Born in Boston in 1706, died in 1790; settled in
Philadelphia in 1729; Postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737;
discovered the identity of lightning with electricity in
1753; proposed a "Plan of Union" at Albany in 1754; Colonial
Agent for Pennsylvania in England in 1757-62 and 1764-75;
Member of the Second Continental Congress in 1775; Member of
the Committee which drew up the Declaration of Independence
in 1776; Ambassador to France in 1776; helped to negotiate
the treaty of peace with England in 1783; President of
Pennsylvania in 1785-88; Member of the Constitutional
Convention in 1787.
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