Signers of the United States Constitution - George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Thomas Mifflin, Nathaniel Gorham (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 90. Chapters: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Thomas Mifflin, Nathaniel Gorham, Charles Pinckney, John Dickinson, Robert Morris, John Rutledge, George Read, Richard Bassett, James Wilson, Rufus King, Pierce Butler, Gouverneur Morris, William Few, Nicholas Gilman, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Roger Sherman, Hugh Williamson, William Paterson, Gunning Bedford, Jr., William Blount, Thomas Fitzsimons, William Jackson, John Langdon, William Samuel Johnson, Jonathan Dayton, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll, Jacob Broom, Richard Dobbs Spaight, William Livingston, George Clymer, James McHenry, List of signers of the United States Constitution, David Brearley. Excerpt: Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 - April 17, 1790) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, a carriage odometer, and the glass 'armonica'. He formed both the first public lending library in America and the first fire department in Pennsylvania. Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity; as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies, then as the first United States Ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation. Franklin was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical and democratic values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism both p...