Benjamin Franklin was one of the most important figures in our nation’s history. He had many occupations throughout his life and was very intelligent. Franklin was very successful without being born into a family of wealth or power, which makes everything he does more valuable because he is a self-made man. He is probably best known for being one of the founding fathers of the United States and for figuring out how electricity works. Franklin is arguably a fundamental part in the creation of the United States’ government.

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 Boston, Massachusetts into a large family. He had 16 siblings, although seven of them were his half siblings. His father, Josiah Franklin, was a candle and soap maker, so the Franklin family was not exactly rich, but at the same time, they were not necessarily poor either. Ben’s formal education ended at ten years old however, he could read and taught himself how to write very efficiently. When he was twelve years old he was apprenticed to his brother James who was a printer. Four years later, he was contributing essays to the newspaper his brother published. When he was 17, he ran away from his brother in order to get a fresh start in Philadelphia as a printer. As a printer he wrote and published the famous “Poor Richard’s Almanac” yearly.

Franklin met Deborah Read who was the daughter of a former landlady of his in Philadelphia. She was his common-law wife and they had two children Francis who died at four years old and Sarah. Franklin did have another son, William, and even though his birth mother is unknown, Deborah raised him too. 

Ben was very famous in Europe and at one point was representing Pennsylvania in England. He established a fortune through his printing business and then started looking towards science and politics. Franklin invented many things that are still used today including bifocals, the lightning rod, the flexible catheter, etc. He is probably most famous for his experiments with electricity and is credited with adopting the words battery, positive, negative, and charge all words we still used today involving electricity. Also being a great politician, he proposed a plan, called the Albany Plan, to unite the colonies under a national congress. His plan was not used but it helped in the creation of the Articles of confederation, which was the first constitution of the United States. He also testified against the stamp act Britain was imposing on the colonies. Later in life, during the Revolutionary War, he went on to be a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. In addition, he was part of the creation of the Declaration of Independence. He also helped our nation by going to France to ask for help in the Revolutionary war and being successful because they signed a military alliance with America.

In conclusion, Benjamin Franklin was a very influential part of how our nation was created. In addition, without him, it probably would have been significantly harder for our nation to achieve what it has. In fact, we might have not been able to become a thriving nation without his help. His inventions also are very important because they still impact our lives today making them a lot better.