Benjamin Franklin- One of the greatest leaders of the 18th century

Born in Boston in 1706, Benjamin is known as the “First American”. Perhaps it is a fitting image. With so many of America’s early heroes, successes take the spotlight, while failures are rarely mentioned. But with any great entrepreneur the failures are just paving stones to the triumphs. Franklin himself said, “Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.”
The image of Benjamin Franklin that has come down through history, along with the image on the $100 bill, is something of a caricature—a bald man in a frock coat holding a kite string with a key attached. But the scope of things he applied himself to was so broad it seems a shame.
Despite his success at the Boston Latin School, Ben was removed at 10 to work with his father at candle making, but dipping wax and cutting wicks didn’t fire his imagination. Benjamin Franklin was a prodigious inventor .He had deep love and apathy for the society.
Franklin never patented his inventions; in his autobiography he wrote, "... as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously."
His scientific pursuits included investigations into electricity, mathematics and mapmaking. Inventions of lightning rod, glass armonica, Franklin stove, bifocal glasses owe its credits to Ben .

Franklin not only worked as an inventor but also extended his services to the public and was an integral part of the politics of the 18^th century. He served as a foreign diplomat and represented the Pennsylvania Assembly, and thereafter Massachusetts, Georgia and New Jersey, in England. He also continued his work for colonial union and in 1766 supported the repeal of the Stamp Act. Soon, Franklin was elected to the Second Continental Congress and as postmaster general for the colonies, he mapped several postal routes. In 1776, he was one of five men to draft the Declaration of Independence. Franklin was also one of the 13 men who drafted the Articles of Confederation.

Franklin was embraced in France as much, for his intellectual standing in the scientific community and for his wit, as for his status as a political appointee from a fledging country. His adept diplomacy led to the peace treaty with England in 1783 and other foreign alliances and trade treaties. After almost a decade in France, Franklin returned to America in 1785. He was elected to represent Pennsylvania at the Constitutional Convention, which drafted the new U.S Constitution, participated in electing George Washington as the country’s first president .He also served as president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, wrote many tracts urging the abolition of slavery and petitioned the U.S Congress for it in 1790.

Benjamin Franklin died on April 17, 1790, in Philadelphia. He was 84 and was suffering from gout. Franklin had actually written his epitaph when he was 22: The body of B. Franklin, Printer Lies Here, Food for Worms.

Franklin’ voracious capacity for knowledge, investigation and finding practical solutions to problems was his primary focus, as was his commitment to “doing good,” which led to the concept   of paying it forward. Founding universities and libraries, the post office, shaping the foreign policy of the fledgling United States, drafting the Declaration of Independence, publishing newspapers, warming us with the Franklin stove, pioneering advances in science, letting us see with bifocals and, yes, lighting our way with electricity—all from a man who never finished school but shaped his life through abundant reading and experience, a strong moral compass and an unflagging commitment to civic duty, and an overall wit, good humour and integrity. Franklin illumined corners of American life that still have the lingering glow of his attention.