8 A Rising Sun

Chapter 8 A Rising Sun Ben returned home a hero. He landed at the spot where he had entered Philadelphia as a teenaged runaway. This time, cannons saluted him. Bells were rung. Speeches were made honoring the man who had done so much to win America's

freedom. A few weeks later, he was elected governor of Pennsylvania. The new nation was in trouble. The government was weak. There was no national currency. The army was tiny. If something wasn't done, the country might not last for long. Something was done. A convention was held to make the government stronger. States chose leading men to attend. Ben Franklin of Pennsylvania was one of the delegates. The convention opened in Philadelphia in May 1787. Its members hammered out a new framework of government: the U.S. Constitution.

At eighty-one, Franklin was the oldest delegate. When there were arguments, Ben told funny stories to calm things down. He also helped solve a big problem. The large states wanted to have the most say in the government. The small states feared that they wouldn't have much power. Franklin helped work out a solution. In the House of Representatives, large states would have more members than small states. But in the Senate, each state, regardless of size, would have two members. Ben Franklin and the other Founding Fathers signed the Constitution on September 17, 1787.

As they did so, Ben pointed to the chair in which George Washington had sat. On the chair was a picture of the sun. During the convention, Ben had wondered whether it was supposed to be rising or setting. He was now so hopeful about the country that he knew. "It is a rising sun!" he exclaimed. During his last years, Ben lived with his daughter Sally and her seven children. He served as the governor of Pennsylvania until 1788. That year, he was eighty-two years old. But by his own special way of counting he was only fifty- eight. After age seventy, Ben had decided not to

get any older. So, from then on, with each birthday he counted a year backwards! One of Ben's final projects was to try to end slavery. He served as president of an anti-slavery society. His very last public act was to sign a paper that was sent to Congress. The paper asked that slavery be stopped. Poor health made Ben spend much of his last two years in bed. He passed the time by listening

to his grandchildren reciting their lessons. In the spring of 1790, he became very ill. Sally told him that he would live many more years. "I hope not," answered her father. He died a few hours later on April 17, 1790, at the age of eighty-four. Tributes came in from around the world. Statues of him were built. Poems, articles, and books were written about him. A saying from France became popular: "He snatched the lightning from the sky and the scepter from tyrants." Ben Franklin deserved all the praise. He did so