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Surprising Fact About Benjamin Franklin
Franklin became a hit writer as a teenager
In the 1720s, Benjamin Franklin secretly submitted essays and commentaries under the name “Silence Dogood”, a fictitious widow who wrote on a variety of subjects. These letters gained popularity, leading to many marriage proposals from Boston bachelors. Franklin wrote 14 Dogood essays before revealing himself as their author.
Tired of the hard work and beatings as James’ apprentice, he fled Boston and settled in Philadelphia, which would remain his hometown for the rest of his life. Postal mail delivery became an important communication line for the colonies and helped unify the newly independent United States of America.
He spent half his life in unofficial retirement
In 1723, Franklin arrived in Philadelphia with little money but quickly became wealthy as a print shop owner, land speculator, and publisher of “Poor Richard’s Almanack.” By 1748, he was a “gentleman of leisure.” Franklin retired to study science and invented inventions like lightning rods and heating stoves.
He also served in public service, serving as a delegate to Congress, diplomat, ambassador to France and Sweden, postmaster general, and president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania.
He only had two years of formal education
Benjamin Franklin, a brilliant American, attended Boston Latin School and a private academy before joining the family candle and soap-making business. At 12, he worked as an indentured apprentice at a printing shop.
He spent his earnings on books, often going without food, and honed his composition skills by reading essays and articles. Despite being self-taught, Franklin helped found the University of Pennsylvania and received honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, the College of William and Mary, the University of St. Andrews, and Oxford.
Franklin designed a musical instrument used by Mozart and Beethoven
Franklin’s “glass armonica” is an unusual invention that replicates the sound of a wet finger rubbing a glass rim. He created the first prototype in 1761 by building 37 glass orbs with different sizes and pitches, mounted on a spindle controlled by a foot pedal. The instrument was used to create individual tones or melodies by wetting fingers, rotating the apparatus, and touching the glass pieces.
The glass armonica gained a significant following during the 18th and early 19th centuries, with composers like Mozart, Beethoven, and Strauss composing music for it. Franklin later stated, “Of all his inventions, the glass armonica has given me the greatest personal satisfaction.”
Franklin created a phonetic alphabet
In 1768, Franklin created a phonetic system to improve the alphabet’s natural order. He removed redundant consonants and added six new letters, each representing a specific vocal sound. Despite revealing his “Scheme for a new Alphabet and a Reformed Mode of Spelling” in 1779, the project was scrapped due to public interest
His son was a British loyalist
Franklin had two children with Deborah Read and an illegitimate son named William around 1730. They were close friends and partners, but they had a major disagreement over the American Revolution. Franklin supported independence, but William remained a staunch Tory, branding the patriots “intemperate zealots.
” He spent two years in a colonial prison and later became a leader in a loyalist group before moving to England. Franklin never forgave his son for taking up arms against him, and he left William out of his will, arguing that his actions in the late war would account for his deprivation of his estate.
He was a reluctant revolutionary.
Franklin, a Founding Father, opposed full separation from Britain and advocated for peaceful compromise and empire preservation. He criticized the Boston Tea Party in 1773 as an act of violence and demanded compensation for East India Company losses. Despite soured on the monarchy, Franklin’s support for King George III earned him suspicion among fellow patriots, and some even suspected him to be a British spy before publicly expressing his support for American independence.
He spent his later years as an abolitionist
Franklin owned two slaves during his life, both working as household servants. He later viewed slavery as a vile institution and opposed it. In 1787, he became president of a Pennsylvania abolitionist society and presented a petition to Congress urging liberty for those in perpetual bondage.
Despite being ignored, Franklin continued the fight until his death, including a provision in his will requiring his daughter and son-in-law to free their slaves for inheritance.
Franklin left Boston and Philadelphia an unusual gift in his will
In 1790, Franklin left 2,000 pounds sterling to Boston and Philadelphia, with the money initially placed in a trust for 100 years to provide loans to local tradesmen. The rest would remain off-limits for another 100 years, allowing cities to use it as they wished.
By 1990, Boston and Philadelphia had $4.5 million and $2 million, respectively, using the windfall to finance the Franklin Institute and Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology. Philadelphia also contributed some funds to trade school scholarships.
Franklin was a fashion icon in France
In 1776, Franklin traveled to France to aid the revolution. He became famous for his lighting experiments and adopted the French idea of Americans as rustic frontiersmen. He dressed plainly and wore a fur hat, which became his trademark. Women imitated the cap with oversized wigs, creating a “coiffure a la Franklin” style. When Franklin traded the fur cap for a white hat during the 1778 treaty, white-colored headgear became a fashion trend among Parisian men.
He’s a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame
Franklin’s love for swimming began in his childhood in Boston, where he invented wooden hand paddles and used a kite for skimming. In the 1760s, he displayed impressive swimming strokes in England, leading to a friend offering to help him open a swimming school.
Franklin declined but remained a proponent of swimming instruction. His aquatic exploits earned him an honorary induction into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
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