When 17-year-old apprentice Benjamin Franklin fled his brother’s Boston printing shop in 1723, he ended up in the bustling port city of Philadelphia. Energetic and ambitious, the young Franklin cultivated influential friends, established his own print shop, and devoted himself to improving his adopted city. Within ten years he was writing and publishing Poor Richard’s Almanack and The Pennsylvania Gazette, his own newspaper.
By the late 1740s, the former runaway was a wealthy businessman, known for establishing many new institutions, including the first North American lending library, hospital, fire brigade, and scholarly society. He was also increasingly devoted to science, devising experiments to explore the mysterious nature of electricity. Eager to make his mark in public service, Franklin retired from printing in 1757 at age 42 and became active in colonial politics.
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