BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 1706 1790 AUTHOR SCIENTIST DIPLOMAT AND POLITICAL LEADER FRANKLIN BENJAMIN 1706 1790 TECHNOLOGY COLONIES U.S GOVERNMENT AND CONSTITUTION TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY BORN IN BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS BENJAMIN FRANKLIN RECEIVED LITTLE FORMAL SCHOOLING HE BECAME A PRINTER'S APPRENTICE IN BOSTON IN 1718 THEN WORKED AS A PRINTER IN PHILADELPHIA FROM 1723 UNTIL 1729 WORKING INDEPENDENTLY FRANKLIN PUBLISHED THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE 1730 48 AND POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC 1732 57 FROM 1736 TO 1751 FRANKLIN SERVED AS CLERK OF THE PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE HE ASSISTED IN FOUNDING A SCHOOL IN 1751 THAT LATER BECAME THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA A PRODUCTIVE INVENTOR FRANKLIN'S CREATIONS INCLUDED THE FRANKLIN STOVE BIFOCAL GLASSES AND THE LIGHTNING ROD HE BEGAN EXPERIMENTS WITH ELECTRICITY AROUND 1746 AND CONDUCTED A FAMOUS KITE EXPERIMENT IN 1752 FRANKLIN'S POLITICAL CAREER BEGAN WHEN HE WAS ELECTED TO THE PENNSYLVANIA ASSEMBLY IN 1751 HE PROPOSED THE ALBANY PLAN OF UNION IN 1754 FRANKLIN SERVED AS A MEMBER OF THE SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS IN 1775 AND SIGNED THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IN 1776 FRANKLIN WAS THE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR TO FRANCE FROM 1776 TO 1785 AND HELPED NEGOTIATE THE TREATY OF PARIS OF 1783 HE WAS A DELEGATE TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION IN 1787 AND THEN RETIRED TO PRIVATE LIFE TO COMPLETE HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY WHICH WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN ITS COMPLETE FORM IN 1868
