Benjamin Franklin

Destined to be a founding father and important part of American history, Benjamin Franklin starts out as a lowly son of a tallow-chandler. As a youth he is clever and impetuous, excelling as an apprentice and later as a printer. His style of writing is wry and folksy and he creates many characters and anecdotes throughout the years to express his opinions. He is a practical man not given to romanticism. He focuses his actions on usefulness and the public good. Even as a scientist and inventor, Franklin seeks for his discoveries to be useful, not just interesting blurbs or tidbits. He creates Poor Richard's Almanack, an archetype for the wry American voice. Though many of his ideas are excluded from the cannons of philosophy because of their simplicity, Franklin's version of America goes down in history. Many of his traits evolve into American identity—the...