The Indispensable Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin is often hailed as America’s Leonardo da Vinci—a polymath whose curiosity and mastery spanned science, invention, diplomacy, and public life. Beyond his Enlightenment brilliance, he made vital contributions to the nation’s founding in Philadelphia and abroad. Historian Robert Watson traces Franklin’s early struggles, complex character, work on the Declaration and Constitution, and the formidable legacy he left behind.