- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1736

Ben Franklin didn’t start out rich – but he got rich – the hard way, by working tirelessly in his print shop. His wealth enabled Franklin to retire from his business at age 42 – and to begin a life full of creative inventing, reading and contemplation, and civic and political activism.

Keep reading to learn more about how Ben acquired his wealth (in some good and some ugly ways) and the wonderfully rich life that he led.

Title page, 1733 Poor Richards Almanac

Ben Franklin knew that his tiny booklet of facts, Poor Richard’s Almanack, could provide a great deal of profit. As a printer, one of his many jobs, Franklin first published almanacs for other writers like Thomas Godfrey and John Jerman. When Franklin realized how much money he could make, he decided to print and publish his own almanac beginning in 1733. At this time, most people bought almanacs because the books were like mini encyclopedias. They contained pieces of information about everyday life that were useful. The almanacs cost two shillings per dozen, which was not a whole lot for each almanac. However, because many people bought an almanac (one in ten!), there were large profits. In addition to the fact that almanacs were common, people also bought Franklin’s almanac because he was a very popular person. Franklin also spread the word by advertising for the almanac in his newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette. In the preface to Franklin’s 1733 almanac, Richard Saunders, a fictional character, wrote that his little almanac could be quite profitable. He wrote, “I am excessively poor, and my wife, good woman, is, I tell her, excessively proud… and has threatened more than once to burn all my books if I do not make some profitable use of them for the good of the family.” Franklin was a very smart man to use his almanac as a way to acquire enormous wealth.

-Joshua C.

Cover, 1752 Poor Richards Almanac

Some people valued their copies of Poor Richards Almanack so much, they crafted beautiful covers in which to house them, like this one from 1752.

- Joshua C.

Front page of the The Pennsylvania Gazette, 1736

One of the ways that Franklin made money was by printing the Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin printed a new issue of the Gazette every week; we know how often this paper was published by looking at the dates on the top of the page (January 6-13). Franklin wrote about interesting and unexpected topics, such as being drunk as shown in the image above. Within the newspaper Franklin made lots of money by selling ads — including ads for slave auctions. Not only did he sell the ads, but at one point he bought and sold slaves himself and offered a reward for runaway slaves. Later, Franklin became an anti-slavery activist.

-Julie R

Section III with Building a Community (Junto) tree, Fighting Fires platform, and cases

In 1727 Ben Franklin started the Junto Club with ten of his “cleverest acquaintances.” In this club members debated politics, discussed morals, posed intellectual questions, and drank beer (which they got from an ale store across the street). The Junto Club lasted for forty years.

As the Junto Club became more popular, Ben started other clubs, and he focused on city improvements. With his acquaintances, he created the volunteer fire department, the first lending library in America, the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, and other organizations. Ben Franklin was networking without even knowing it!

This picture (from the Franklin 300 exhibition at the National Constitutional Center) shows how each individual person (on the tree) helped make an improvement. When you press a button, one rod on the tree will light up, and it will show a person’s name. When you press all of the buttons at the same time, all the rods will light up, and it shows you need many people working together to really improve society. Ben Franklin introduced this spirit of democratic collaboration to America!

-Joshua C.

An Account of the New Invented Pennsylvanian Fire-Places

Franklin not only invented great things, but he also helped promote himself. This was one of Franklin’s business strategies. He would create an invention or found an organization, print up accounts of his work, and sell them. This brought in a lot of publicity for Franklin, and people would buy his inventions and join his organizations. Franklin even included instructions on how to use his inventions, showing people how easy they were to use. You can tell Franklin printed and sold the accounts by looking at the text on the bottom of this page.

-Julie R.

Some Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital From its first Rise, to the Beginning of the Fifth Month, called May, 1754

Ben helped to found the Pennsylvania Hospital (which exists to this day!) in 1751 and then wrote this account of its history. Ben was very good at promoting himself!

- Julie R.

A Catalogue of Books Belonging to the Library Company of Philadelphia

The Catalogue of Books is a very smart marketing technique invented by Benjamin Franklin. The way it worked was he printed up a list of books from the Library Company of Philadelphia, the country’s first lending library. Then he would sell it to people who would like a directory of these books for future reference. In the 1800’s only rich eople would have been able to read. Having many books and reading were symbols of wealth.

-Aedhan L.

“Lion’s Mouth” box

Imagine you walk into a library sometime in the 1730’s, and you see a box mounted on the wall that says, “Gentlemen are requested to deposit in the Lion’s Mouth the titles of such books as they may wish to have imported.” At a library today you can’t choose what books you want to have imported. Imported from where? Why imported? You would want to have a book imported from Britain because in America at that time, they did not have many books, whereas in Britain there would have been many books.

-Aedhan L.

The South East Prospect of the City of Philadelphia

On a gloomy October morning in 1723, sixteen-year-old Benjamin Franklin crept from his house and slipped on to a ship bound for New York. He wanted to be something other than an apprentice for his brother. When he arrived in New York, he soon learned that there were no jobs for a printer. “Try Philadelphia,” someone suggested. Ben did. He soon arrived by boat on the Delaware River. Philadelphia is the city where Ben Franklin’s dreams came true. He helped other people and society in incredible ways and developed his own wealth and personal accomplishments. He had one major way of acquiring his wealth—his printing shop. He printed Poor Richard’s Almanack, and in addition he sold a variety of things such as paper, parchment, ink, lamp black, legal forms, and peddlers’ sales books.

-Aedhan L.

-Benjamin Franklin in a letter to friend Sir Joseph Banks, July 27, 1783

Franklin was an awesome statesman who spent much of his political career abroad, first in London, then in Paris. Franklin worked hard to create a new country and a new government. And he was the only founding father to sign four key documents that established the United States of America: the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of Peace with England and the U.S. Constitution. Read about Founding Father Franklin squabbling with the English and wooing the French.

- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1737

Did you know that Benjamin Franklin wanted everyone to benefit from his inventions? He never patented any of them. From the Franklin Stove to the lightning rod, he always had his fellow citizens in mind. Ben said this of his inventions:

“As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously.”

Keep reading to learn about Ben’s inventions, improvements and a little bit of his sense of humor!

- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1738

Possibly one of the most famous Americans in history, Ben Franklin rocked the worlds of science and politics and changed the colonies with his experiments, innovations, thoughts and advances. But there was a very private side to Franklin, one that was not on display for the public to see. The “Private Ben” was a man of indulgences, self-satisfaction and judgments, both good and bad. Ben was a great man but he was not perfect.

Dialogue between the Gout and Mr. Franklin 

This is a screenshot of an animation illustrating a story Franklin wrote, and is part of the exhibt, “Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World.”. It demonstrates Benjamin Franklin’s knowledge of his own morals, virtues, and spoils. He was wise and knew what healthy foods to eat, yet he himself ate junk food and drank beer. Ben Franklin made a dialogue between himself and the Gout, a disease, in response to Madame Brillon’s poem, Le Sage et la Goutte. He came up with twelve virtues that he would live by, though he broke half of them! 12 Virtues: - temperance (self control) - silence - order - resolution (promise) - frugality (penny pinching) - industry (business) - sincerity (honesty) - justice - moderation (self-control) - cleanliness - peacefulness - faithfulness Illustrated: Ben Franklin talking to the Gout, which resembles him in dress. The Gout is a ghostly looking woman, maybe Madame Brillon.

-Sharell B

Don’t throw stones at your neighbours, if your own windows are glass.

- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1736

By the age of 42, Ben Franklin was a wealthy, white property owner. Like some others of his social class at that time, Franklin had certain prejudices about people who were different from him, like the new German immigrants, Native Americans, and enslaved Africans.  Read on, though, to learn how he changed his mind over the course of his long life.

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To do this, you will need to follow the following directions. Feel free to print them out first to keep them handy, or open up a new browser window and leave them open on your computer desktop. Directions (details below) 1) Sign in to the Site Admin 2) Identify a Post to Edit 3) Edit the Post 4) Save your post and view it 5) Edit more as necessary Detailed Directions 1) Sign in to the Site Admin To edit the posts, you will need to sign in first. Click on the Home button on the top of this page and then choose Site Admin in the righthand column of the site. This will bring up the WordPress login screen. WordPress is the blog software we are using to create the online exhibit. Login with the same username and password you used before. 2) Identify a Post to Edit At the top of the page choose View Site. Then choose the category on the righthand bar listing your theme.

• Homework
• Ben’s Views of Others
• Ben’s Way to Wealth
• Ben and his Political Life
• Ben, Scientist and Inventor
• Ben and his Personal Life

This will bring up the page with all of the posts for your theme. A post in a blog contains the following elements:

Chess set

Benjamin Franklin was an incredible chess player. He was so great a player that he was in the Chess World Hall of Fame. Ben believed that you should live your life like you would play a game of chess. That could be the reason he was so successful in life . He also believed that politics should be played like a game of chess.

Section VI with “Do You See Yourself in Franklin?” giant spectacles

Franklin improved this pair of glasses for his own personal convenience, which shows some of his character. If he didn’t like something, he would not just sit there: He’d do something about it! These glasses represent that there is a little bit of Franklin in everybody. When you walk in front of them, you can see a shadow of yourself in Ben’s glasses. The glasses are a special kind of glasses, called bifocals. That means that they have two different prescriptions in them: one, so the person wearing them can see far when he is looking up and close when he is looking down.

-Tyler A.

Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky

In this picture, we see Franklin depicted as practically a god, with a spark of electricity touching his hand. This was how the public saw Benjamin Franklin — as a brilliant man and revolutionary thinker. Many adored Franklin in his day, from the people of France to the people in the United States (though not the English!). The faults of Franklin are not as well known but not entirely forgotten.

-Veronica S

Autobiography (first English version)

The photograph of this artifact is the title page from the first English edition of Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography. Ben Franklin’s Autobiography is a way for his son and the general public to remember him and his roots. The Autobiography is where he shares his thoughts and beliefs about his family,travel, and jobs.

-Sharell B

Franklin at the Court of France

Franklin was like a celebrity in France, especially to the ladies, with whom he flirted shamelessly. Pictures, prints, busts, and even ceramic dolls in his image were extremely popular at the time. His wife Deborah was dead when he was in France, but she probably wouldn’t have minded that much even if she had been alive. After all, Ben had entered the marriage with one illegitimate son, William. Deborah produced a daughter, Sarah, for Ben, but his thoughts were usually elsewhere and with other women. For example, when he was 48, and still married, he met Catherine Ray, a high spirited 23 year old, and although there is no physical evidence as to an affair taking place, the two were very good friends.

-Veronica S

Electrical Battery

Even though Benjamin Franklin did not invent the leyden jar, he was the first to understand how it worked. The leyden jar was and is a primitive battery that stores electricity. A charged leyden jar works by holding electricity between two pieces of metal. You charge a leyden jar by creating static electricity near the top of the jar. Benjamin Franklin had a very playful attitude towards electricity. So much so that after killing and cooking a turkey using electricy, he was known to have said, “The birds killed in this manner eat uncommonly tender.”

-Raffaele G-P

Franklin before the Lords in Council

Ben came to England as a loyalist, someone who was loyal to the English King. He was there for 17 years. He was sent there by the Pennsylvania government to serve as their agent. Over time Ben began to change. He wrote letters opposing the Stamp Act, making the English government furious. This picture of the cockpit shows when Ben changed from being a loyalist to a Patriot. Ben was called before the English Parliament. The members of the Parliament were furious at Franklin for opposing the Stamp Act. During this hour-long interrogation, the British jeered and called Franklin names, telling him he was no friend of theirs. Ben stood as still as a stone, never moving. This picture shows the good in Ben but the ugly in the British.

- Marina, S., Jorge, M-S

Declaration of Independence

This artifact is the Declaration of Independence that was passed in 1776. This famous document states that all men are created equal. When the Declaration of Independence was written, did the authors mean all free white men or all men in general? We still do not know today what each founding father thought. In the 1700s men like Franklin thought Germans coming to America were bad, even though they were white.

-Sarah S.

Congress Voting Independence

This picture shows the Founding Fathers voting for independence. When you look at this picture closely, you don’t see any people of color. The assembled men are free and were born as British citizens. Ben Franklin is the man sitting in the center of the picture.

-Sarah S., Amanda M.

Holograph draft of the Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence is a document that Franklin helped to write. This document states that America has declared its independence as a nation. The Declaration of Independence also meant that America wanted to be free from English colonial rule. The fact that Ben helped to write this document was very significant because Ben had always considered himself an Englishman. The Declaration of Independence stated “all men are created equal.” This was very hypocritical because Franklin and many of the other drafters of this document owned slaves. Although Franklin was hypocritical, by the time he died, he had become passionate in opposing slavery. And by that time he died, he had made a tremendous impact on American history.

- Jorge, M-S

Am I Not a Man and a Brother? (anti-slavery medallion)

This medallion relates to our big idea and theme because it shows that Ben Franklin, a slave owner for over forty years, eventually became opposed to slavery. It helps us to tell the story of how Ben changed his views of slaves. He became President of the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society in the year 1787. The medallion was a very common symbol that the Abolitionists used when they were fighting against slavery.

-Aaya K.

Cover, Narrative of the Late Massacres in Lancaster County of a Number of Indians

Native Americans struggled against white invaders of their lands throughout Benjamin Franklin’s time in the Americas. Benjamin Franklin was not unlike many of his fellow white landowners who thought less of Native Americans. Over time, however, Franklin realized that Native Americans were just as human as he was. This cover of a pamphlet about the Paxton Boys was written and printed by Benjamin Franklin in the year 1764.