When Benjamin Franklin died, the largest crowd the country had ever seen gathered in Philadelphia for his funeral. The multitalented Franklin was a world-famous publisher, inventor, statesman, and writer, a man whose rise from poverty to riches and fame represented the promise of America.
Franklin came from a large and poor Boston family and had to earn his own living at an early age. When he was twelve he became the apprentice of his older brother, a printer. When he was seventeen he ran away to Philadelphia, where he eventually owned and operated his own printing business. At twenty-four he was publishing Poor Richard’s Almanack. Franklin’s success enabled him to retire early and to devote himself to public service, politics, science, and inventing. His accomplishments included founding the university of Pennsylvania, performing important experiment with electricity, and inventing bifocals, the lightning rod, and the Franklin stove. Franklin never patented or profited from any from his inventions, preferring to contribute them freely in an effort to better the human condition.
If you would not be forgotten,
as soon as you are dead & rotten,
either write things worth reading,
or do things worth the writing
Benjamin Franklin
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