This edition is presented as its author originally intended. Franklin’s original manuscript is printed in the format and conventions of the E P Dutton & Co. 1905 edition. The supplemental “Chief Events In Franklin's Life” is taken from the P F Collier & Son Co. 1909 Edition. Benjamin Franklin was our first true American Hero. Of somewhat humble beginnings and still in his teens, he makes his way alone from Boston to Philadelphia. There, by wit and wiles, he will secure his personal future and his historical legacy. A British subject in colonial America, he selflessly and honorably served his king. He was a respected ambassador to Parliament from the Pennsylvania Assembly. When his loyalty shifted with the growing discontent with British rule, he helped draft the Declaration of Independence and later the United States Constitution. He served his new country as Minister to Sweden and France and was its first Postmaster General. As a scientist, his discoveries included the electrical nature of lightning and the course of the Gulf Stream. As an inventor, he gave us the Franklin stove, bifocal lenses, and the lightning rod. And these significant discoveries and inventions are only examples of the many contributions that earned him an international reputation in those fields. Rather than patent his inventions, he gave them to the world, just as he gave his time and his genius wherever and whenever he saw the need.

**