Existing comment:
Supporting the Revolution, 1776-1785
In late 1776, Franklin was sent to France to negotiate French aid for the American cause. Over the course of the war, the French provided supplies and troops to the colonies, and underwrote aid worth $13 billion in today's money.
While in France, Franklin attended social and intellectual salons with scientists, philosophers and politicians. He even had an audience before King Louis XVI. His quiet charm and cultivated simplicity impressed the French.
In 1780, British General Lord Cornwallis surrendered to the Americans at Yorktown and the following year, Congress appointed Franklin, John Adams, John Jay and Henry Laurens to negotiate a peace treaty with Britain. In 1783, Franklin and his fellow commissioners signed the Treaty of Paris, formally establishing the peace with Great Britain.
"There shall be a firm, inviolable and universal Peace, and a true and sincere Friendship between the most Christian King, his Heirs and Successors, and the United States of America."
-- Treaty of Amity, 1778 |