Continuing our study of American heroes, today we read about Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin who worked together to write the Declaration of Independence and the reason the document was written. We also learned about the contributions of Benjamin Franklin who helped organize the newly formed nation's government. We were surprised to learn that Congress refused Benjamin Franklin's request to end slavery and that it wasn't for another 70+ years that another American hero, named Abe Lincoln, brought an end to slavery in the United States. We ended our session learning that the name of the document that freed our country's enslaved people was the Emancipation Proclamation.