Benjamin Franklin was born in January 7, 1706. He was the 10th son, and 15th child, of 17 children in the Josiah Franklin family. Josiah was a Josiah was a soap and candle maker, who lived in Boston, Massachusetts with his second wife, Abiah Folger. Although Franklin learned to read at an early age, he only attended grammar school for two years. By the time he was 10 years old, Franklin was working for his father. However, he did not enjoy the candle making profession, and two years later, Franklin was apprenticed to his brother James, a printer. Franklin had some character which set him apart from anybody else. Franklin always used his persuasive and satiric talents to fight English prejudice and to defend the colonial rights. "Franklin used an elaborate hoax to place his British readers in the situation of the American colonists, thus making them feel the injustice of British treatment to America"(Franklin the Autobiography 783). Franklin was a self-made man.
Franklin always used his satiric words in his writing because he wanted to allude the British treatment to American colonies. Franklin also used his satiric talents to make fun of the owners of the slaves because he wanted to abolish slavery. " Reading last night in your excellent paper the speech of Mr. Jackson in Congress against their meddling with the Affair of Slavery, or attempting to mend the condition of the slaves, it put me in mind of a similar One made about 100 Years since by Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim. It was against granting the Petition of the Sect called Erika, or purists, who prayed for the Abolition of Piracy and Slavery as being unjust"(On the Slave Trade, to the Editor of the Federal Gazette 802).