Ben Franklin Quote: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Postcard The following information is NOT printed on this postcard: A leading statesman, abolitionist, inventor, philanthropist, author, scientist and revolutionary thinker, Ben Franklin also helped pen the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. 2006 marks the 300th anniversary of his birth. Printed on recycle paper. Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, soldier, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, a carriage odometer, and the glass 'armonica'. He formed both the first public lending library in America and the first fire department in Pennsylvania. He was an early proponent of colonial unity, and as a political writer and activist, he supported the idea of an American nation. As a diplomat during the American Revolution, he secured the French alliance that helped to make independence of the United States possible. Franklin is credited as being foundational to the roots of American values and character, a marriage of the practical and democratic Puritan values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism both political and religious, with the scientific and tolerant values of the Enlightenment. Toward the end of his life, he became one of the most prominent abolitionists. His colorful life and legacy of scientific and political achievement, and status as one of America's most influential Founding Fathers.