Character Catalog

An annual almanac published under the pseudonym 'Richard Saunders', famous for its moral and practical maxims. Distributed at 10,000 copies per year, it made Franklin's fortune and spread his ideas throughout the colonies.

A collection of his scientific discoveries on electricity, translated into French, German, and Latin. This work earned him an international reputation and his election to the Royal Society of London.

Franklin was one of the five members of the committee tasked with drafting the Declaration, alongside Thomas Jefferson. His contribution helped refine the founding text of American democracy.

A major diplomatic agreement he negotiated with Minister Vergennes, committing France to the side of the United States against Great Britain. This alliance proved decisive in securing the American victory in the War of Independence.

An unfinished autobiographical account tracing his rise from the son of a craftsman to a statesman of universal renown. Considered the first great narrative of the 'American Dream', it is still studied in high schools around the world.

Franklin, at 81, was the oldest signatory of the American Constitution. His final speech at the Convention in favor of unanimous adoption was pivotal in overcoming the last remaining resistance.

Having emerged from the poverty and obscurity in which I was born and bred, to a state of affluence and some degree of reputation in the world, and having gone so far through life with a considerable share of felicity...

Make a small cross of two light strips of cedar... To the top of the upright stick of the cross is to be fixed a very sharp pointed wire, rising a foot or more above the wood.

Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. — Lost time is never found again.

You are so kind that you have decided I deserve paradise. In that case, we shall meet in that happy world and love one another still.

I confess that there are several parts of this constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them... I doubt too whether any other Convention we could obtain, may be able to make a better Constitution.

The city where Franklin settled at age 17 and built his entire professional life. Philadelphia was the center of his activities as a printer, scientist, and statesman, and it is where he died in 1790.

Franklin's residence during his years as American ambassador to France (1778–1785). It was from Passy that he conducted the crucial diplomatic negotiations for the Franco-American alliance and the Treaty of Paris.

Franklin's birthplace, where he was born in 1706 and gained his first experience in printing at his brother James's shop. Boston represents his humble origins and his rise through hard work and the pursuit of knowledge.

The building where the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 and where the Constitutional Convention was held in 1787. Franklin played a central role there in shaping the foundations of American institutions.

The learned institution where Franklin was elected a foreign associate member and where he presented his work on electricity. It was in its halls that he met Voltaire and the greatest philosophers of the Enlightenment.