Benjamin Franklin Essay submitted by Killa Y In his many careers as a printer, moralist, essayist, civic leader, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, and philosopher, Benjamin Franklin Became both a spokesman and a model for the national character of later generations of Americans. After less than two years of formal schooling, Franklin was pressed into his father's trade. At the age of 16, Franklin wrote some pieces in a courant, "Silence Dogwood." Though penniless and unknown, Franklin soon found a job as a printer. After a year he went ....