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Benjamin Franklin, the Philadelphia Printer
 Benjamin Franklin was a printer for a lot of his life, and even though he didn't originally want to go into the printing business, he still did very well in that particular profession. When Benjamin Franklin was young, his father wanted to send him to school so that Benjamin could be a minister like he wanted. Unfortunately, his family didn't have the money to send him to school for more than one year, and ministers needed many years of schooling to be qualified for the job. Benjamin Franklin loved to read, so his father decided to apprentice him to his older brother, James, who was a printer. After helping James write pamphlets and other articles of information, which was grueling and difficult work, twelve-year-old Benjamin would sell the products on the streets. As Benjamin grew older, he became more and more skilled as a printer.

 When Benjamin was fifteen, James started the first "newspaper" in Boston, and he called it The New England Courant. Though there were two other public newspapers in the city before James's, but they only reprinted news from abroad. James's paper carried articles, opinion pieces written by James's friends, advertisements, and even the news of ship schedules. Benjamin wanted badly to write for the paper, but he knew it was hopeless and his brother woudld never let him. So, Benjamin started writing letters and articles at night and signing them with the name of a fictional widow, Silence Doogood. Benjamin would sneak the letters under the print shop door at night so no one knew who was writing the articles. The public loved them. Everyone HAD to know who was the real "Silence Doogood." After 16 letters, Benjamin confessed that he was the one writing the pieces the entire time. James was furious with him, but James's friends thought Benjamin was quite good at writing and funny, too. James scolded his brother and was very jealous of the attention paid to him as well. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Franklin_the_printer.jpg

 In 1722 James was thrown in jail for three weeks for publishing spiteful pieces about the government. Benjamin took over the paper and had Mrs. Silence Doogood proclaim: "Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom and no such thing as public Liberty without freedom of speech." Franklin then left his brother's apprenticeship without permission and doing so made him a fugitive. When Benjamin was 17, he ran away and went Philadelphia, seeking a fresh start. When he first arrived, he worked in several shops around town, but was not satisfied with the way things would turn out for him if he continued doing this. After a few months while working in a printing house, Benjamin was persuaded by the Governor of Pennsylvania, Sir William Keith, to go to London, mainly to get the equipment necessary to establish another newspaper in Philadelphia. After going to London, Benjamin found that what Sir William Kenneth had told him was bad advice, Benjamin started to work as a typesetter in a printer's shop which is now the Church of Bartholomew the Great. In 1726 Benjamin returned to Philadelphia with the help of Thomas Denham, a merchant who employed him as a clerk, shopkeeper, and bookkeeper in his business.

 When Ben returned, he went back to one of the jobs he had in Philadelphia, Samuel Keimer's printing shop. There, Ben met a young apprentice whose name was Hugh Meredith. Hugh's father was wealthy. He helped Benjamin and Hugh start their own printing shop in 1728. Ben wanted to start a newspaper, but unfortunately, Samuel Keimer heard about Benjamin's idea and started a paper first. Ben wrote funny letters to another newspaper so the local people would buy that one instead of Samuel's. Samuel began to lose a lot of money, so he finally gave in and sold his paper to Benjamin. The paper was called the Pennsylvania Gazzete. Over time, Benjamin Franklin earned a great deal of social respect.

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 Benjamin Franklin was a very clever, smart, and amazing man. He did many things in his life, and being an amazing printer was one of them. Benjamin worked hard at his job, and didn't ever give up. He was very, very good at his job, and also very committed to it. When James wouldn't let him write for the paper, he figured out a way to do it. Even though Benjamin wanted to be a minister in the beginning, he turned out to be skilled in the printing business, and Benjamin Franklin stuck to it. He worked in many different places, and finally opened his own shop. Even after he achieved fame as a scientist and statesman, he, out of habit, signed his letters as B. Franklin, Printer.

Sources:

Internet: http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/

Book: American Lives Benjamin Franklin by Rick Burke

Encyclopedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin