Benjamin Franklin was a spokesman and was highly regarded.
Benjamin Franklin . Franklin was a renowned polymath and a leading author , printer , political theorist , politician , freemason , postmaster , scientist , inventor , civic activist , statesman , and diplomat . Franklin earned the title of `` The First American '' for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity , initially as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies . An accomplished diplomat , he was widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris and was a major figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations .