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Subject:  American Minute - July 26 - Benjamin Franklin, U.S. Postmaster General
Date:  Wed, 25 Jul 2007 22:14:45 -0500
American Minute with Bill Federer

July 26

On JULY 26, 1775, Benjamin Franklin became the first U.S. Postmaster
General, a position he held prior to the Revolution under the British
Crown.

He established a volunteer fire department, a circulating public
library, an insurance company, a city police force, a night watch and
a militia.

He set up the lighting of city streets and coined the electrical
terms "positive" and "negative."

On June 28, 1787, as Governor of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin
hosted the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, where he moved:


"That henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its
blessing on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every
morning."

Franklin wrote April 17, 1787:

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become
corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."

Benjamin Franklin wrote his own epitaph:

"THE BODY of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN - Printer.

Like the cover of an old book, Its contents torn out, And stripped of
its lettering and gilding, Lies here, food for worms; Yet the work
itself shall not be lost, For it will (as he believed) appear once
more, In a new, And more beautiful edition, Corrected and amended By
The AUTHOR."



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