Benjamin Franklin | Page 4

sections of the country to which they respectively
belonged.
If John Adams had died before he was made President, he also would
have been one of this group. But the lustre of his official position
prevents our placing him in the earlier constellation. Yet, though not
more prominent than many others, in fact hardly to be called prominent
at all in the events which led up to the Revolution, he became a leader
in the first Congress, and it is probable that no one contributed more
than he did--possibly no one contributed so much--towards forcing the
adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
Washington, though a member of Congress, was by no means
conspicuous in the agitation which preceded the actual outbreak of
hostilities. His entry in his uniform among his civilian comrades was
indeed dramatic; but his important public career really began with his
acceptance of the position of commander in chief. In this capacity he
achieved the overthrow of the British supremacy, and brought to a
successful close the period of destruction.
This first group is a small one, for the first Congress brought no new
men to the front. Indeed, that body lost its own prestige very soon after
independence was declared; thereafter it was no stage on which new

men could win distinction, or men already famous could add to their
store; indeed, members were lucky if they escaped without diminution
of their reputations, by very reason of being parts of so nerveless and
useless a body. The fact is, that the civilians, after they had set the ball
going, did little more. They contributed almost nothing to the
Revolution in any practical way during its actual progress. Perhaps they
could not; but certainly they did not. Washington and his officers and
soldiers deserve all the credit for making independence a reality instead
of an assertion. They were not very strenuously or generously backed
by the mass of the people after the first fervor was over. The truth is
that that grand event was the work of a small body of heroes, who
presented freedom and nationality to the people of the thirteen colonies.
John Adams and Congress said that the colonists were free, and there
left the matter, functi officio. Washington and the troops took up the
business, and actually made colonists into freemen. Those upon whom
this dignity and advantage were conferred were, for the most part,
content somewhat supinely to allow the new condition to be established
for them.
JOHN T. MORSE, JR.
September, 1898.

CONTENTS
I. EARLY YEARS 1
II. A CITIZEN OF PHILADELPHIA: CONCERNMENT IN PUBLIC
AFFAIRS 17
III. REPRESENTATIVE OF PENNSYLVANIA IN ENGLAND:
RETURN HOME 59
IV. LIFE IN PHILADELPHIA 86
V. SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND: I. 100

VI. SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND: II. 142
VII. SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND: III. THE HUTCHINSON
LETTERS: THE PRIVY COUNCIL SCENE: RETURN HOME 177
VIII. SERVICES IN THE STATES 204
IX. MINISTER TO FRANCE: I. DEANE AND BEAUMARCHAIS:
FOREIGN OFFICERS 220
X. MINISTER TO FRANCE: II. PRISONERS: TROUBLE WITH
LEE AND OTHERS 248
XI. MINISTER TO FRANCE: III. TREATY WITH FRANCE: MORE
QUARRELS 267
XII. FINANCIERING 304
XIII. HABITS OF LIFE AND OF BUSINESS: AN ADAMS
INCIDENT 337
XIV. PEACE NEGOTIATIONS: LAST YEARS IN FRANCE 357
XV. AT HOME: PRESIDENT OF PENNSYLVANIA: THE
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION: DEATH 403
INDEX 429

ILLUSTRATIONS
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
From the original by Jean Baptiste Greuze, in the Boston Public
Library. It was painted for Benjamin Franklin as a gift to Richard
Oswald, the English commissioner associated with him in the peace
negotiations of 1782. Gardner Brewer of Boston bought the painting in
1872 and presented it to the Library.

Autograph from the Declaration of Independence.
The vignette of Independence Hall is after a drawing in the possession
of the American Bank Note Co., Philadelphia.
COUNT VERGENNES
From the frontispiece to Doniol, "Histoire de la Participation de la
France à l'Establissement des Etats-Unis d'Amérique," Paris, 1886, 5
vols., 4to. vol. i.; an engraving by Vangelisti, from the original painting
by Antoine Francois Callet.
Autograph from same book.
LORD HILLSBOROUGH (Born Wills Hill; afterwards Marquis of
Downshire)
From a painting by J. Rising, owned by Lord Salisbury.
Autograph from MS. collection in the New York Public Library, Lenox
Building.
PAUL JONES
From the original portrait by C. W. Peale in Independence Hall.
Autograph from MS. collection in Library of Boston Athenæum.
SEA-FIGHT BETWEEN THE SERAPIS AND BON HOMME
RICHARD
Off Flamborough Head, September 3, 1779. Paul
Jones's ship, in compliment to the author of "Poor Richard's Maxims,"
was named "Bon Homme Richard." Captain Pearson, who commanded
the Serapis, was knighted for his heroic resistance. Paul Jones, tradition
says, on hearing of the honor conferred on Pearson, good-naturedly
observed, "If I ever meet him again, I'll make a lord of him."

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
CHAPTER I