Life Changes in Philadelphia: The Genius of Ben Franklin

(From First Facts About U.S. History, available in Kids InfoBits, which includes ReadSpeaker text-to-speech technology. Free trial.)

• 1706: Benjamin Franklin is born in Boston on January 17
• 1732-1758: Franklin publishes Poor Richard's Almanac
• 1760-1790: Franklin is an important statesman in America and abroad
• 1790: On April 17, at age 84, Franklin dies in Philadelphia

When Benjamin Franklin arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1723, he was 17 years old and almost penniless. He fell in love with the thriving city, with its bustling trade, its handsome brick buildings, and its people from many nations. Trained as a printer, Franklin soon had his own printing company and newspaper. He also wrote and published a best-selling almanac that he named Poor Richard's Almanac, which included his own wise and witty sayings. By his early 40s, Franklin was wealthy enough to retire from business and devote himself full-time to improving life in his city and colony.

Franklin applied his immense energy and talents to an amazing variety of tasks. He helped to give Philadelphia a public circulating library--the first of its kind in the world--and the first hospital in America. He organized a fire company and police force. Thanks to Franklin, the city was one of the first in the world to have paved streets and street lighting, using oil lamps that he had designed. He organized Pennsylvania's militia and started an academy that would become the University of Pennsylvania.

Franklin also gained worldwide fame as a scientist and inventor. His experiments laid the foundation for the modern science of electricity. His inventions included the Franklin stove, the lightning rod, and bifocal glasses. And during the last 30 years of his life, Franklin, as a respected scholar and statesman, played an important part in the American Revolution and the creation of the United States government.

The Postal System

In the early 1700s, mailing a letter was a risky business. Travel was slow – for example, it took a stagecoach six days to travel from Boston to New York. In addition, people paid cash for their mail when they received it, and dishonest post riders often overcharged them. And nosy neighbors thought nothing of opening and reading other people's mail. Benjamin Franklin sensed as postmaster of Philadelphia and was named the postmaster general by the Continental Congress. Under his guidance, mail delivery in America became much more efficient.

Medicine in the New World

Until the mid-1800s, little was known about the causes and cures of disease. Epidemics of some diseases, such as smallpox and yellow fever, might take the lives of up to half the people in a stricken town. One of the most common treatments for any ailment was "bleeding"--drawing off the patient's blood to remove the "ill humors." But with the help of Native Americans, the colonists learned to use herbs and roots to make many useful medicines. Franklin's press printed many books describing how to make and use these remedies.