Ben+Franklin's+Delegate+Profile

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 * //__Benjamin Franklin__//**

__Profile Questions__

 * Question: How about a brief biography? What is your background? **
 * Answer: Hi, my name is Benjamin Franklin, but you can call me Ben. I was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston Massachussetts. My fathers name is Josiah Franklin who is married to my mother, Abiah Folger. **
 *  One of the biggest accomplishments in my life was being chosen on to the Second Continental Congress. I was on a team of five who wrote the Declaration of Independence, which I signed. **
 *  I also did a lot of work in France. I helped convince the French to join in an alliance with us to help take down Britain. Also, after the great defeat of Britain, I was there in 1783 to sign the Treaty of Paris. **


 * Question: Which should be stronger, the state government or the national government? Why? **
 * Answer: The national government, we need a strong national government because without it we can't, for example, tax people to pay off different debts and resolve problems going in a foreign country involving us. We need a strong army to defend this vast, great, new land of ours. If we let state governments be more powerful, then we will basically have 13 different nations. **


 * Question: How should we determine the representation of the states in Congress? By population, money, equality...? **
 * Answer: In my opinion, population without counting slaves, but in the Congress I don't think that is going to happen so, I think compromise is going to be necessary. At one point in time at the Congress it got so heated that I had to propose the idea of having a prayer at the beginning of every meeting or else, "We shall be divided by our little partial local interests." There has been one really nice compromise proposed already by Roger Sherman called The Great Compromise. It mixes the question of how many delegates each state should get. I would be very happy if that goes into effect. **


 * Question: Who should vote for the members of the legislature, and why? **
 * Answer: White landowning males, they should be the ones to vote because they are best educated and will vote most responsibly. The right delegates will hopefully be chosen if they have the right to vote. **
 * Question: Should we have one or more than one chief executive? Why? **
 * Answer: We should have one chief executive with an assistant. We should also have three branches, part of the Virginia Plan, that support a strong national government, the chief executive but makes sure that he doesn't get too much power and take it the wrong way, because we don't want the whole British problem all over again. **


 * Question; What kind of powers should the Chief Executive or Executives have? **
 * Answer: The Chief Executive should be able enforce the nation's policies and laws. The Chief Executive should serve as commander in chief of the army and discuss issues with other countries. Those are some of the major things that the Chief Executive should carry out. **


 * Question: Who should elect the chief executive(s)? **
 * Answer: The Electoral College should elect the Chief Executive. The people will technically vote but whatever canidate gets the majority of the votes in that territory/state will get the votes of all of the Electoral College votes from that state. Whatever canidate gets the most Electoral College votes becomes Chief Executive. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Question: What should be done about slavery in the United States? Should it be kept or outlawed? **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Answer: ****<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">Slavery is an awful thing going on the United States. Slavery should definetly be outlawed because, "Slavery is such an atrocious ****<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"> debasement of human nature." ****<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">After I came home from France in 1785, I freed both of my slaves and turned ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">into an abolitionist. I became the Pennsylvania Abolition Society's president which supported the petition made by the Quakers from Pennsylvania and New York in 1790. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Question: Should slaves count in the population toward representation? Why or why not? **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Answer: No, slaves should not be counted in the population towards representation. I am from Pennsylvania and we did the right thing by freeing our slaves in the north, so the south has no right to count them in their representation. Under the law slaves are considered property. The south would be basically rewarded for having slaves. **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Question: Should the national government be able to regulate the commerce of the United States? Why or why not? **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Answer: Yes, the national government should be able to regulate the commerce of the United States. The national government should be able to regulate the commerce of the U.S. because we need a stronger national government. We can't have states trading with other countries and having them doing their own thing because that could create problems that the whole country would have to deal with. **

__Photo__




__Friends__

 * George Washington
 * Alexander Hamilton
 * James Madison
 * John Jay
 * Roger Sherman

__Groups__

 * Big States
 * Anti-Slavery States
 * Did not attend college
 * Pennsylvanians

__Cites__

 * Watts..., I. "Benjamin Franklin." //NNDB: Tracking the Entire World//. Web. 25 Sept. 2011. <http://www.nndb.com/people/578/000026500/>.
 * "Quick Biography of Benjamin Franklin." //Ushistory.org//. Web. 25 Sept. 2011. <http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/index.htm>.
 * "Benjamin Franklin." //Crystalinks Home Page//. Web. 25 Sept. 2011. <http://www.crystalinks.com/franklin.html>.
 * "Africans in America/Part 3/Founding of Pennsylvania Abolition Society." //PBS: Public Broadcasting Service//. Web. 25 Sept. 2011. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p249.html>.
 * "Benjamin Franklin FAQ." Web. 25 Sept. 2011. <http://www.fi.edu/franklin/birthday/faq.html>.
 * www.marksquotes.com/Founding-Fathers/Franklin/index2.htm
 * www.revolutionary-war-andbeyond.com/facts-about-benjamin-franklin.html
 * www.ushistory.org/us/lba.asp
 * Appleby, Joyce Oldham., Alan Brinkley, and James M. McPherson. //The American Journey: Building a Nation//. New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2000. Print.

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