Why I love Ben Franklin!

Benjamin Franklin was truly America's greatest forefather! In a time when most of the colonies used separate currency, mostly in the form of coin, Ben Franklin suggested the use of paper money. He sold this idea to the colony of Pennsylvania, and by doing such, gained the right to print the currency in his print shop.
As Franklin designs progressed, so did counterfeiters. Soon it became clear to dear old Ben that he must find a way to keep counterfeiting at bay. Franklin was a proliferate botanist and frequently corresponded with like minded fellows in European countries like France. In order to preserve American plants for sailing over the Atlantic, Franklin took to the art of leaf pressing. He noticed every leaf was like the human fingerprint: no two were ever a like.
Mr. Franklin quickly realized using plant castings as backgrounds and borders for money would literally stop the criminals in their tracks. Unlike the rest of Franklin inventions, his use of leaf casting for printing money has basically remained a secret. Historians are still not quite sure how Ben Franklin was able to use plaster and then bronze to create a plate for printing without compromising the delicate nature of both design and materials.
Benjamin Franklin eventually ended up printing currency for Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey.