This week, our group decided to each pick a different legendary American to check out. I picked Benjamin Franklin, because to me, he is one of the most interesting men in American history. According to www.ushistory.org, Franklin is one of the few legends whose reputation is undisputed. He basically didn’t have any haters. I loved reading his resume on his biography on the same website. He was so versatile. His work included “Printer, Publisher, Scientist. Clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly, 1736; Founded the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1731; Postmaster of Philadelphia, 1737-1753; Member of Pennsylvania Assembly, 1751-1764; Deputy Postmaster general of the British colonies in America, 1753; Founded Academy of Sciences of Philadelphia, 1753; Agent to Europe for Pennsylvania, 1757-1762, for Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, 1764-1775; Elected to Continental Congress, 1775; Testified before Parliament concerning the Stamp Act, 1776; Postmaster General of the united colonies, 1775; Commissioner to the French Court, 1776; Minister plenipotentiary to the French Court, 1779; Negotiator in and Member of the Treaties with Gr.-Britain, 1781-1783; Member of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, President of Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery, 1785; Senior member of the Constitutional Convention, 1787”.
I don’t even know what some of these things are. It’s impressive for a guy who only went to school until the age of 10. He was well-liked almost everywhere he went. So well-liked that he is rumored to have several illegitimate children. He was basically a rock star of his time. He is a good candidate for studying for this semester because we wouldn’t run out of information about him. He lived to be quite old and did many, many things in his life. It would be interesting to study someone who was undisputably popular, both while he was living and continutes to be after his death. Perhaps we could dig deeper, and see if he lives up to his reputation? It’s something to consider.