Benjamin Franklin's House ~ July 2025
A guided tour of the house where Benjamin Franklin lived between 1757 and 1772.
One of the founding fathers of the U.S.A., Benjamin Franklin was born in Massachusetts in the 18th Century.
Despite little education, he trained as a printer and was a successful writer and newspaperman in Philadelphia. His interest in science gained him fame for his work on electricity, his most famous experiment demonstrated that lightning was a form of electricity by flying a kite in a thunderstorm. His many inventions included the lightning conductor, a more efficient wood-burning stove and bifocal glasses. He also invented the Glass Armonica, a most unusual musical instrument with rotating glass discs.Â
In 1754 Franklin joined the diplomatic world and was sent to London to work for the Pennsylvania Assembly. On his return to the U.S.A. he became the leading spokesman for the American colonies and assisted in the preparation of the Declaration of Independence of 1776.
Franklin served as the U.S. Ambassador to France from 1776 until 1785, and then as President of Pennsylvania from 1785 to 1788. He questioned the morality of slavery and became president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery in 1787, petitioning Congress in 1790 to bring slavery to an end.
He died on 17th April 1790, aged 84, and is buried in Philadelphia.
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