What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?

This children's biography traces the life of Benjamin Franklin, from his birth in colonial Boston to his death as one of the most celebrated figures in American history.

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, on Milk Street in Boston, a town so new that its streets were still being named. His father, Mr. Franklin, was a soap- and candle-maker, one of the tradesmen known as "Leather Apron" men because they wore leather aprons while working with their hands. Benjamin was the youngest of Mr. Franklin's 10 sons; some brothers entered trades like blacksmithing and printing, while four died young.

Mr. Franklin considered Benjamin special and too smart for ordinary trade work. He sent Benjamin to Latin School at age seven, intending him for the ministry, and Benjamin finished the year at the head of his class. However, Mr. Franklin reconsidered the years and expense involved, noticed that young preachers often struggled financially, and pulled Benjamin from school at age 10 to work in the family business.

At 12, Benjamin was expected to choose a trade and become an apprentice, a commitment that would bind him to a master until age 21. Benjamin resisted fiercely, valuing freedom above all else. He refused the soap and candle business, repelled by the stench of hot grease and boiling lye. After much arguing, he agreed to apprentice with his brother James, a printer. He learned the trade quickly but chafed under James's strict treatment.

Determined not to waste his apprentice years, Benjamin used every spare moment for self-education. His father told him to stick to prose rather than poetry, so he developed a method of studying essays and rewriting them to sharpen his style. He secretly contributed letters to James's newspaper under the pen name Silence Dogood. After reading a book on vegetarianism, he quit eating meat and negotiated to receive half his meal costs in cash, spending the savings on books. He mastered elaborate swimming tricks, even using a kite as a sail to pull himself across a pond. He read a book on argumentation that advised asking polite questions rather than flatly contradicting opponents. He also created a list of 13 rules for good behavior and carried a notebook to track his progress, though he seldom let the rules interfere with having a good time.

At 17, Benjamin ran away to Philadelphia, arriving in October 1723. He found work with a printer and, on a visit to Boston, swaggered into James's printshop to show off his success, jingling money in his pockets. James was so furious that the brothers did not reconcile for years. Back in Philadelphia, Benjamin's cheerful disposition helped him make friends easily. He and other young men who enjoyed reading and debating formed the Leather Apron Club, meeting every Friday night.

Benjamin married Debbie Read in 1730, at age 24. He owned his own printshop and newspaper and did the printing for the Pennsylvania government. He and Debbie also ran a store in the front of their house. Benjamin constantly pursued new ideas, writing about comets, theorizing about hurricanes, and conducting experiments. He formed America's first circulating library and helped organize Philadelphia's fire department. His inventions included a remote-control door lock, a rocking chair with a fan, a pole with movable fingers for reaching high shelves, and an iron stove that became very popular because it produced more heat and less smoke than a fireplace.

In 1732, Franklin published Poor Richard's Almanack, a yearly book of holidays, weather forecasts, tide schedules, and planting guides, filled with trademark one-line sayings such as "A penny saved is a penny earned" and "Fish and visitors smell in 3 days" (17). Within a few years he was selling 10,000 copies annually and continued publishing it for 25 years. Franklin and Debbie had three children; their son Francis died at age four in 1736.

Franklin's "Big Idea," as the author terms it, came at age 40, when he grew interested in electricity. Scientists had discovered that rubbing glass tubes with silk generated sparks, and electrical demonstrations had become popular entertainment across Europe. Franklin's central insight was that electricity and lightning were the same phenomenon, a claim most people considered outlandish. He proposed placing a pointed iron rod atop a high tower during a storm to see if lightning would be attracted to it. In the spring of 1752, three European scientists conducted the experiment and confirmed his theory. Franklin devised his own proof by flying a kite with a pointed wire at its tip during a storm and feeling the electric shock through a key tied to the string. He became the most celebrated man in America: The King of France sent congratulations, the Royal Society of England awarded him a medal, and universities granted him the title Dr. Franklin.

Franklin turned his discovery into the lightning rod, a pointed iron rod raised from a rooftop to attract lightning and lead it harmlessly into the ground. He took on growing public responsibilities as Postmaster General, reducing mail delivery time from Boston to Philadelphia from six weeks to six days. He helped organize a hospital, a fire insurance company, and an expedition to seek the Northwest Passage, a hoped-for sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific through northern waters. In 1757, Pennsylvania sent him to London to represent its interests.

Franklin lived in London for 18 years. He was there when King George III was crowned and when England began imposing taxes on the American colonies in 1765. Franklin tried to keep the two countries friendly, but England grew increasingly stubborn. In 1774, he was called before the Privy Council, a body of the king's closest advisors, to explain his activities on America's behalf. For two hours he was shouted at, insulted, and condemned. White with rage, he said nothing, recognizing that England was treating America like a country of apprentices rather than free men. Debbie, afraid to cross the ocean, died the year before he returned. In the spring of 1775, Franklin sailed home to discover that war had already begun: The Battle of Lexington had been fought while he was at sea.

Franklin was immediately placed in the Continental Congress, the colonies' governing assembly directing the war effort. He served on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence; fellow delegate Thomas Jefferson did the writing, but Franklin made key changes, revising Jefferson's "sacred and undeniable" truths to "self-evident" truths (28). In the fall of 1776, Congress sent the 70-year-old Franklin to France to persuade the French to join the war on America's side. He arrived rumpled, weak, and wearing a fur hat instead of a wig because of a skin condition, but the French adored him. Within a month he became a sensation: French ladies called him Papa and wore his picture in their rings. Franklin shrewdly never dressed up, not even when visiting the King. He talked France into joining the war and, when peace came in 1783, helped write the treaty.

Franklin returned to Philadelphia at 79 to a wildly enthusiastic welcome of cannon fire, bells, and parades. Pennsylvania elected him president of its government three years running. At 82, he helped write the Constitution of the United States, attending Constitutional Convention meetings for four months. He sometimes dozed during speeches and often disagreed but declared himself satisfied, saying that with so many different opinions, the document was the best they could do. In his final years, even bedridden, he continued reading and writing. Every afternoon his nine-year-old granddaughter Deborah came to his bedside for her spelling lesson, earning a spoonful of fruit jelly when she did well. Benjamin Franklin died on the night of April 17, 1790, at age 84, a man who not only had a Big Idea of his own but played a large part in one of the biggest ideas of his time: the idea of an independent United States.