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The First American --Influence from Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography and “Thirteen Virtues” on the Forming of American Dream Introduction Born in 1706, Benjamin Franklin was brought up in a poor and obscure family, as he says in his Autobiography. His father is a candle—maker, his mother is a pious Calvinist. When he was 16 years old, he began to serve as an apprentice to his older half-brother, a printer. It was also in that year when Ben tried to publish his essays under his pseudonym, Silence Dogood. At 17, Ben ran to Philadelphia to make his own fortune. His entrance into this city marked the beginning of a long story of success or American Dream. In 1730, at the age of 24, Franklin acknowledged that he has an illegitimate son named William, despite that his mother’s identity is still unknown. The famous Autobiography is written to William as it began: My dear son. Franklin was also known as a prodigious inventor, one of his abundant inventions, the most famous one is electricity. Besides, he helped to found the Pennsylvania hospital, an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania, and the American Philosophical Society. Among those things which he started and for which he was still remembered today were volunteer fire departments, effective street lighting, the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses, and efficient heating devices. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was probably the first autobiography in American literature. After its publication, millions kinds of similar works were imitated day and night. Autobiography generally recorded a man who grew from an unknown boy to a man of wealth and prosperity. It was written in the form of letter and divided into four parts, completed at different times. Franklin was 65 years old when he began to write it, but he died before he could finished the whole book, which was a great pity for readers who were fascinated with his works. In Autobiography, Franklin asked the question of how a man should live his li