# 4021-24 - 2006 39c Benjamin Franklin
2006 39¢ Benjamin Franklin
City: Philadelphia, PA
Quantity: 40,000,000
Please note: Due to the layout of the pane, the se-tenant may or may not be provided in Scott Catalogue order.
Happy Birthday Benjamin Franklin
Franklin was the son of a soap and candle maker. As a youth, he learned these trades but found them unsatisfactory. So he became an apprentice to his brother James, a printer, at the age of 12. It was in this apprenticeship that Franklin started what he considered his primary, lifelong occupation – printing.
Franklin’s arrival in Philadelphia has become a classic part of American folklore. The young man arrived in the city on a Sunday morning, tired and hungry. At a bakery, he asked for three pennies’ worth of bread, and received three loaves. He then bravely walked up Market Street with a loaf under each arm while eating the third. As he passed the door of the Read family, his future wife, Deborah Read, watched him walk by, and thought he made “a most awkward and ridiculous appearance.”
In 1775, when the American Revolution began, Franklin was the obvious choice for starting the new mail system, and the Continental Congress appointed him the first postmaster general of the United States. Soon, mail was flowing from Portland, Maine, to Savannah, Georgia. Franklin standardized rates, surveyed routes, erected milestones along long-distance delivery routes, and slashed delivery time between major cities by half. Franklin donated his salary for relief for wounded soldiers.
As the war progressed, it quickly became obvious that an alliance with France could ultimately decide the outcome of the Revolution. Late in 1776, at the age of 70, Franklin traveled to France to secure an alliance. He received a hero’s welcome in Paris. The French appreciated Franklin’s kindness and wisdom, but were hesitant to enter a war against the British. However, Franklin remained persistent. After the British surrender at Saratoga, the French were sufficiently impressed. On February 6, 1778, the French signed a pact with the United States. Franklin immediately arranged for transportation of French officers, soldiers, and guns to America. He remained in Paris and kept generous gifts and loans from France flowing to America. Historians believe that without France’s assistance, the United States would have lost the war.
2006 39¢ Benjamin Franklin
City: Philadelphia, PA
Quantity: 40,000,000
Please note: Due to the layout of the pane, the se-tenant may or may not be provided in Scott Catalogue order.
Happy Birthday Benjamin Franklin
Franklin was the son of a soap and candle maker. As a youth, he learned these trades but found them unsatisfactory. So he became an apprentice to his brother James, a printer, at the age of 12. It was in this apprenticeship that Franklin started what he considered his primary, lifelong occupation – printing.
Franklin’s arrival in Philadelphia has become a classic part of American folklore. The young man arrived in the city on a Sunday morning, tired and hungry. At a bakery, he asked for three pennies’ worth of bread, and received three loaves. He then bravely walked up Market Street with a loaf under each arm while eating the third. As he passed the door of the Read family, his future wife, Deborah Read, watched him walk by, and thought he made “a most awkward and ridiculous appearance.”
In 1775, when the American Revolution began, Franklin was the obvious choice for starting the new mail system, and the Continental Congress appointed him the first postmaster general of the United States. Soon, mail was flowing from Portland, Maine, to Savannah, Georgia. Franklin standardized rates, surveyed routes, erected milestones along long-distance delivery routes, and slashed delivery time between major cities by half. Franklin donated his salary for relief for wounded soldiers.
As the war progressed, it quickly became obvious that an alliance with France could ultimately decide the outcome of the Revolution. Late in 1776, at the age of 70, Franklin traveled to France to secure an alliance. He received a hero’s welcome in Paris. The French appreciated Franklin’s kindness and wisdom, but were hesitant to enter a war against the British. However, Franklin remained persistent. After the British surrender at Saratoga, the French were sufficiently impressed. On February 6, 1778, the French signed a pact with the United States. Franklin immediately arranged for transportation of French officers, soldiers, and guns to America. He remained in Paris and kept generous gifts and loans from France flowing to America. Historians believe that without France’s assistance, the United States would have lost the war.