Prominent Works of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts to a poor candle maker. He had 15 siblings, in which all were apprentices for different trades. All except Benjamin, his father had dedicated his son as the Tithe of his sons to the service to the Church (327). Unfortunately, the cost of this was too much and Benjamin’s father placed him in another school. Benjamin worked a while with his father as a candle maker. He did not like this profession very much and expressed that he was ready to spread his wings. His father saw this and was not very pleased. Back in those days, families worked together within the family business. Generation after generation after generation of families ran the same business. For example, the Colt family made pistols. The Blacksmith family did metal work. Doing otherwise was definitely out of the norm and looked down upon. But, Benjamin had hankering for the sea (330) and still wanted to get out on his own.

Seeing this, his father strongly suggested that Benjamin work with his brother as an apprentice. The contract had Benjamin working for his brother until he was 21. His brother had his own printing shop and newspaper. Benjamin attributed his love of independence to the many years he spent as an apprentice to his autocratic brother James. Franklin wrote that his brother’s harsh and tyrannical treatment of him might be a means of impressing him with that aversion to arbitrary power that has struck to him through his whole life.

Benjamin loved to read; he read everything that he could place his hands on. He also loved to write. He proposed to his brother that he would like to write for his paper but his brother flatly disapproved. Well, Benjamin was also very resourceful. He would do...