Benjamin Franklin As America’s Renaissance Man: Argumentative Essay

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston, Massachusetts. He is known for the founding father of the United States of America. He was born into a large and very poor family. Ben lived in many different places. He has lived in Paris, Boston, and Philadelphia. Benjamin Franklin’s father had 17 children by two different wives. Benjamin was brought up in the family business of candle making and his brother’s printing shop. Franklin is often referred to as America’s Renaissance Man and he even played a pivotal role in forging a united American identity during the American Revolution. Whenever he could, Benjamin would take the opportunity to read and learn about a wide range of subjects. He also started writing articles that were published by him. After several had been published, he admitted to his father that he had written them. Rather than being pleased, his father beat him for his impudence. Benjamin Franklin was a scientist, ambassador, philosopher, statesmen, writer, businessman and celebrated free thinker and wit. When Benjamin was age 17 he left his family business to go and travel to Philadelphia. Benjamin only had two years of formal education, but now writes books and poems as a hobby and a job. Benjamin designed a musical instrument used by Mozart and Beethoven. His hardest and best invention he made was the lightning rod. The lightning rod is made out of some small steel iron.He made his first prototype in 1761 by having a London glassmaker build him 37 glass orbs of different sizes and pitches, which he then mounted on a spindle controlled by a foot pedal.

Benjamin Franklin died April 17, 1790, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania when he was 84 years old because of his death was empyema brought by attacks of pleurisy, which he had suffered earlier in his life. Benjamin is most famous for the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Ben Franklin was famous for his investigations into electricity and for writing 'Poor Richard's Almanack. Franklin became a hit writer as a teenager. Ben created a phonetic alphabet. Benjamin Franklin thought that people were easily confused by the differing rules of spelling, and he took it upon himself to solve the problem. He made a phonetic alphabet that would replace the one we use today. Benjamin Franklin’s biggest accomplishments were He created the first published cartoon in U.S, He authored the famous Poor Richard's Almanack, Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning rod, He made numerous other things including bifocal lenses. While living in London in 1768, Franklin embarked on a project “to give the alphabet a more natural order.” Franklin owned two slaves during his life, both of whom worked as household servants, but in his old age he came to view slavery as a vile institution that ran counter to the principles of the American Revolution.

Benjamin Franklin spent his later years as an abolitionist. Franklin owned two slaves during his life, both of whom worked as household servants, but in his old age he came to view slavery as a vile institution that ran counter to the principles of the American Revolution. He took over as president of a Pennsylvania abolitionist society in 1787, and in 1790 he presented a petition to Congress urging it to grant liberty “to those unhappy men who alone in this land of freedom are degraded into perpetual bondage.” While the petition was ignored, Franklin kept up the fight until his death a few months later, and even included a provision in his will that required his daughter and son-in-law to free their slaves to get their inheritance. Benjamin Franklin didn’t have a lot of education, he was the most brilliant American of his age rarely saw the inside of a classroom. Franklin spent just two years attending Boston Latin School and a private academy before joining the family candle and soap making business. By age 12, he was serving as an indentured apprentice at a printing shop owned by his brother, James. Young Benjamin made up for his lack of schooling by spending what little money he earned on books, often going without food to afford new volumes. Despite being almost entirely self-taught, Franklin later helped found the school that became the University of Pennsylvania and received honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, the College of William and Mary.

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Benjamin Franklin became a hit writer as a teenager. After his brother James founded a weekly newspaper called the New England Courant in the 1720s, a 16-year-old Franklin began secretly submitting essays and commentary as “Silence Dogood,” a fictitious widow who offered homespun musings on everything from fashion and marriage to women’s rights and religion. The letters were hugely popular, and Mrs. Dogood soon received several marriage proposals from eligible bachelors in Boston. Franklin penned 14 Dogood essays before unmasking himself as their author, much to his jealous brother’s chagrin. Sick of the toil and beatings he endured as James’ apprentice, the teenage sensation then fled Boston the following year and settled in Philadelphia, the city that would remain his adopted hometown for the rest of his life. Ben spent his half of his life in unofficial retirement. Franklin arrived in Philadelphia in 1723 practically penniless, but over the next two decades he became enormously wealthy as a print shop owner, land speculator and publisher of the popular “Poor Richard’s Almanack.” By 1748, the 42-year-old was rich enough to hang up his printer’s apron and become a “gentleman of leisure.” Franklin’s retirement allowed him to spend his remaining 42 years studying science and devising inventions such as the lightning rod, bifocal glasses and a more efficient heating stove. It also gave him the freedom to devote himself to public service.

Benjamin Franklin designed a musical instrument used by Mozart and Beethoven. Among Franklin’s more unusual inventions is his “glass armonica,” an instrument designed to replicate the otherworldly sound that a wet finger makes when rubbed along the rim of a glass. He made his first prototype in 1761 by having a London glassmaker build him 37 glass orbs of different sizes and pitches, which he then mounted on a spindle controlled by a foot pedal. To play the instrument, the user would simply wet their fingers, rotate the apparatus and then touch the glass pieces to create individual tones or melodies. The armonica would go on to amass a considerable following during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Thousands were manufactured, and the likes of Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss all composed music for it. Franklin would later write that, “Of all my inventions, the glass armonica has given me the greatest personal satisfaction.” When Benjamin Franklin went to france he was known as a fashion icon. In 1776, the Continental Congress sent Franklin to France to seek military aid for the revolution. The 70-year-old was already world renowned for his lighting experiments—the French even called their electrical experimenters “Franklinistes”—but his fame soared to new heights after his arrival in Paris. Franklin capitalized on the French conception of Americans as rustic frontiersmen by dressing plainly and wearing a fur hat, which soon became his trademark and appeared in countless French portraits and medallions. Women even took to imitating the cap with oversized wigs in a style called “coiffure a la Franklin.” When Franklin later traded the fur cap for a white hat during the signing of the 1778 treaty between France and the United States, white colored headgear instantly became a fashion trend among the men of Paris.

He was important to us because he made the lighting rod. He also made the glass harmonica, franklin stove, hand paddles, and electronic machine. Benjamin Franklin helped draft the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Franklin was famous for his investigations into electricity and for writing 'Poor Richard's Almanack. What Benjamin Franklin did to America was during the American Revolution, he served the Second Continental Congress and helped draft the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Benjamin franklin impact the world because His experiments with electricity, science, government, and his abilities as statesman have changed the world. Like his other inventions, he wanted people to be able to use it. It was this selflessness that helped him impact the world. What’s most important about Benjamin Franklin was that he was the first Postmaster General of the United States. Another important fact is that Franklin Stove was revolutionary. What Benjamin Franklin did for fun was he performed many experiments that proved that lightning is in fact electricity. Benjamin Franklin had many jobs, but his first job, he worked hard throughout his life found himself as a scientist, inventor, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. Benjamin’s life was writing poems and printing papers everyday, and didn’t stop.