Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790):
Ranked among the country’s greatest statesmen, Franklin was also
known as a printer, author, diplomat, philosopher, and
scientist. Franklin made many contributions to the cause of the
American Revolution and the newly formed federal government that
followed. Franklin engaged in many public projects and in 1731
he founded what was probably the first public library in
America, chartered in 1742 as the Philadelphia Library.
Ben Franklin became one of the committee of five chosen to draft
the Declaration of Independence. He was also one of the signers
of the document and addressed the assembly with the statement:
“We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang
separately.” Upon the conclusion of the American War for
independence, Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay were appointed
to conclude a treaty of peace with Great Britain. The Treaty of
Paris was signed at Versailles on September 3, 1783. In 1787 he
was elected to be a delegate to the Constitutional Convention,
the convention that drew up the U.S. Constitution. |
