Why is Benjamin Franklin considered the first American?

Question

and why more so than other important figures?

Answer 1

Dreaux had the right link, but I think she picked the wrong section. H.W. Brands, professor of history at Texas A&M University and author of "The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin", when asked what he meant by the term responded with this summary:

"I use the term in three senses. One is that in his lifetime he was the most illustrious American, he was the best-known American of his day. Secondly, he began a model for the American character. He was practical. He was self-reliant, self-educated, unimpressed with wealth and title, optimistic, he had a sense of humor, and he was a great enthusiast of civic virtue. And thirdly, I see him really as the one to have—the first to have a real sense of an American identity separate from that of Englishmen."
http://www.pbs.org/thinktank/transcript956.html

Answer 2

the following comes from a PBS transcript. there are several more answers to the question, but I thought this one summed it up.

"Why was he more of a first American than Thomas Jefferson, for example?

MR. BRAND: I think it has a lot to do with what Claudeanne was saying; about the time he spent overseas. To get a perspective of what it meant to be an American, he had to live in England, and he saw the corruption that was invading English politics, and it was that that convinced him that for Americans to retain their self-respect, they were going to have to separate themselves politically from the English.

Answer 3

probably due to his actions toward the revolution.
just read about it here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin