When Benjamin Franklin was ten, he left school to work as a full time job as a printer. Later when he was 12 years old he was apprenticed to his older brother, James, a Boston printer. By the time he was 16 years old Franklin was contributing to essays. When he was 17, Franklin ran away from his apprentice to Philadelphia.

Benjamin Franklin was a man with many accomplishments, such as inventing the franklin stove which was his first invention, bifocals which could be used for reading and distance, the armonica

• Armonica: Franklin’s inventions took on a musical bent when, in 1761, he commenced development on the armonica, a musical instrument composed of spinning glass bowls on a shaft. Both Ludwig van Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed music for the strange instrument.

Benjamin Franklin was sent to France by Congress in 1776 to help establish a military alliance. This alliance was established in February 1778 and provided soldiers, supplies and money which were of paramount importance to the success of the American colonies. Franklin was the first U.S. ambassador to France. His official purpose was to negotiate a treaty (Treaty of Paris, 1783) however much has been made of his romantic life in Paris. Franklin was highly regarded for his wit and intellectual standing within the scientific community. He we was also socially respected for his gut and womanizing ways.

Benjamin Franklin traveled to London in 1757 as a representative of the Pennsylvania Assembly. While there, he worked to settle a tax dispute and other issues involving the descendants of William Penn. While Mr. Franklin was abroad, the British government began to impose greater control over the American colonies. Franklin testified in the British Parliament against the Stamp Act of 1765. The Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, however additional regulatory measures followed leading to ever-growing anti-British sentiment within the American colonies.