Peter W. Schramm

Benjamin Franklin, First American

Friday, February 27, 2015 at 2:00 pm

Ashley-Wilkes Room at the Savannah Center
in The Villages, Florida

   This event is free and open to the public,
but seating is limited. 

We all know the name Benjamin Franklin.  We know he was an inventor, scientist, and diplomat.  Some of us even know that he was the oldest of the Founders.  His European contemporaries thought very highly of him.  Indeed, they treated him as the most famous man of his time—like a rock star, we might say.  But over the centuries we have lost sight of his special virtues, his fine mind, his accomplishments, and his character.  He was a poor man who created wealth and was able to retire and go into politics as a diplomat and Founder.

We should get to know this man better because he is responsible for what we call the American Dream and because he himself exemplified in his own life and character what an American is at his best.  We should renew our friendship with this man, this “first American.”