Living in LondonĮncouraged by Pennsylvania Governor William Keith to set up his own print shop, Franklin left for London in 1724 to purchase supplies from stationers, booksellers and printers. Philadelphia became his home base for the rest of his life. He escaped to New York before settling in Philadelphia and began working with another printer. Tired of his brother’s “harsh and tyrannical” behavior, Franklin fled Boston in 1723 although he had three years remaining on a legally binding contract with his master. James grew angry, however, when he learned that his apprentice had penned the letters. Silence Dogood, and “her” 14 imaginative and witty letters delighted readers of his brother’s newspaper, The New England Courant. When James refused to publish any of his brother’s writing, 16-year-old Franklin adopted the pseudonym Mrs. Perhaps to dissuade him from going to sea as one of his other sons had done, Josiah apprenticed 12-year-old Franklin at the print shop run by his older brother James.Īlthough James mistreated and frequently beat his younger brother, Franklin learned a great deal about newspaper publishing and adopted a similar brand of subversive politics under the printer’s tutelage.

Dipping wax and cutting wicks didn’t fire the young boy’s imagination, however. Franklin was his 15th child and youngest son.įranklin learned to read at an early age, and despite his success at the Boston Latin School, he stopped his formal schooling at 10 to work full-time in his cash-strapped father’s candle and soap shop. Early Lifeįranklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston, in what was then known as the Massachusetts Bay Colony.įranklin’s father, English-born soap and candlemaker Josiah Franklin, had seven children with first wife, Anne Child, and 10 more with second wife, Abiah Folger.

A writer known for his wit and wisdom, Franklin also published Poor Richard’s Almanack, invented bifocal glasses and organized the first successful American lending library. His scientific pursuits included investigations into electricity, mathematics and mapmaking.

Constitution, and he negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War. Franklin helped to draft the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Benjamin Franklin was a Founding Father and a polymath, inventor, scientist, printer, politician, freemason and diplomat.

Benjamin franklin an american life