When Benjamin Franklin appeared before the British Parliament as a colonial representative in 1757, he dressed in the fine silks and powdered wig that were expected of the dignified Englishman that he was. Twenty-one years later, however, representing the new American republic desperately fighting a revolution for independence, he stepped among the silk clad, powdered, and bewigged French aristocracy in a plain, brown, homespun suit with no wig and wearing a rustic, beaver fur cap – his “Liberty Cap.” Franklin created a new image, singularly American. He represented a new national identity, more enterprising, less refined. He presented the idea of a new nationality that demanded a new nation. His unique style immediately captured the imagination of the French populace, rich and poor, and was the first step in winning over their support.

Ben Franklin became the first American. His life demonstrates the optimism, entrepreneurism, and imagination, that has enabled the America people to reinvent their society for the better throughout its history. Franklin, a distinguished, middle-aged, internationally known celebrity transformed himself from a proud Loyalist into a patriot and Founding Father.  Through his personal transformations he also transformed this nation.

Franklin was born into the superstitious age of witch trials, but he became a beacon of reason and an icon of the Enlightenment. Using the power of the scientific method in his experiments in electricity, optics, and heat conduction, he improved the lives and safety of all Americans. Though raised with a strong Protestant ethic, his journalism popularized rational thought while evangelizing secular morality. Incredibly successful in amassing wealth through the free market capitalism of his time, he established the socialistic institutions of public libraries, community fire departments, mutual aid societies, and public education. His political prowess shaped compromises that transformed a collection of Royal colonies into a democracy that would become the most powerful nation on earth.

Franklin was the fifteenth of 17 children born to a Boston soap and candle maker. Starting at the age of 8 he was formally educated to become a minister, for only two years. But this precocious boy, who read on his own from as far back as he could remember, was not cut out to be a minister nor to follow in his father’s footsteps as a candle dipper and soap boiler. At the age of 17 he fled Boston and settled in the city of Philadelphia (population 4000). No longer his brother’s apprentice, he worked as a tradesman, from printer’s assistant to independent printer. He worked long hours, produced work of high quality, and made sure people recognized his reputation for being industrious.

His passion for self-improvement, for continual personal reinvention, led young Franklin to organize the “Junto,” a club for local tradesmen and working class citizens, (not aristocrats) who gathered once a week to discuss the issues of the day, analyze good and bad business. pointed Postmaster, he organized such an efficient service that mail passed between New York and Philadelphia faster in his day than it does today. He transformed his local newspaper into a nationally syndicate journal made possible by his own improvements to the colonial postal system. As Philadelphia grew to a population of 20,000, Franklin guided the re-engineering of the city with paved roads, improved sanitation, and the first public fire department.