Benjamin Franklin by Oscar

Ben Franklin

By Oscar

Hi, my name is Benjamin Franklin. You might know me as the 100 dollar bill guy because the ladies love me and because they call me Benji. My family lived in Boston, Massachusetts. I was born in 1706. I had 16 brothers and sisters. At the time, our country was still a colony and it was part of England. As I grew, so did this big nation. I went to school only for two years. I learned how to read and write.

After that I taught myself many things. I had a lot of big ideas, but I did not know how to work things. When I was 12, my brother James taught me how to work a printer. Later, I learned how to print newspapers. I played a trick on my brother. I wrote a letter to his newspaper and made him sign it “Silence  Do Good”. People liked James’ letter. He was not happy. When he found out I had written the letter, he was not pleased.

When I was 17, I went to Philadelphia to find work. I worked for a printer house in Philadelphia and London. I was bursting with many good ideas and made my own printer shop in Philadelphia. I printed a book called Poor Richard’s Almanac. My book was filled with forecasts, advice, and wise sayings. I had great ideas to help people. Destruction by fires was often very common in Philadelphia. The fire was spread in many homes.

My idea was to make a fire department. I invented many ideas to prevent fires, like the lightning rod. My friends and I wrote a paper called, “The Declaration of Independence” and wrote our own rules because it was unfair that the king of England was ruling us from across the ocean. But the Declaration led us to war with England. Our people needed help to win this war, so I had an idea! At 70 years old, I sailed across the Atlantic Ocean for French help to win the war against England. At age 84 I died. But my inventions, writing, and many of my ideas still live until today. Boom baby! I have the power!