BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
1706–90
A man with many strings to his bow, Benjamin Franklin was a scientist, inventor, author, publisher and diplomat – not to mention one of the nation’s most esteemed founding fathers. For decades he was enamoured with Britain, but, in time, his glowing opinion of the British soured. In 1775 he sailed back to America and firmly threw his lot in with the revolutionaries.
The next year, after signing the Declaration of Independence, Franklin was sent back across the Atlantic, where his negotiations in France led to the 1778 Treaty of Alliance, formalising French support for the colonists’ cause. Later, he helped to negotiate the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which marked the official end of the war, before going on to sign the US Constitution in 1787.
GEORGE…
