Benjamin Franklin

On 4 July 1776, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson were appointed as a committee to prepare a Seal of the United States of America. Benjamin Franklin exemplified many virtues Americans have come to admire. People found him practical, earthy, affable, witty and, above all, tolerant. A few weeks before he died Ben responded to an inquiry by President Ezra Stiles of Yale concerning his religious faith. Said Franklin: "As to Jesus of Nazareth, … I have … some doubts as to his Divinity, tho’ it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed, if that belief has the good consequence … of making his doctrines more respected and better observed."