Regardless, one of the most important things (in relation to this blog..) about Ol Ben is that he served as our nation's first postmaster general in 1775! It is amazing to think that they set in place a system for delivering mail that is now the US Postal Service. It makes me wonder, do you think the continental Congress or Benjamin himself ever thought that their means of delivering mail would carry on this long? I also like to ponder what they would say if they could see the decline in mail that we have been seeing.
Another interesting fact is that Benjamin Franklin appears on more postage stamps than any other notable American other than George Washington. Did you already know that? I sure didn't.
Here is another fact from Wikipedia, "From 1908 through 1923 the U.S. Post Office issued a series of postage stamps commonly referred to as the Washington-Franklin Issues where, along with George Washington, Franklin was depicted many times over a 14-year period, the longest run of any one series in US postal history."
These are my favorite posts to write. I enjoy learning new things and I hope you do too. If you know an interesting fact about Ben Franklin leave me a comment. I am quite curious about him now. Perhaps I will even read his entire Wiki page. =)
(Random fact...Benjamin Franklin is one of Brad's favorite people)
I think I have read more about Franklin than I have any of the other founding fathers. He was fascinating. Remember the Franklin Stove? Those Franklin glasses? All those inventions! He was a man who loved to learn, and read. Imagine owning a printing press. There's Poor Richard's Bookstore in Easley, SC. I fell in love with it, and the people who worked there. Remember the Almanac. How did Franklin manage to have a life and travel with such a busy inventive life?
ReplyDeleteThen, there are The Benjamins! ;) It's all about the Benjamins.
Thanks for writing this.
ReplyDelete