| | |Founding Documents:=[[Declaration of Independence]], <br>[[United States Constitution]] | | |Founding Documents:=[[Declaration of Independence]], <br>[[United States Constitution]] |
| − | '''Benjamin Franklin''' (January 17, 1706, [[Boston]] - April 17, 1790 [[Philadelphia]]), was an American [[polymath]], printer, inventor, statesman, [[chess]] enthusiast, and one of the most prominent scientists in the world of the [[Enlightenment]], famed for his discoveries in electricity. He was widely admired in [[France]] in addition to the [[United States]]. | + | '''Benjamin Franklin''' (January 17, 1706, [[Boston]] - April 17, 1790 [[Philadelphia]]), was an American [[polymath]], printer, inventor, statesman, [[chess]] enthusiast, and a prominent scientist during the [[Enlightenment]], famed for his discoveries in electricity. He was widely admired in [[France]] in addition to the [[United States]]. |
| | Franklin's financial success, which he described in his most popular work, ''The Way to Wealth'' (1758), embodied the [[American Dream]]. His wealth was due in part to his obtaining the right to print [[Pennsylvania]]’s paper currency, based on his writing ''A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency'' (1729). Later he became the printer of currency for New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. He also made money as the publisher of the ''Pennsylvania Gazette'', starting in 1729 and known as the finest of all the colonial newspapers. | | Franklin's financial success, which he described in his most popular work, ''The Way to Wealth'' (1758), embodied the [[American Dream]]. His wealth was due in part to his obtaining the right to print [[Pennsylvania]]’s paper currency, based on his writing ''A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency'' (1729). Later he became the printer of currency for New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. He also made money as the publisher of the ''Pennsylvania Gazette'', starting in 1729 and known as the finest of all the colonial newspapers. |