What Are Benjamin Franklin's Accomplishments

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Benjamin Franklin is very popular to American culture. He is a founding father and the face of the 100 dollar bill. Benjamin Franklin’s contribution to American culture and society are endless. He was very famous among the people of his time and even historians today. It is rare to find an article bad mouthing Franklin, but that does not mean he did not possess a much darker side to him. In fact, research shows that Franklin was not always the optimist previously thought, and that he also had a much darker side which he rarely revealed. Through the careful examination of books and articles on Franklin, it has been discovered the Franklin had many short comings. One of his short comings was the he neglected his wife (Mcdowell). Another was that,…show more content…
He much preferred to control what people thought of him, painting himself in the wonderful light we view him in today. In reality, Benjamin was only human and had flaws just like the rest of us. Despite minimal schooling in his early years, Franklin eventually became well known for his intellectual ability. What was Benjamin Franklin’s view on Education and how did that view drive his later accomplishments? Benjamin Franklin was not born a wealthy man. In fact, he was among the youngest of a family with 17 children. With 17 mouths to feed, it is not hard to believe that, at the age of ten, Benjamin Franklin was pulled out of school to help work his father’s candle-making shop (Meiss). Despite only obtaining a little over a year of schooling, Benjamin Franklin still managed to become the famous intellectual we praise him to be today. Research shows that his intelligence was fostered by his views on…show more content…
In his autobiography, Franklin mentions that as a child he loved reading (Franklin The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin). He devoted much of his spare time to the advancement of his self-education ("Benjamin Franklin"). In a quote Franklin stated, “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning (Franklin).” Franklin did not believe in being stagnant. At age fifteen, he wrote anonymous articles for the New England Courier and eventually went on to start his own publication called the Pennsylvania Gazette. Even though the publication failed, Benjamin was able to gain much experience as a writer ("Benjamin Franklin"). Franklin eventually went on to teach himself to read French, Latin, Italian, and Spanish ("Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Benjamin Franklin"). He was always looking for ways to self-improve and figured being fluent in other languages would help him in his future. Franklin was inspired by Enlightenment philosophers as well as scientific advancements. With all the knowledge he was obtaining, he naturally became involved in discussions on religion, society, and science. Franklin believed that the application of knowledge was necessary to solving worldly

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