Franklin was able to contribute great wisdom and knowledge to the Constitutional Convention.  Franklin exemplified a self-made man as he rose to become one of America's greatest men.