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Isaacson, Walter. Benjamin Franklin: an American Life. Simon & Schuster, 2006.

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Franklin encounters John Collins, and practices debates with him. By meeting with him, Franklin was capable of improving his writing style and was able to create a humbler approach to his arguments.

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As a teenager, Franklin created a fictional character named Silence Dogood, a widowed woman from a rural land. Franklin wrote numerous essays and anonymously turned them in to The Spectator, a daily newspaper. His essays were featured on the newspaper, which started Franklin's literary career.

"The literary character Franklin invented was a triumph of imagination. Silence Dogood was a slightly prudish widowed woman from a rural area, created by a spunky unmarried Boston teenager who had never spent a night outside of the city. Despite the uneven quality of the essays, Franklin's ability to speak convincingly as a woman was remarkable, and it showed both his creativity and his appreciation for the female mind." (Page 29).

Every Silence Dogood essay

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In the fall of 1722, Franklin wrote his Fourteenth and final essay under the identity of Silence Dogood. In this essay he revealed his identity of Ben Franklin and reformation. Once his brother saw that Dogood was Franklin, James treid to write about the same fragile topics that Franklin had, but got arrested twice and was no longer allowed to publish papers with the Courant.

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Since James could no longer publish papers in the Courant, he tried to get Ben to publish them for him. Ben was already in an apprenticeship with James, and their relationship was beginning to turn toxic as James would beat Ben. Understanding James' plans, Franklin secretly booked passage with a sloop for New York, and ran away from Boston and his family.

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After arriving in Philadelphia, Franklin met Keimer, an old man who ran a shop. Franklin was able to seek employment there and made numerous friends, a few of which were writers like Ben. Franklin also conducted numerous arguments using the Socratic method, which allowed him to hone his debating skills.

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After sending a letter to his brother-in-law about why he was happy in Philadelphia, they showed the letter to the governor, Sir William Keith. Keith offered Franklin to help set up his future, and to give him a large fortune, as well as sending a letter to Franklin's family, who he has not contacted in his 7 months of being in Philadelphia. Franklin agrees, and on April 1724, he set sails for Boston. After reading the Keith's letter, Josiah refused to fund Franklin. Josiah did promise, however, that if Franklin was close to opening a business at 21, he would fund it.

"He would use his influence, Keith promised, to get him the province's official business and would write Franklin's father a letter exhorting him to help finance his son." (Page 40)

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After Dunham's passing, and after Franklin started his own publishing business, he created a Junto. A Junto was a small group of enterprising tradesmen and artisans, who discussed issues of the day, philosophy, self-improvement, and how to further their careers. By debating in the Junto, Franklin was able to create numerous friends, as well as new Socratic queries. These queries were to be used with curiosity and not an urgency of winning, which he would continue to use and urge for the rest of his life.

"Franklin taught his friends to push their ideas through suggestions and questions, and to use (or at least feign) naive curiosity to avoid contradicting people in a manner that could give offense." (Page 56)

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One of the Quaker merchants aboard the ship that took Franklin to London was starting a shop and offered a job for him back in Philadelphia. In July 1726, they set sail for America. During his 11 week voyage, Franklin devised a plan that consisted of 4 rules, all of which he would need to follow throughout his future.

"Denham, the Quaker merchant Franklin had met on the voyage over, was planning to open a general store once back in Philadelphia, and he offered to pay Franklin's passage if he would agree to sign on as his clerk at £50 a year." (Page 48)

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At 23 years old, Franklin decided to create a printing company for newspapers, magazines, and almanacs. Before he could afford it, Keimer got word of his plan, so he made a newspaper of his own. Franklin then sided with Bradford, a newspaper owner who he was going to originally rival, to take down Keimer. Franklin made numerous essays on Bradford's newspaper that criticized Keimer, making him fall out of business and becoming outspoken enemies with Franklin. In Franklin's essays, he also mentioned the problem of low amounts of currency, which led to paper currency being created.

"The essay was very popular, except among the wealthy, and it helped to persuade the legislature to adopt the proposed increase in paper currency." (Page 64)

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After hearing that Josiah would not pay for Franklin's business, Keith promised that he could. Franklin decided that the best decision for finding the right equipment would be to go to London, where it is made. For Franklin's voyage, Keith promised to send letters of credit and recommendation. In November of 1724, Franklin set sail for London. After arriving in London on Christmas Eve, Franklin realized he wouldn't be getting any letters from Keith, because he had no credit to give. After losing yet another friend, Franklin learned that he wasn't good at creating lasting bonds with others.

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In October of 1729, after forcing Keimer into debt and having to flee to Barbados, Franklin created his own newspaper called THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE. Through his time of writing his newspaper, he began to become wealthy as well as becoming a minor political figure. In addition, he kept true to his rule of not speaking ill of anyone, and also created the rule of not becoming corrupt for money.

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After attending church for a total of 5 weeks, Franklin was disappointed that instead of being taught to be a good citizen, he was taught to be a good Presbyterian. Franklin then wrote a series of essays that defined his beliefs. In those essays he denied being an Atheist, despite popular belief, but instead believed in a "Supreme most perfect being." (Page 85). Franklin also asserted his opinion that if you have a faith in a God, it should inform your daily actions for the better.

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In 1732, Franklin's press was becoming wealthier by the moment and he was printing two different almanacs by different people. After both authors left, Franklin had no almanac to print so he made his own. Franklin used his almanac that he named, "Poor Richard's Almanac", to teach others of the rules that he sets himself to follow. Throughout the time of making the almanac, Franklin kept a prank going of pretending his rival, Titan Leeds, had died, even though he was very much alive. After Leeds' actual death, Franklin kept the prank going by pretending to have received a letter from his ghost, stating that Franklin was correct. The Almanac made Franklin extremely wealthy, selling over 10,000 copies a year.

An article about Poor Richard's Almanac

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In the early 1730's, Franklin started to care more about public behavior and what would be best for them. As a result of this, Franklin devised multiple organizations for the greater good of his community. He created the first ever subscription library, fire department, and official police force. His ideas and identical organizations began spreading like wildfire all throughout America. His creation of these organizations was able to allow him to become a role model for large groups of people, which would greatly help him in his political career.

"This gregarious outlook would lead him, as a twentysomething printer during the 1730s, to use his Junto to launch a variety of community organizations, including a lending library, fire brigade, and night watchmen corps, and later a hospital, militia, and college." (Page 102)

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After unsuccessfully trying to get married, Franklin got news of his brother's failing health. Franklin decided to come back to Boston to apologize for how he treated his brother in the past, and by his brother's wish, adopted his 10 year old son. While in town, Franklin also met Deborah Read again, and apologized to her about how he treated her in the past, just as he did with James. The two became friends again, before becoming unofficially married.

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After another decade of printing essays and getting into conflicts with rival printers, in 1748 Ben Franklin decided to retire. He had become extraordinarily wealthy, making £650 pounds annually, whereas a common clerk could make £25 a year and live comfortably. He left his print shop behind to focus on matters that now interested him, which mainly involved science and politics.

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On a visit to Boston in 1743, Franklin met Dr. Archibald Spencer, a scientific showman who specializes in electrical tricks. Interested, Franklin joined Spencer and borrowed a few of his gadgets, so that more could be made. With the newly made gadgets, Franklin began experimenting with them to get a greater understanding of electricity. Through a few years of studying, Franklin came to the conclusion that electricity has a positive and negative charge, and was able to create a battery and a conductor. Through his experimentations, Franklin was able to have a much greater understanding of electricity, although he still couldn't find a practical use for it.

"Franklin's first serious experiments involved collecting an electric charge and then studying its properties... The result was the discovery that electricity was 'not created by the friction, but collected only.' In other words, a charge could be drawn into person A and out of person B, and the electric fluid would flow back if the two people touched each other." (Page 134).

An article containing information on Franklin's experimentations with electricity.

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In 1744, out of pure curiosity, Franklin began researching numerous scientific topics and began trying to create something using those topics. Through years of research and creating prototypes, he created scientific rules and inventions. One of the rules that he made was that dark fabrics absorb more heat than light fabrics. He also created the wood-burning stove, although his version was extremely complex and had a few mechanical flaws. Through these inventions and scientific discoveries, Franklin was able to create a much greater reputation for himself and allowed a larger spectrum of people to be able to know about him.

"Unlike in some of his pursuits, he was not driven by pecuniary motives; he declined to patent his famous inventions, and he took pleasure in freely sharing his findings. Nor was he motivated merely by his quest for the practical." (Page 130)

A modern wood burning stove, created by Franklin's original ideas, however it's structure has been simplified.

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Throughout the 1740's, Franklin had constantly thought of the idea of creating his own college, and in 1749, he created his "Proposal Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania." In this proposal, he included why the academy was needed, what it should teach, and how the funds could be raised for it. After a short while, Franklin accumulated 2,000 pounds of donations. He was then given the Great Hall, which had been made for Rev. Whitefield but had fallen into misuse, to renovate it and create his academy. In 1751, the academy was opened. Soon afterwards, he began raising money to create a hospital. Recalling back to these accomplishments, Franklin declared that they were his proudest achievements.

"The academy opened in January 1751 as the first nonsectarian college in America (by 1791 it came to be known as the University of Pennsylvania)." (Page 147).

Ben Franklin's proposal for creating the University of Pennsylvania

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In 1749, Franklin created a list of 12 details about lightning and electricity that were identical. Fascinated by this, Franklin began his experiments on the difference of lightning and electricity. Franklin first planned out his theories of lightning in April 1749, where he devised the lightning rod to see if lightning would truly be attracted to metal like electricity  is. Franklin wrote out his theories, and unbeknownst to him, was translated to French and brought before the King of France. Out of complete fascination, the King ordered that a group of his subjects would create the lightning rod to see if it truly works. On May 10, 1752, a storm passed over the lightning rod and struck it precisely. All of France became ecstatic and began sharing the news to everyone around, declaring Franklin as an international sensation. Still unaware of the attention he was receiving in Europe, Franklin grabbed a silk kite with a metal key attached to the end, and flew it as a storm passed. After a short while, lightning struck the key directly, sending a charge through a wire, where it was captured in a Leyden jar. With this captured charge, Franklin was finally able to declare that lightning is, in fact, electricity.

"Franklin began to despair when he suddenly saw some of the strands of the string stiffen. Putting his knuckle to the key, he was able to draw sparks (and, notable, to survive). He proceeded to collect some of the charge in a Leyden jar and found it had the same qualities as electricity produced in a lab." (Page 140).