Benjamin Franklin: the Last American Englishman

Benjamin Franklin has been called the first American. We might also call him the last American Englishman, because he was one of the last of our Founders to abandon his hope that, somehow, America and England could patch up their differences and avoid armed conflict. Indeed, our Founding Grandfather spent sixteen years in London just prior to the American Revolution, trying to keep the American colonies British.Stewart recently travelled to London, where he visited the house where Franklin lived, near Trafalgar Square. He spoke with the staff at what is now called the Benjamin Franklin House, who told him the whole story. They even played a musical instrument that Franklin invented while he was there, the Glass Armonica.