What Are Benjamin Franklin's Major Accomplishments

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The French statesman Jacques Turgot once said of him: “he snatched lightning from the sky, and the scepter from tyrants.” Mr. Turgot is referring to Benjamin Franklin. Most people only remember Benjamin Franklin as a founding fathers, but he was so much more then that. Franklin was an inventor, a diplomat, a printer, and a writer. Mr. Franklin’s many different accomplishments changed the World for the better.

Benjamin Franklin 's early life was the foundation for the rest of his life, all of his later accomplishments were built on this time period. Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. After 2 years of schooling, the young Mr. Franklin was expected to work at his father Josiah’s soap and candle making shop. Benjamin refused and when he was 12 years old, he took an apprenticeship under his older brother James and began learning the art of printing. When his older brother began to publish a newspaper, young Ben began, under the alias of Silence Dogood, to write pieces …show more content…

Just two years after he returned, Franklin was sent back to London as a representative of the Pennsylvania Assembly. While Franklin was in London, unrest over the new laws being passed by England was sweeping through the colonies. Franklin also believed that the new taxes and laws were unfair, he argued that it was the right of a British citizen to vote on their own taxes. He lobbied against laws such as the stamp act and eventually helped get every law repealed, except for a tax on tea. Britain 's refusal to remove the tax lead to the Boston Tea Party. Benjamin Franklin was singled out as a scapegoat for Britain 's growing problems with the colonies and was stripped of his post as deputy postmaster general for North America. King George III of Great Britain encouraged Parliament to pass harsh laws on the colonies. The colonies were heading toward rebellion, and Benjamin Franklin was ready to join