The Life of Benjamin Franklin's Characters

Josiah Franklin, the father of Benjamin Franklin, was born in 1657, the son of a blacksmith family in Northamptonshire, England. Mother Abia folger was born in a teacher's family in Boston, Massachusetts on 1667. Josiah Franklin got married for the first time in England on 1677. After giving birth to several children, she and her family left England and 1683 moved to Boston to make a living in selling groceries. Later, his first wife died, and his second wife Abby gave birth to Benjamin Franklin in Boston.

170665438+1October17 Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, North America. His father is an English painter. At that time, he made candles and soap. He had seventeen children. Franklin is the youngest son. Franklin entered school at the age of eight. Although his academic performance is excellent, his father's income can't afford him to go to school because there are too many children at home. So he left school at the age of ten and went home to help his father make candles. Franklin only studied at school for two years in his life. At the age of twelve, he was an apprentice in a small printing factory run by his brother James. Since then, he has worked as a printer for nearly ten years, but his study has never stopped. He saved money for meals to buy books. At the same time, taking advantage of my work, I met apprentices from several bookstores, secretly borrowed books from bookstores at night, looked at them all night, and returned them the next morning. He read a wide range, from popular books on natural science and technology to papers by famous scientists and works by famous writers.

1736, Franklin was elected secretary of the Pennsylvania legislature. 1737, former deputy director of Philadelphia Post. Franklin insisted on studying every day, even though his work was getting heavier and heavier. In order to further open the door to the treasure house of knowledge, he studied foreign languages tirelessly and mastered French, Italian, Spanish and Latin successively. He has widely accepted the advanced achievements of world science and culture. He laid a solid foundation for his scientific research.

Benjamin Franklin began to build the college in 1743, and the college was established eight years later, which was the predecessor of the University of Pennsylvania. At the same time, he began to study electricity and other scientific problems.

1748: Benjamin Franklin quit his printing business, but he still made considerable profits from his partners, so he had time for his inventions and research, including his research on electricity. He found that the charge is divided into "positive" and "negative", and the quantities of the two are conserved. It is said that in 1752, Franklin conducted a famous experiment: flying kites in thunderstorm weather, which proved that "lightning" was caused by electricity. This is a very dangerous experiment. In fact, other scientists were electrocuted while conducting similar experiments (see George william ritchie Mann). Until now, many people still have doubts about whether Benjamin Franklin really carried out such an experiment and how it was carried out. In fact, in the fifth episode of the fourth season, the mythbusters program of the American Discovery Channel proved that Benjamin Franklin would be killed directly if he really put his hand near the lightning button. But there is no doubt that Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning rod; The Royal Society of London (UK) also elected Franklin as an academician in 1753, praising his research on electricity.

Besides studying electricity, Benjamin Franklin also contributed to meteorology. In order to find news for his newspaper, he often goes to the farmer's market to collect news. He found that storms often appear in one place, and then there are storms in other places. He thought that the two might actually be the same storm, so he suggested that the storm would move and eventually derive the weather analysis and weather map in the future, which changed the method of relying solely on visual prediction.

Benjamin Franklin established a hospital in Pennsylvania on 175 1. This hospital is actually the activity base of the Knights Templar, and Franklin himself is already a senior member of the Knights Templar.

Benjamin Franklin was also an outstanding government official. But he also used his power to seek promotion for his relatives and defiled his official career. His most important achievements include reforming the postal system in North America, taking up diplomatic posts, dealing with the suzerain Britain on behalf of the North American colonies, and then going to France.

1754, he led the representatives of Pennsylvania to attend the colonial congress held in Albany, new york, and put forward the plan of colonial union. Although the plan was not accepted at that time, many of its contents were later written into the US Constitution. 1757, he made a statement to the king of England on behalf of the Pennsylvania people in England, and lived for five years, during which he expounded the colonial situation and opinions to the British people and government officials. Because of his achievements in science, Oxford University awarded him an honorary doctorate during this period. It was also during this period that he participated in the election of William Franklin and appointed him as the governor of New Jersey.

Just as he made new achievements in scientific research, the momentum of the American War of Independence became stronger and stronger. For the independence and liberation of the nation, he resolutely put down his experimental instruments and actively stood in the forefront of the struggle. From 1757 to 1775, he went to Britain as a representative of North American colonies for many times to negotiate. After the outbreak of the War of Independence, he also participated in the Second Continental Congress and the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. 1776, 70-year-old Franklin crossed the ocean to France and won the support of the European people for the North American War of Independence. From 65438 to 0787, he actively participated in the formulation of the American Constitution and organized a movement against slavery.

Franklin was going to retire from politics at the age of 55 and study science seriously, but the Pennsylvania legislature sent him to London to settle a dispute over land tax. At that time, the Payne family refused to pay taxes on the vast land they occupied. Franklin originally estimated that it was only a short trip, but he didn't expect it to be seven years. When he returned to the United States, it was the state legislature election in Philadelphia. Before that, he had been a member of the state legislature for 14 years in a row, but this time he lost the election because the Payne family tried their best to ruin his political future. Franklin and others decided to petition the king of England to turn Pennsylvania into a British colony, thus permanently depriving the Payne family of control. Although he was no longer a member of parliament, the state legislature entrusted Franklin to negotiate in Britain, and the journey was as long as 10 years. In the United States, Pennsylvania is caught in another dispute. 1765, the British parliament passed a bill to tax all kinds of printed matter in the colonies. Because the tax payment voucher is a stamp, this bill is called the stamp tax law. Similar taxes have been levied in Britain for a long time, and Franklin also put forward this proposal a few years ago. But the political atmosphere of 1765 has changed. The stamp duty bill caused riots in the streets of the United States, and people made fierce remarks against it and denounced this autocratic behavior. Because Franklin's son William was already the governor of New Jersey, many people thought Franklin was one of the chief culprits of the stamp duty bill. In Franklin's apartment in Philadelphia's Market Street, his wife Deborah even equipped herself with a pistol to avoid causing public outrage.

Franklin initially tried to reach some kind of compromise with the British government, but the ruler ignored it. When he understood that the stamp duty bill would affect the relationship between Britain and the United States, he insisted that it must be abolished. On February 1766, Franklin came to the House of Representatives to discuss the reasons for abolishing the stamp duty bill. In four hours, I answered 174 questions in front of Representative Franklin. Later, the British philosopher Burke described this dramatic defense, saying that it was like a master answering a group of students' questions. Franklin reminded Parliament that Americans always thought they were British and would continue to support Britain as long as they were respected. A few weeks later, the stamp duty bill was abolished and Americans regarded Franklin as a hero. But Britain did not give up the idea of taxing the colonies, and soon new taxes appeared again. In order to collect taxes, Britain even sent troops to the United States, and the expenses were naturally borne by colonial residents. The situation is tense again. Franklin predicted that the situation would deteriorate and that a war between the colonists and the British would soon break out. Soon, there was a quarrel between Bostonians and British soldiers. At first, the two sides threw snowballs at each other, and eventually the conflict developed and about five people died. Bostonians were outraged. They dumped 600 pounds of English tea into the port. A few years ago, Americans hardly thought of the word "independence", but at this time, declaring independence seems to be the only feasible way. Franklin always hoped that this would not happen. Massachusetts hired Franklin, who was loyal to Britain, as its representative in London, but Governor Thomas Hutchinson vetoed the appointment. At that time, Franklin asserted that sending more troops to Boston could only prove Britain's hostility to the colonies. Later, he learned that these troops were deployed at the request of Governor Hutchinson. Hutchinson wrote to British officials many times, criticizing the situation in Massachusetts and suggesting depriving the colonies of so-called British freedom. A few years later, at 1772, these letters arrived in Franklin. He showed these photos to his friends in Massachusetts and asked them to circulate them secretly among colonial officials, but not publicly. His request is obviously naive. As a result, these letters were made public, which naturally caused an uproar. Angry Bostonians wrote a petition demanding Hutchinson's dismissal, and Franklin petitioned the king on their behalf. Franklin accepted the task. On the other hand, Hutchinson demanded to defend his reputation. When this incident spread to London, it also caused confusion. The British want to find out which traitor gave these personal letters to the colonists. They expelled several suspects. Franklin naturally didn't want to expose himself. But when one of his friends was also listed as a suspect, Franklin felt it necessary to stand up and admit that he published these letters. 1774 65438+ 10/01Six days before Franklin's 68th birthday, he received an invitation from the Privy Council in London. The invitation was worded in a friendly way. Franklin thought that the Privy Council would consider accepting the people's petition and asked him to take over the post of Governor Hutchinson. But three weeks later, when Franklin entered the Privy Council, he found that he had to face an investigation into the leakage of Hutchinson's letters. The Privy Council was full of MPs and spectators, and Lord Goyle presided over the hearing. For an hour and a half, Franklin stood there and was reprimanded by Wedderburn, the Deputy Minister of Justice. Wedderburn, who is keen on abuse, is Scottish. He made a wanton and vicious personal attack on Franklin. After the hearing, Franklin came out quietly without saying a word. In the past, Franklin's colonial compatriots criticized him for being too inclined to Britain, while the British condemned him for being too Americanized. When Franklin was about to leave England, he received the news that his wife Deborah had died. This made him very painful. Although he once advised his wife to go to London to reunite with him, Deborah didn't want to cross the ocean. After years of separation, it was her persistent letter that kept their marriage together.

/kloc-0 returned to north America from London, England in March, 775. Later, in Philadelphia, he was elected as a member of the British North American Colonial Continental Congress to help draft the American Declaration of Independence. From 1776, Franklin was sent to France as the Commissioner representing the United States until 1785. During this period, he was very popular with all walks of life in France, and some wealthy French families even decorated galleries with his portrait. Benjamin Franklin's trip to France was very successful. He won the French-American military alliance, which is very important to the new United States, and negotiated and signed the Paris Treaty of 1783. When Benjamin Franklin returned to the United States in 1785, his contribution to American independence was second only to Washington.

Benjamin Franklin was also a pioneer in opposing slavery. Shortly after his return from France, he became the chairman of an organization that opposed slavery and sought to release blacks who were illegally imprisoned.

1787, retired Benjamin Franklin attended the meeting to amend the American Constitution, becoming the only founder who signed the three most important American bills at the same time. These three documents are: Declaration of Independence, Paris Treaty 1783, and American Constitution 1787. In this year, Franklin donated money to establish Franklin Marshall University named after him.

Franklin spent the last winter in the company of his relatives. 1April 7, 790, at night 1 1 point, Franklin died suddenly. At that time, his grandson Benjamin Temple was with him. On April 2 1, the people of Philadelphia held a funeral for him, and 20,000 people attended the funeral procession to mourn for Franklin's death for one month. There is only one simple sentence on Franklin's tombstone: "Franklin the printer".