Franklin and Montyon, 1833

From the collection of Mark Kaiser

Benjamin Franklin (January 17 [O.S. January 6] 1706 – April 17, 1790) was one of the most prominent Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a leading printer, scientist, inventor, civic activist and diplomat. As a scientist he was a major figure in the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As a political writer and activist he, more than anyone, developed the idea of an American nation, and as a diplomat during the American Revolution, he secured the French alliance that made independence possible.

One of the oldest Founders, Franklin was noted for his curiosity, his writings (popular, political and scientific), and his diversity of interests. His wise and scintillating writings are proverbial to this day. He shaped the American Revolution. As a leader of the Enlightenment, he gained the recognition of scientists and intellectuals across Europe. An agent in London before the Revolution, and Minister to France during, he more than anyone defined the new nation in the minds of Europe. His success in securing French military and financial aid was the turning point for American victory over Britain. He invented the lightning rod; he was an early proponent of colonial unity; historians hail him as the "First American". The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania marked Franklin's 300th birthday in January 2006 with a wide array of exhibitions, and events citing Franklin's extraordinary accomplishments throughout his illustrious career.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts to a devout Anglican tallow-maker, Franklin learned printing from his older brother and became a newspaper editor, printer, and merchant in Philadelphia, becoming very wealthy. He spent many years in England and published the famous Poor Richard's Almanack and the Pennsylvania Gazette. He formed both the first public lending library and fire department in America as well as the Junto, a political discussion club.

He became a national hero in America when he spearheaded the effort to have Parliament repeal the unpopular Stamp Act. A diplomatic genius, Franklin was almost universally admired among the French as American minister to Paris, and was a major figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations. From 1775 to 1776, Franklin was Postmaster General under the Continental Congress and from 1785 to his death in 1790 was President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania.

Franklin was interested in science and technology, carrying out his famous electricity experiments and invented the Franklin stove, medical catheter, lightning rod, swimfins, glass armonica (not the harmonica, which was invented long after Franklin), and bifocals. He also played a major role in establishing the higher education institutions that would become the University of Pennsylvania and the Franklin and Marshall College. He was elected the first president of the American Philosophical Society Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge,[1] the oldest learned society in the United States, in 1769. In addition, Franklin was a noted linguist, fluent in five languages. He also practiced and published on astrology (see Poor Richard's Almanac). He is typically recognized as a polymath.

Franklin was also noted for his philanthropy and several liaisons, including that which produced his illegitimate Loyalist son William Franklin, later the colonial governor of New Jersey. Towards the end of his life, he became one of the most prominent early American abolitionists.

Baron de Montyon (December 23, 1733 - December 29, 1820) was a French philanthropist, born in Paris.

His father was a maitre des comptes; he was educated for the law, and became lawyer at the Chatelet in 1755, maître des requêtes to the Conseil d'État in 1760, and intendant successively of Auvergne, Provence and La Rochelle. He had repeatedly shown great independence of character, protesting against the accusation of Louis-René de Caradeuc de La Chalotais in 1766, and refusing in 1771 to suppress the local courts of justice in obedience to Maupeou. He was made a councilor of state in 1775 by the influence of Louis de Bourbon, duke of Penthievre, and in 1780 he was attached to the court in the honorary office of chancellor to the comte d'Artois (afterwards Charles X). He followed the princes into exile, and lived for some years in London. During the emigration period he spent large sums on the alleviation of the poverty of his fellow immigrants, returning to France only at the second restoration.

Between 1780 and 1787 he had founded a series of prizes, the awards to be made by the French academy and the academies of science and medicine. These prizes fell into abeyance during the revolutionary period, but were re-established in 1815. When Montyon died, he bequeathed 10,000 francs for the perpetual endowment of each of the following prizes: for the discovery of the means of rendering some mechanical process less dangerous to the workman; for the perfecting of any technical improvement in a mechanical process; for the book which during the year rendered the greatest service to humanity; the "prix de vertu" for the most courageous act on the part of a poor Frenchman; the awards being left as before to the learned academies. He also left 10,000 francs to each of the Parisian hospitals.