Franklin & Marshall College is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the United States. Our roots go back to Franklin College, founded in 1787 with a generous financial contribution from Benjamin Franklin. The product of a pioneering collaboration between English- and German-speaking communities in the most ethnically diverse region of the new nation, the College was launched by leaders of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches with support from trustees that included four signers of the Declaration of Independence, three future governors of Pennsylvania, two members of the Constitutional Convention, and seven officers of the Revolutionary Army.