WATCH THE CONCLUSION WEDNESDAY MAY 11th, 9pm
Franklin's 84 years (1706-1790) spanned an epoch of momentous change in science, technology, literature, politics, and government — fields he himself advanced through a lifelong commitment to societal and self-improvement. Over the course of seven impossibly prolific decades, Franklin ascended professional and social ladders, rising from a printer’s apprentice in provincial Boston to the most popular man in Paris, France.
Franklin’s influence was unmatched in his time, and his impact remains with us today. “If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten,” he said in Poor Richard’s Almanack, “either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.” Benjamin Franklin did both.
Episode 2 | “An American” (1775-1790)
Benjamin Franklin leaves London and returns to wartime Philadelphia where he joins Congress and helps Thomas Jefferson craft the Declaration of Independence. In Paris, he wins French support for the American Revolution then negotiates a peace treaty with Britain. He spends his last years in the new United States, working on the Constitution and unsuccessfully promoting the abolition of slavery.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN is directed and executive produced by Ken Burns, written by Dayton Duncan, and produced by David Schmidt and Ken Burns.
