Benjamin Franklin
We go from the grand military commander of the revolution to the intellectual backbone of it. Ben Franklin has become associated with importance and success due to his inclusion on the one-hundred dollar bill, but how exactly did he earn his spot on the U.S.’s highest-valued currency note? That, our dear reader, is due to the fact that Franklin, then and now, has been considered one of the most brilliant men to come from America. This astounding intellectual was born into a large family and grew up being an apprentice to his brother James, a printer. The two worked to establish a paper called The New-England Courant, the first independent newspaper in the American colonies.
After moving to Philadelphia, Ben purchased a local newspaper and renamed it The Pennsylvania Gazette. Thanks to his humorous and common sense ways of explaining his beliefs on politics and human nature, the paper’s popularity exploded and sowed the seeds of rebellion all over the land. Franklin also decided to publish an almanac of phrases and advice which he dubbed Poor Richard’s Almanac. This work is where many of his famous expressions are found.
An avid scientist, Franklin contributed many theories and principles on the behavior of electricity and supplied such inventions as bifocals and lightning rods. Once he began to see the route to revolution his nation was traveling down, he dedicated himself to organizing peaceful and diplomatic ways to separate from England. Franklin even helped in the writing of the Declaration of Independence to accomplish this goal.
When war broke out, he heard the call of duty and traveled as an ambassador to France, securing their alliance which would be instrumental to winning the war. When independence was achieved, Franklin attended the Constitutional Convention and helped shape our governmental structure to this day. When he passed away, a third of Philadelphia’s population attended his funeral service.