Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was the "Founding Father" of the Department of Magic and the Esoteric (DOME) and the original Secretary of Magic. He is a highly controversial figure in the Gifted community, claimed by both the right and the left for his role in the creation and low-level integration of DOME. These debates generally playing out with the right claiming that he purposefully kept integration at a minimum, with the left claiming that he would have liked to have gone farther. A central controversy surrounding Franklin is the debate over his relationship with his Deficient colleagues. Specifically, it is hotly debated whether he blanked (wiped the memory of) Washington following his presidency, one of the few still legal uses of the incantation.

History
Franklin never had a formal magical education. Rather, he was discovered by a Gift-seeker late in life, following his rise to fame as a Deficient statesman. The closest Franklin came to a magical education was his membership with the Free Masons, a Deficient ritual organization. Here, he met the Deficient individuals who would later found the Deficient government of the United States. Franklin insisted on founding DOME on the same principles as the Deficient government. However, he found major institutional resistance in the magical elites and their primitive council-based form of government. After many deals, he was able to found DOME at minimum integration with the Deficient government and get the Forum, the lower-house of the Assembly known as the "concession to Franklin," as the only directly-elected body of DOME. He become the first Secretary of Magic or "Magister," appointed by the Assembly

Controversy
Franklin is a highly controversial figure: most believe that he never learned any magic beyond a few simple cantrips, yet created the government of all Gifted in the United States today. This has led to the saying “You do not need to be a great Sorcerer to be a great man." However, many dispute this, saying he took to magic as easily as he did to countless other pursuits.

Another point of controversy is the level of integration with the Deficient government. Franklin's choices in the early days of DOME and constantly brought up in political debate.