The first chief justice of the United States was John Jay, of New York, while Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, was made attorney-general. The associate judges were John Rutledge, of South Carolina; James Wilson, of Pennsylvania; William Cushing, of Massachusetts; Robert H. Harrison, of Maryland; and John Blair, of Virginia. Vermont was admitted to the Union on March 4, 1791; Kentucky, June 1, 1792; and Tennessee exactly two years later. These three States were all that were formed during the presidency of Washington. [Illustration: BEN FRANKLIN MOULDING CANDLES IN HIS FATHER'S SHOP.] Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia, April 17, 1790, at the age of eighty-four years. Since he was one of the greatest of all Americans, he is entitled to fitting notice. He was born in Boston in 1706, and was the youngest of seventeen children. His father was a tallow chandler and soap boiler, a trade which Benjamin detested. He was apprenticed to his brother, who was a printer, and while a boy gave evidence of his remarkable keenness and brilliant common sense. Rebelling against the discipline of his brother, he ran away, tramping most of the distance to Philadelphia. There he secured a situation and showed himself so skillful and tasteful a printer that he never lacked for work. He established a paper in Philadelphia in 1729, and began the publication of _Poor Richard's Almanac_ in 1732, the year in which Washington was born. The wit, homely philosophy, and keen penetration shown by Franklin attracted wide attention and gave the almanac an enormous circulation, which lasted as long as it was published. Many of his proverbs are still popular and widely quoted. In 1753, he was appointed deputy postmaster of the British colonies, and, as a delegate to the Albany Convention in 1754, proposed an important plan for colonial union. From 1757 to 1762, and again from 1764 to the Revolution, he was agent of Pennsylvania in England; part of the time also for Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Georgia. Returning to Philadelphia in 1775, he was at once chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress. Few persons, in looking at his handsome signature on the Declaration of Independence, would suspect that it was written when he was seventy years old. It has been shown that he was one of the committee of five who drew up the Declaration, and in the following autumn was sent to Paris to join Arthur Lee and Silas Deane. His services there were of the highest importance. He had a leading part in the negotiations of the treaty of peace in 1783, after which he negotiated a favorable treaty with Russia. He returned to America in 1785, and was chosen president of Pennsylvania, and again in 1786 and 1787. He was an influential member of the Constitutional convention, and probably was second to Washington in popularity. His funeral in Philadelphia was attended by more than 20,000 persons. [Illustration: FRANKLIN'S GRAVE.]