Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

After a difficult crossing of the Atlantic, Franklin arrived in France and set up America’s first foreign embassy at Passy, “situated between the salons of Paris and the palace at Versailles” (329). He faced a difficult challenge in persuading the French to ally with the Americans, as France was in financial difficulty, currently at peace with England, and had a king who would not be sympathetic to the revolution. However, Franklin was enormously popular in France. Indeed, people copied his intentionally plain clothes and celebrated his arrival. He used a combination of realism, appealing to France’s interest in a weakened England, and idealism, appealing to the American fight against irrationality, to make his case.

Of the three in the delegation from America, Deane was corrupt and was exposed as such by Lee, who was suspicious to the point of paranoia. Franklin did not get along with Lee and had Temple serve as his aide. Unbeknownst to Franklin, the secretary of the American delegation, Edward Bancroft, was serving as a spy for the English. However, Franklin’s strategy played the British and French off one another and thereby minimized the damage from spying. Franklin leaked the fact that the Americans would be meeting with the British, which in turn prodded the French into making an alliance. Franklin’s timing was astute, as he waited for conditions on the ground to be more favorable to the Americans. The American victory at Saratoga provided that turning point and Franklin exaggerated its effect in the press. Initially, France was only willing to provide limited support to the Americans in secret. With fears that the Americans might make peace with Britain after this victory, the king consented to a treaty with the Americans, which was made official on March 20, 1778. The king did this despite objections from Spain, with whom France was allied. This diplomatic victory helped to ensure American victory in the Revolution.

John Adams replaced Silas Deane as the third American commissioner in Paris. With very different personalities and a significant age difference, Adams and Franklin combined, Isaacson says, “a complex mix of disdain and grudging admiration for one another” (350). Franklin included Adams in his social and cultural outings (352), which were sometimes offensive to the puritanical Adams. Adams did not understand Franklin’s work ethic, which he found lacking. In reality, Franklin was industrious but gave the appearance of indulging in pleasure knowing that the French considered it vulgar to appear busy.

Franklin developed an intense relationship with Madame Brillon, who was 33 when she met him. While the relationship was sexually charged, it was never consummated. Instead, Brillon convinced Franklin to play the role of surrogate father, to which he consented. The arrangement allowed him to play chess, a beloved game to Franklin, in her bathroom while she soaked in the tub. Franklin believed that chess taught “foresight, circumspection, caution, and the importance of not being discouraged” (372). Franklin would remain emotionally attached to Brillon throughout his life. Rebuffed sexually by Brillon, Franklin proposed marriage, albeit half-seriously to preserve dignity, to Madame Helvétius, who declined the offer. At 60, she had a vivacious personality that appealed to Franklin. He wrote numerous bagatelles, or fables and tales, about his relationships with these women and other matters. They demonstrated his humor and self-deprecation but could be heavy-handed in their moral lessons (368).

Isaacson notes the pattern of Franklin treating his adopted family, such as the surrogate daughter Brillon, with generosity while keeping his blood relations at a distance. He responded harshly to his daughter Sally’s letters when she was simply trying to win his approval, and he sent his grandson Benny to a boarding school in Geneva where he was miserable. When his depression was brought to Franklin’s attention, he expressed his conditional love in a letter citing its dependence on Benny being a good boy (378). Interestingly, Franklin tried on several occasions unsuccessfully to play the role of matchmaker between his friends and his children and grandchildren. He tried to match Temple with Brillon’s eldest daughter to no avail.

In February 1780, John Adams returned to Europe to negotiate a peace treaty with England. His arrival annoyed Franklin who had such a different personality. Franklin felt the need to explain publicly why Adams, and not he, had been chosen as the negotiator. Somewhat misleadingly, as Isaacson highlights, Franklin cited his belief that there was no such “thing as a bad peace, or a good war” (392) and the resultant fear that he would make too many concessions. It was misleading because Franklin was not a pacifist. Adams and Franklin argued over the strength of the French alliance, with Franklin more committed to the French. Adams was a realist, while Franklin combined idealism and realism. With the Americans in need of money and no prospects for imminent negotiations, Adams soon left Paris for other parts of Europe to raise money. Franklin was able to secure six million dollars from the French. At that, he sent word to Congress that he was ready to resign from his post in Paris.

Congress refused Franklin’s resignation and instead named him as one of five Peace Commissioners who would conduct negotiations with Britain when the time came. The others were John Adams, Henry Laurens, John Jay, and Thomas Jefferson. When the Americans, with French help, won the battle of Yorktown in 1781 and Lord North’s government collapsed in 1782, the time to consider peace talks was at hand. Initially, there were two complications: the Americans had pledged to coordinate diplomacy with France while Britain wanted direct talks, and there were two rival British ministers in Paris. Franklin played a “wily balance of power game” (401), opening a channel with the British and interpreting a French assertion about two separate treaties, one between England and America and the other between England and France, as permission to negotiate directly with the British.

Franklin proposed a peace plan with the following provisions: complete independence, the removal of all British troops, secure boundaries, and fishing rights off the Canadian coast. The two sides argued about the compensation of loyalists whose property was seized by the Americans. Franklin, whose son was one of those loyalists, was adamant that no payments be made to them. The British relented and a provisional treaty ending the war was signed on November 30, 1782. Franklin was a signatory.

It was left to Franklin to make peace with the French who were angry at the lack of consultation. Isaacson cites his letter to the French minister as a diplomatic masterpiece (416). During these years, Franklin retained his interest in science, witnessing the hot air balloon craze and inventing bifocal glasses. He also advocated his middle-class outlook for the United States, denouncing aristocracy. In a famous exchange, he criticized the elitist Society of Cincinnati for its choice of the bald eagle as its symbol and touted the turkey as a better American choice. Franklin was thrilled that Thomas Jefferson came to Paris as his successor, and he left Paris in July 1785. Before coming to the United States, he stopped in England where he had a cold meeting with William. Neither would ever write about it, and the two would not see each other again.