American History XX: Jane Franklin Mecom

To celebrate the Independence Day we’re profiling forgotten, underappreciated, or just plain interesting American women who, in many cases, have been written out of the history books. For today’s installment of that series, American History XX, The New Yorker’s Jill Lepore fills us in on the life of Jane Franklin Mecom, Ben Franklin’s sister whom he corresponded with often, but eventually wrote out of his own autobiography.