Benjamin Franklin: Early America's Renaissance Man

In 1787, Franklin returned to America, to serve as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He played a leading role at the convention; as the elder statesman, he brought a world view and a balanced perspective to the proceedings. This same year, he was elected president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery.

He was glad to see the United States win its independence and adopt its Constitution. Sadly, he died just three years after the new government was born.

It can be argued that both the new country and its new government would have had a far more difficult time coming into being without the steadying, dynamic presence of Benjamin Franklin.

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