Blessed with enormous talents and the energy and ambition to go with them, Franklin was a statesman, author, inventor, printer, and scientist. He helped draft the Declaration of Independence and later was involved in negotiating the peace treaty with Britain that ended the Revolutionary War. He also invented bifocals, a stove that is still manufactured, a water-harmonica, and the lightning rod.
Franklin's extraordinary range of interests and accomplishments are brilliantly recorded in his Autobiography, considered one of the classics of the genre. Covering his life up to his prewar...

Franklin's writings span a long and distinguished career of literary, scientific, and political inquiry--the work of a man whose life lasted for nearly all of the 18th century, and whose achievements ranged from inventing the lightning rod to publishing Poor Richard's Almanac to signing the Declaration of Independence. In his own lifetime, Franklin knew prominence not only in America but also in Britain and France. Here was a cosmopolitan statesman, public servant, inventor, and editor with a distinctly Yankee sensibility; here was a moral philosopher who divided his faith between...

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES BILL OF RIGHTS with Amendments 11-27 THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION Franklin's Articles of Confederation Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union

"Contexts" presents a broader view of Franklin's life with a journal entry from a 1726 voyage, correspondence, aPoor Richard piece on ambition and fame, Franklin's views on self-improvement, and his last will (and codicil). "Criticism" draws on a wealth of material that reflects both the wide range of Franklin's achievements and the global impact of his life and memoirs. New international voices in "Contemporary Opinions" include Immanuel Kant, Honore Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau, Jose Antonio de Alzate y Ramirez, and Jose Francisco Correia da Serra. "Nineteenth-Century...

Benjamin Franklin (1706 90) is best known as an American revolutionary politician, but he also excelled as a printer, journalist and natural philosopher despite having little formal education. As a statesman, he was the only person to sign all three major documents of American statehood: the Declaration of Independence, the peace treaty with Britain, and the United States constitution. This three-volume set, first published in 1874, was compiled from Franklin's autobiography (covering the period up to 1857) and autobiographical passages from correspondence and other writings. Using Franklin's...

Benjamin Franklin (1706 90) is best known as an American revolutionary politician, but he also excelled as a printer, journalist and natural philosopher despite having little formal education. As a statesman, he was the only person to sign all three major documents of American statehood: the Declaration of Independence, the peace treaty with Britain, and the United States constitution. This three-volume set, first published in 1874, was compiled from Franklin's autobiography (covering the period up to 1857) and autobiographical passages from correspondence and other writings. Using Franklin's...

American icon BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, born in Massachusetts to a British immigrant father and colonial mother, published the famous Poor Richards Almanack, helped found the University of Pennsylvania, and was the first Postmaster General of the United States. His likeness adorns, among other things, the United States hundred-dollar bill. Benjamin Franklin was as wildly intriguing a personality as his legend suggest, and as youve always heard, as his autobiography makes plain. From his hoarding of his pay as a teenager to buy books to his askance asides at such habits as the drinking of beer, from...

After Franklin's death, there was a call for a work to be produced from the pages of the venerable "American Christian Review" showing his wit and wisdom in dealing with some of the tough questions posed to him by his readers. This volume is a response to that call. In each issue of the Review, questions would be printed along with his answers. Although this is now a common practice by editors, Franklin was among the first to use this format to reach out to his readers. It is hoped that this small volume will bring that innovative sense to modern readers.