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The Name:
The name American Statesmen Party was selected to be very clear as to what we are and what values we hold. A statesman is a highly respected political leader who puts the good of the nation and its citizens above personal reward. Statesmen is used in the non-gender form.

Logo:
Thirteen stars encircling the American eagle. Together they represent the original colonies that had the courage to break from a tyrannical government and found the greatest nation ever known.

Benjamin Franklin:
We selected Benjamin Franklin as a symbol of the American Statesmen Party because he not only was an integral party of the founding of our nation but also reflected the spirit, tenacity, bravery, ingenuity, strength, humor, and compassion of the American people.

Entrepreneur
Benjamin Franklin began as a printer, but wanted to be a writer. He owned several successful businesses and eventually purchased a newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette.

Writer
In the beginning Ben wrote under different pseudonyms. When he was 15 his brother started The New England Courant the first newspaper in Boston. Ben wrote letters to the editor at night signed with the name of a fictional widow, Silence Dogood. They became a popular element in the paper.

With The Pennsylvania Gazette Franklin not only printed the paper, but often contributed pieces to the paper under various aliases.

In 1733 he started publishing Poor Richard's Almanack under the guise of a man named Richard Saunders, a poor man who needed money to take care of his carping wife. Many of the famous phrases associated with Franklin, such as, "A penny saved is a penny earned" come from Poor Richard.

Civic Responsibility
Benjamin Franklin organized the Junto, a young working-man's group dedicated to self-improvement and civic-improvement.

Later he organized Philadelphia's Union Fire Company, the first in the city. Because many who had fire damage to their homes suffered irreversible economic loss, he helped found the Philadelphia Contribution for Insurance Against Loss by Fire.

He helped launch projects to pave, clean and light Philadelphia's streets. He worked for environmental clean up.

Franklin helped launch the Library Company in 1731, the nation's first subscription library.

In 1743, he helped to launch the American Philosophical Society, the first learned society in America.

The city needed better help in treating the sick so Franklin brought together a group who formed the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1751.

Scientist
In 1743, he invented the Franklin Stove a heat-efficient stove to help warm houses efficiently, but refused to take out a patent.

Franklin's other inventions include swim fins, the glass armonica (a musical instrument) and bifocals. He helped map the Gulf Stream. His famous kite experiment which verified the nature of electricity and lightning, as well as other experiments with electricity brought Franklin international fame.

Statesman
In 1757, he went to England to represent Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Jersey and Massachusetts where he remained until 1775.

In 1765, due to America's overwhelming opposition to the Stamp Act, his testimony before Parliament helped persuade the members to repeal the law.

He often expressed how sick he was of the corruption he saw all around him in politics and royal circles.

He proposed a plan for united colonies in 1754.

Franklin served in the Second Continental Congress and worked on a committee of five that helped to draft the Declaration of Independence. Though much of the writing is Thomas Jefferson's, much of the contribution is Franklin's. In 1776 Franklin signed the Declaration.

Following the Declaration of Independence Franklin sailed to France as an ambassador to the Court of Louis XVI.

Franklin convinced the government of France to sign a Treaty of Alliance with the Americans and secured loans from France in 1778 which helped us win the Revolutionary War.

Ben negotiated the Treaty of Paris in 1783, making it the first government to recognize the United States of America as a sovereign nation.

He served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. It was Ben who introduced the Great Compromise which established a congress of two houses. At the age of 81, he held the Constitutional Convention together when it was near dissolution, guided the proceedings through critical situations, offered great wisdom, and calmed upset delegates with humorous stories.
Eventually, he signed the Constitution.

As a skilled diplomat, he negotiated treaties with Great Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, and Spain and helped secure America's place in the world.

One of his last public acts was writing an anti-slavery treatise in 1789.

On A Personal Note
Benjamin was now a notorious flirt, prankster, musician, philosopher, Mason, and international celebrity.

He thought his son William, the Royal governor of New Jersey, would agree with his views. William did not and remained a Loyal Englishman. This caused a rift between father and son which never healed.

Franklin died on April 17, 1790 at the age of 84. 20,000 people attended the funeral of the man who was called, "the harmonious human multitude."