8th Grade Winner Lauren W.
Not Just the Man on the Hundred
Benjamin Franklin is probably one of the most remarkable figures in American history. He was one of the most well known Founding Fathers’. Franklin was a political activist and a strong political leader for the Colonies and later the United States of America. Benjamin Franklin’s role in helping the Colonies was crucial for drawing the Colonies closer together and for their independence. His work on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution has changed history for all Americans.
His fame as a statesman came out of his diplomatic services in connection with helping the relationship with Great Britain and later France. He headed the Pennsylvania delegation to the Albany Congress in 1754. The meeting was meant to improve relations with the Native Americans and defense against the French. He proposed a broad plan of Union for the Colonies. In 1757, he was sent to England by the Pennsylvania Assembly to protest against the political influence of the Penn family. Franklin remained in England for five years, trying to keep the landowners from being exempt from paying taxes. He believed in equality of all men.
In 1762, Franklin returned to America and became involved in the Paxton Boys’ affair. He wrote a paper saying how awful the killing of Christian American Indians was and persuaded them to disperse. People thought he was in favor of the Quakers and because of this Franklin lost his seat in the 1764 Assembly elections. This allowed him to return to London, where he was known as a pro-American radical.
Franklin was sent to England in 1764. During the visit he became a Colonial agent for Georgia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, and in London he opposed the Stamp Act. Franklin got some letters Massachusetts’s governor, Thomas Hutchison and lieutenant governor, Andrew Oliver, which suggested restrictions on Colonists’ freedoms. He sent them to America. It was discovered that he had illegally distributed the letters. This ended his political career in London.
After leaving London, Franklin went to Philadelphia in May of 1775. The war for independence had already begun. He was the unanimous choice as the Pennsylvania delegate to the Second Continental Congress. He became a member of the Committee of Five, who made several changes to the original draft of the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson. He was instrumental in drafting and signing the final version of the Declaration of Independence.
He left for France in the winter of 1776 as a commissioner for the newly formed United States. During his stay in France he was a great advocate for securing the alliance of the French military. Franklin also helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris. When he returned to America in 1785, he was honored as a champion of American independence, second only to General George Washington.
In 1787, at the age of 81, he became a delegate at the Constitutional Convention that would eventually produce the Constitution of the United States. Despite serious concerns about the final document, he became the oldest signer of the Constitution. Franklin was the only Founding Father to sign the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris, and the United States Constitution.
Benjamin Franklin was most significant as a political leaded to the Colonies because; as I have written in the paragraphs above he spent the majority of his life being an advocate for the Colonies and their independence. He was for the equality of all men and put great effort into doing what he could to see this carried out.
5th Grade Winner John H.
The Life of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was an inventor and a great one at that. But did you know he was also a discoverer? He was from Boston, Massachusetts. His parents were Josiah and Abiah and he was one of seventeen children. He moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was featured in the Pennsylvania Gazette. He is known for his involvement with The Declaration of Independence and is one of the oldest men to sign it.
Now let’s get into some of his inventions. He invented the bifocals so he could look far away and up close without changing his glasses. Benjamin got two different pairs of glasses, cut them in half, and then glued them together. He invented the first fire department and the first fire station. He invented the fire station so the people would have a way to put out fires in town. He also invented fire insurance so if you did have a fire you would not have to pay for a new house. Fire insurance went along with the fire department.
Can you believe that he discovered daylight savings time? That wonderful man invented the odometer. He was the one who invented the flippers. They were originally used for your thumbs to help you get through the water better. The bifocals I was talking about were cool, right? He also invented the Franklin Stove so you would not have to stand out by a fire and freeze. He made it for heat and so you could bake bread and other kinds of pastries. That bold man also made a discovery about how to harness the power of electricity. This has changed our world as we know it. Almost everything in our day is better because we can use electricity. Light, heat, air conditioning, and many other things are all things we use every day and I am sure thankful for.
He wrote the very first almanac to help predict the weather. Hey, you want to know some more history about Franklin? Well, when he was fifteen he helped his brother with the news paper, The Pennsylvania Gazette. He wanted to write in the paper, but his brother would not let him because he thought he was a lowly apprentice. So after dark Benjamin would write letters and sneak out in the middle of the night and slip the letters under the door of his brother’s news paper door. He wrote under the name of Mrs. Silence Dogood and became a smash hit. When his brother found out, Benjamin left.
I think the most important invention he made was the lightning rod. Why do I think that the most important invention is the lightning rod? I think it is because without the lightning rod there would be more forest fires and and a lot more town fires. Am I right, or am I right?
A lot of his inventions that were used back then are still in use today. So we should be grateful for all that we have and thank old Ben for his inventions. Without the lightning rod, a lot of people would be dead. The fire station was one of the wisest ideas because many people would die or lose more of their house if the firemen could not put the fire out. So that as why I think that old Benjamin Franklin is a really great inventor. That is why he is so famous and he has a spot in my heart, old Franklin does. He is a really cool scientist. Ok, I’m done, see you later.