Franklin, Benjamin member, and agent in London Franklin used his contacts and the persuasive powers of his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, to enrich Philadelphia’s civic life, spearheading the creation of a lending library, volunteer fire company, and hospital for the city’s poor Beyond Philadelphia, Franklin soon became internationally known as the experimenter and explainer of electricity and inventor of the protective lightning rod His discoveries won him membership in Britain’s Royal Society In an age before scientific specialization, his curiosity was not limited to electricity He made important findings in astronomy, meteorology, and zoology; encouraged others, including inventors of the steam engine and steamship; documented the dangers of lead poisoning; and, in his 80s, collaborated on Noah Webster’s project of spelling reform Franklin’s enduring importance, however, stems from his crucial role in the process by which 13 of Britain’s North American colonies gained independence As early as 1747 when Philadelphia faced possible attack from French freebooters and their Indian allies, Franklin challenged Quaker Pennsylvania’s official pacifism to muster an armed militia to protect his colony As the Seven Years’/French and Indian War loomed in 1754, Franklin’s “Albany Plan of Union” proposed a colonywide Grand Council to improve relations with Indian tribes and foster better coordination among the colonies themselves The plan failed, but it presaged initiatives leading to the Revolution Historians have shown that Franklin loved England and was deeply committed to the British Empire, of which he saw the colonies as an integral and, eventually, an economically dominant part But as Britain’s government, in the years following its 1763 war victory, made clear that Americans would never win political or social equality with the mother country, Franklin became a committed separationist In 1762 Franklin had pulled strings to effect the appointment of his eldest child, William, as royal governor of New Jersey In 1775 the elder Franklin broke off relations with his son (who remained loyal to the Crown) and did not communicate with him for a decade Franklin spent most of the politically agitated period between 1764 and the 1775 outbreak of the American Revolution in London, fruitlessly trying to persuade Parliament that its taxes and other colonial policies would lead to a rupture Even the death of his wife, Deborah, in December 1774 did not bring him home, but Franklin arrived on American shores in time to help Thomas Paine publish and distribute his fiery pro-independence pamphlet, Common Sense, and to 135 Benjamin Franklin was renowned on both sides of the Atlantic for his talents in philosophy, politics, diplomacy, and scientific invention be Pennsylvania’s delegate to the Second Continental Congress, where he sat on a committee working with Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence At the same time, Franklin helped shape a democratic constitution for the State of Pennsylvania As the war intensified, Franklin sailed for France on a mission that would make possible the United States’s ultimate victory Although his French was not fluent, Franklin was already hugely admired there, and his patient and subtle diplomacy eventually gained major military and monetary aid for the emerging United States When, with France’s assistance, the war’s end came into view in 1781, Franklin became the central member of a treaty-negotiating team that included John Adams and John Jay The resulting Treaty of Paris was signed in September 1783 Gladly relieved of his official duties abroad, Franklin returned to Philadelphia in time to participate in the Constitutional Convention in summer 1787 Although the now elderly statesman did not play a central role in the major debates of that contentious proceeding, Franklin’s eminence and daily participation helped to keep the delegates on track Benjamin Franklin is the only founding father whose signature appears on the Declaration of Independence, Treaty of Paris, and U.S Constitution In 1790, as he lay dying at his Philadelphia home, Franklin took up a final cause Joining with others, he petitioned the U.S government to bring an end to slavery Franklin had once himself owned at least two slaves; having helped make a revolution, this man who