All language subtitles for Benjamin.Franklin.S01E02.BDRip.x264-ION10[eztv.re]

Man as Benjamin Franklin:
Being now in my last Act,

I begin to cast about
for something fit to end with.

Or if mine be more properly
compar'd to an Epigram,

I am very desirous of concluding

with a bright Point.

Benjamin Franklin.

Schiff: The thing
about Franklin is,

whatever you say about him,
on the one hand,

you can always say
the opposite, as well.

I mean, this is a man who is
very much pro-temperance

and he writes
bawdy drinking songs.

He founds a fire company,

and he founds a fire
insurance company.

He does play all sides.

But during those British
years, he very much plays

the British gentleman.

He has a... a crest on the
door of his carriage.

And, yet, by the time he
becomes an American rebel,

so to speak, he is
entirely an American.

Narrator: In January of 1775,
Benjamin Franklin turned 69.

He had already achieved
extraordinary success

as a printer and publisher
in his adopted hometown

of Philadelphia, where
a library, a college,

and countless civic improvements

testified to his belief
that his highest calling

lay not in making money,

but in improving
the lives of everyday people.

And his revolutionary
breakthroughs

in unraveling
the mysteries of electricity

had made him the most famous
American in the world.

Ellis: He is every man,

but he's a very
extraordinary every man.

He was a Nobel Prize-winning
caliber scientist,

probably the great... greatest
prose stylist of his generation,

and he's probably
the greatest diplomat

in American history.

Narrator: Franklin had been in
England for the last decade,

trying desperately to bridge
the growing gulf

between Parliament
and the American colonies.

Only a year earlier,
the future he had envisioned

for himself and his family
seemed bright and tethered

inextricably to
the British Empire.

Now that dream was in ruins.

During his long absence
from home,

he had missed his wife
Deborah's death and funeral.

In London, in a government
chamber called the Cockpit,

he had been publicly humiliated,

accused of inciting the colonial
crisis he had, in fact,

worked so hard to prevent.

And as that crisis
intensified, his son William,

now the royal governor
of New Jersey,

seemed to be choosing
the wrong side.

Skemp: The longer William
stayed in New Jersey,

the more corrupt
and rebellious and selfish

the colonies started to
look to him

and the more wonderful and
inspiring the Crown looked.

I think that the longer that
Benjamin Franklin stayed

in England, the more he
idealized the colonies and saw

the corruption and venality
around him in England.

And so, they began to see things

kind of as a mirror
image of one another.

Narrator: For years,
Franklin had reveled

in the intellectual
life of Britain.

But increasingly, he dwelled
more on the differences

between the Old World
and the New,

rather than what they
shared in common.

Man as Franklin:
In America,

People do not enquire,
concerning a stranger,

"What is he?"
but "What can he do?"

The people have a saying,

that God Almighty is himself
a mechanic,

the greatest in the universe;

and he is respected more
for the variety, ingenuity,

and utility of his handiworks

than for the antiquity
of his family.

Narrator: "Life," he once said,
"is like chess."

And in the turbulent years
ahead, as his country and his

family would be challenged as
never before, Benjamin Franklin

would need every skill
the game had taught him.

Man as Franklin:
The game of chess

is not merely an idle amusement.

By playing at chess,
we may learn, Foresight,

Circumspection, Caution.

The habit of not being
discouraged by present

bad appearances in the state
of our affairs,

the habit of hoping for
a favorable change,

and that of persevering.

He's different from
the other Founders,

from a Washington,
from a Jefferson.

He's older.
And so he brought a past,

a past in which he created
himself as a man.

He brought his wisdom,
his experience,

his travel abroad to make,

I think, a much more
cosmopolitan and urbane

understanding of what
America could be.

Brands: Franklin was born an
Englishman, like everybody else

in the American Colonies
of his generation.

He died an American.

He is made to realize that he
will never be allowed to be

sort of a... a fully recognized,
respected Briton.

And, for that reason,
he decides he has to

become an American.

Man as William Franklin:
Dear Father,

The Measure of Sending
Troops to Boston

is putting a Stop to the Riots.

The same Spirit however,
still prevails

in the Colonies, and nothing
can make them acknowledge

the Right of the Parliament
to tax them.

Your dutiful son, William.

Narrator: The repercussions of
the Boston Tea Party

had created a tinderbox
in the American colonies.

King George Ill ordered
a crackdown

on the American upstarts.

"The New England governments
are in a state of rebellion,"

he declared.

"Blows must decide whether
they are to be subject

to this country
or independent."

Parliament quickly passed
a flurry of new laws.

Until the East India Company was
compensated for its lost tea,

Boston Harbor was to be closed.

Massachusetts was placed
under martial law,

the colonial charter
was suspended,

the elected assembly outlawed,

and most public meetings banned.

Communities were required
to provide quarters

for British troops.

Americans called the new
laws the Intolerable Acts.

Protests sprang up
in every colony.

Committees of correspondence
were established.

They urged colonists "not to
purchase any goods which shall

be imported from
Great Britain."

Each colony was asked
to send delegates

to a Continental Congress

that could propose
a united response.

In New Jersey, Governor
William Franklin wrote to his

superiors in London.

Man as William Franklin:
My Lord,

His Majesty
may be assured that I shall

omit nothing in my Power to
keep this Province quiet,

no Attachments or Connexions
shall ever make me swerve

from the Duty of my Station.

Your Lordship's most obedient

and humble Servant.

Narrator: For more than
a decade, William Franklin

had managed better
than other colonial governors

to work with his assembly
and steer it toward a more

moderate course.

"The most despotic and worst
of all Tyrannies," he told them,

is "the Tyranny of the Mob,

"which must at length
involve us all

in one common ruin."

William wrote to his father
in London suggesting that

the necessary first step was for
Boston to "do justice" and pay

for the tons of tea that
had been destroyed.

Man as Franklin: Dear Son,

As to "doing Justice,"

that should have been
thought of by Parliament

before they demanded it
of the Bostonians.

They have extorted many
Thousand Pounds from America

unconstitutionally
and with an armed Force.

Of this Money, they ought
to make Restitution.

But you, who are a thorough
Courtier, see everything

with Government Eyes.

Narrator:
The Franklins were coming to

different conclusions about
which side was to blame,

but both men still hoped that
a complete split between

Britain and her colonies
might be avoided.

The British government
was never a monolith.

There were always dissenters,
sympathizers with America,

people who thought that
Americans were justified

in their opposition.

There were people, well-placed
within the British Government,

who believed, with Franklin,

that the future of the
British Empire could be great

and could be bright if
the British government

recognized that America could be
this second pillar

of a transatlantic empire.

Narrator: Working
behind the scenes,

because his
public image in England

was now so badly tarnished,

Franklin and sympathetic
members of Parliament

struggled to find
some compromise

that could avert a war.

But nothing came of it.

Brown: Franklin knows exactly
what's going on.

And what's going on
leads him to despair.

I'm not sure there were many
who were more disappointed

by the separation than Franklin.

In part, because I think
he really thought it

was avoidable.

Man as William Franklin:
Gentlemen,

You have now two roads...

One evidently leading to peace,
happiness, and a restoration

of the public tranquility...

The other inevitably
conducting you

to anarchy, misery,
and all the horrors

of a civil war.

Narrator: In New Jersey,
William had refused to

convene the colonial assembly
in order to prevent them from

sending delegates to
the Continental Congress.

They chose representatives
anyway.

When the Congress met
in Philadelphia

in the fall of 1774,
it had asserted that only

elected colonial legislatures
had the right of taxation

within their borders.

It banned all imports
from Britain

until the Intolerable
Acts were repealed

and set a deadline
for Parliament to do it.

Otherwise, American exports
to England would cease

and a Second Continental
Congress would convene in 1775

to consider further steps.

If only his father had been
there, William wrote, he might

have been able to steer the
Congress toward something

less confrontational.

Man as William Franklin: However
mad you may think the Measures

of the Ministry are, yet I
trust you have Candor enough

to acknowledge that we are no
ways behind hand with them

in Instances of Madness
on this Side of the Water.

Narrator:
Benjamin Franklin now believed

any chances of averting war
were unlikely; but he was

growing more and more worried
that he and William

were ending up
on opposing sides.

He was ready to head for home.

If he couldn't keep the
colonies and England together,

at least he might be
able to keep his son.

On March 21, 1775,
Franklin finally set sail

for Philadelphia.

With him was William's own son,
Temple, who had been born

out of wedlock 15 years
earlier in England

and discreetly given over
to a foster family.

In London, Benjamin had
decided to take custody

of the boy and enrolled him
in school

but did not tell him
he was his grandfather.

Now, he was bringing Temple to
America, where he would meet

the father he had never known.

Isaacson: When Benjamin Franklin
sails home in 1775,

he's estranged from William.

His wife Deborah has died.

He feels this enormous
sense of failure.

His whole mission had been
to try to hold the Colonies

and Britain together.

And that has failed.

Narrator: But being at sea

always revived
Franklin's spirits

and ignited his
scientific curiosity.

Isaacson: He still wants to
chart the Gulf Stream.

He still is curious
about natural phenomenon.

And, so, there's
Temple Franklin helping

his grandfather Benjamin as they
lower barrels into the ocean

to take the temperature
of the water,

to see where
the Gulf Stream could be,

and he's almost replicating
those moments

with William Franklin,
where Ben Franklin and William

flew the kite in the rain
to discover electricity.

Narrator: When he and Temple
arrived in Philadelphia

on May 5, 1775, Franklin
learned startling news.

While he was at sea, the war he
had once hoped to prevent

had already
started in Massachusetts.

On April 19th, 700 British
troops had marched from Boston

to capture munitions
stockpiled in Concord.

A skirmish on the Lexington
town green

left 8 Americans dead...

but a larger fight broke out

at Concord's North Bridge
that sent British redcoats

retreating back toward Boston.

Dunbar: The Revolutionary energy
in Philadelphia was palpable.

Regular people were talking
About "revolution,"

were talking about "power," were
talking about "human rights,"

were talking about
"freedom" and "democracy."

These were the things that
Franklin came home to.

Narrator: A week after
Franklin got back home,

delegates to the Second
Continental Congress were

gathering in Philadelphia,
and the Pennsylvania Assembly

elected him as one of
their representatives.

Man as William Bradford: I can
inform you that some delegates

begin to entertain a great
suspicion that Dr. Franklin

came rather as a spy than as
a friend, and that he means to

discover our weak side.

William Bradford.

Narrator: In the early meetings,
Franklin remained quiet,

so quiet, John Adams
of Massachusetts complained

that he seemed to spend
"a great part of the time

fast asleep in his chair."

In the evenings, while other
delegates congregated

in taverns and debated whether
the Congress

should declare independence,

he preferred
to stay at his new house,

with his daughter
Sally and her family.

By this time, Franklin had
confessed to Temple

that he was the boy's
grandfather.

When Governor William Franklin
visited from New Jersey,

Temple met his
father for the first time.

And later, when Benjamin
and William met privately,

Benjamin made it clear he wanted
his son to join the cause.

William wanted his father
to stay neutral.
He still thought

a reconciliation with
England might be possible.

They argued all night.

At another meeting, neighbors
could hear them shouting.

Father and son went
their separate ways.

William would remain a Loyalist.

Benjamin had become
a fervent revolutionary...

What was called a Patriot.

Wood: Of the major leaders,

he came to the Revolution
very late.

In fact, it's hard to
understand why he even joined

the Revolution, uh...

He was already successful.
He was an old man.

Brands: Revolution is
a young man's game,

but Franklin decided this
is what needs to be done.

Narrator: At age 69, he was
the oldest delegate.

Many of the 62 other delegates
had not even been born when he

first entered political life
40 years earlier

and knew Franklin only by
his reputation.

John Adams was 39;

Patrick Henry
and John Hancock, 38;

Virginia's Thomas Jefferson
was only 32...

All younger than Franklin's
son William.

Isaacson: He's the "old" one.
He's the sage one.

And he talks in
parables and metaphors.

And a lot of people don't quite
know what to make of him.

Here's Franklin, coming with
a worldwide reputation,

certainly the most famous
American in the world,

and yet, they're not
fully trusting him.

Who is this guy?
We don't really know him.

Narrator: Franklin had
traveled more extensively than

any of the others... throughout
Europe, but also through most

of the colonies that were
only now beginning to think

of themselves as something
more than individual

English provinces.

It was an idea he had proposed
more than 2 decades before.

The delegates unanimously
elected him

as postmaster general,

and he donated his salary
to help wounded soldiers.

They assigned him to important
committees, creating a system

for paper currency,
raising money for weapons

and manufacturing gunpowder,

and negotiating with Indian
nations in the hope

they would not side
with the British.

Following the battles of
Lexington and Concord,

Franklin heard
from his favorite sister Jane,

who witnessed the chaos in
Boston, the town of his birth.

"The distress it has occasioned

is past my description,"
she wrote.

"The commotion the town was in
after the battle, bringing in

"their wounded men, caused
such an agitation of mind,

I believe none
had much sleep."

Colonial militia had
surrounded the city

and the occupying
British forces there.

12,000 of Boston's 15,000
residents, including Jane,

evacuated in panic.

British soldiers then
ransacked the nearly empty town.

They would use
the pews and pulpit

from the Old South
Meeting House as firewood.

On June 17th, in the Battle
of Bunker Hill,

British forces attacked the
militiamen in nearby Charlestown

and were repulsed twice,

until the defenders'
ammunition ran out.

At the end of the day,
the British had taken

the heights, but suffered
more than 1,000 casualties

to fewer than
half that by the Patriots.

Much of Charlestown had been
burned by the British

to rid it of American snipers.

Jane's son, Josiah, fought
for the Patriots and died.

One of her in-laws died
fighting for the British.

"O how horrible is our
situation," she wrote

to Benjamin, "that relations
seek the destruction

of each other."

Enraged by what the British
had done, Franklin sent

a letter to a friend in England,

intended for publication there.

Man as Franklin:
Britain, at the expense

of three millions,
has killed 150 Americans

this campaign, which is
20,000 pounds a head;

and at Bunker's Hill she
gained a mile of ground.

During the same time
60,000 children have been

born in America.

From these data,
calculate the time and expense

necessary to kill us all,

and conquer our whole territory.

Narrator: And he had written
a second letter

to another English friend,
which he shared

with colleagues in America
but never sent.

Man as Franklin: You
have begun to burn our towns,

and murder our people.

Look upon your hands!

They are stained with the
blood of your relations!

You and I were long friends:
You are now my enemy,

and I am Yours.

Man as Bradford: The
suspicions against Dr. Franklin

have died away.

Whatever was his design at
coming over here, I believe he

has now chosen his side
and favors our cause.

Man as John Adams:
Dr. Franklin

has discovered a disposition
entirely American.

He is a great and good man.

John Adams.

Narrator: In October 1775,

Franklin traveled to
Massachusetts to confer

with General George
Washington, who desperately

needed more money from
Congress to fight the British.

He was trying to cobble
together a Continental Army

that would eventually include
fishermen, frontiersmen

and farm laborers; recent
immigrants, vagrants

and teen-aged boys
with few prospects;

Native Americans,
free African Americans

and enslaved men, hoping to be
freed when the war ended.

Franklin promised
Washington he would do what he

could to help.

On his way back, Franklin
reunited with his sister Jane

in Rhode Island.

She was still a refugee from
occupied Boston.

He persuaded her to come with
him to Philadelphia, and they

stopped briefly in New Jersey,
so she could see her nephew

William at the
governor's mansion.

Franklin hoped her description
of the carnage in Boston might

prompt his son to reconsider
his loyalty to the Crown.

She was unsuccessful.

William would be the last royal
governor trying to carry on

the king's affairs in America.

People always ask, why
were people Loyalists.

And I think the
question to ask is,

"Why were people Patriots?"

Uh, to be loyal
is not to change.

It's simply to go on believing
what you've always believed

your entire life.

His father taught him
to be principled.

He was doing exactly what
his father had always

taught him to do.

Man as William Franklin: For
King and Country was the Motto

I assumed when I first commenced
my Political Life,

and I am resolved to
retain it till Death

shall put an end
to my mortal Existence.

Narrator: William
Franklin had assured his

superiors in London he did
not intend to leave his post.

He had advised his wife
Elizabeth to seek refuge

with relatives in Barbados,
but she insisted on staying

with him in New Jersey.

Benjamin Franklin would
not see his son again

for 10 years.

Man: March!

Narrator: One day in
Philadelphia, Franklin noticed

a drummer who had painted
a rattlesnake on his drum

along with the words
"Don't Tread on Me."

Man as Franklin:
It occurred to me

that the Rattle-Snake is found

in no other quarter of the
world besides America, and may

therefore be chosen, on that
account, to represent her.

She never begins an attack,
nor, when once engaged,

ever surrenders:

I confess
I was wholly at a loss what to

make of the rattles, 'till I
went back and counted them

and found them just thirteen,
exactly the number

of the Colonies united
in America;

One of those rattles singly,

is incapable of producing sound,

but the ringing of thirteen
together, is sufficient to

alarm the boldest man living.

Narrator: A delegate
from South Carolina

created a bright yellow flag,
which was flown from the

flagship of America's first
deployment of Marines.

In March of 1776, Franklin
was on his way overland to

Montreal, to try to convince
the Canadians to join

the colonial cause.

Learning of the mission,
William Franklin wrote

immediately to London,
betraying his

father's movements.

It was an arduous 9-week trip.

Benjamin Franklin's efforts
failed.

Canada would remain loyal.

And when he returned to
Philadelphia, he was so sick

he was unable to attend
the proceedings in Congress.

All he had to show for his
troubles was a soft cap

of marten fur that had
kept his head warm.

In June of 1776,
William was arrested

at the governor's mansion
by Patriot soldiers.

His secret reports
about proceedings

in the Continental Congress
had been intercepted.

He was declared
an "enemy to this country."

Congress voted unanimously that
he be transported under guard

out of New Jersey
to Connecticut.

His father, still housebound
after his trip to Canada,

was spared having to cast
a vote against his son.

On June 21, 1776, a packet
arrived at Franklin's

Market Street home.

It was from Thomas Jefferson,
who with Franklin, John Adams,

and two other delegates,
had been assigned to draft

a declaration of independence.

Working in a rented second-
floor room of a house a few

blocks from Franklin's
and attended by his enslaved

servant Robert Hemings,

Jefferson completed
a first draft.

He asked Franklin to "suggest
such alterations as your

more enlarged view of
the subject will dictate."

The old editor and writer
recognized the elegance

of Jefferson's prose and made
only a few changes

before returning it.

Jenkinson: Franklin sits back
and ponders it a little

and he makes a few

really extraordinary
suggestions to Jefferson.

And one of them is world class.

Jefferson had written,
"We hold these truths to be

sacred and undeniable."

And Franklin said, "No, no.

'We hold these truths to be
self-evident.'"

Just as 2 plus 2 is 4 and
the sun rises in the morning,

it is self-evident that we have
a right to revolution.

Franklin is saying, "We're
trying to create a new type

"of nation in which our
rights come from rationality

"and the consent of the
governed, not the dictates or

dogma of a religion."

Brown: They were doing something
very radical and very scary.

To say something is "self
evident," to say that it's

common sense, is to say that
there is no other way to think

about this, that only an
irrational person, who's not

using their mind correctly
could contend with this thing,

which is, in fact,
really contentious.

It's a classic
lawyer's trick to say,

"We all agree to this thing."

Who is "we?"
The "we" is presumptuous.

Bailyn: They were not talking
about liberating women in any

particular way
or certainly not slaves.

But in incremental ways, it
grew and grew because if you

talk about liberty for the
individual, of you and me, uh,

you're talking about a greater
liberty that can be applied

to other people.

Narrator: On July 2,
the Continental Congress

unanimously approved
the central clause

of the declaration, proclaiming

American independence.

Two days later, July 4, 1776,
12 of the 13 former

colonies approved
the entire declaration.

New York would take a few
more days to make up its mind.

Man as Franklin:
And for the support

of this declaration,

we mutually pledge to each
other our lives, our fortunes,

and our sacred honor.

Narrator: On the same day
Benjamin Franklin

was voting to approve the
Declaration, his son William

arrived in Connecticut,
where he was told he was now

officially a prisoner of
the brand-new

United States of America.

Brands: At this point,
what are the odds?

If you were making a book on
this, who would you bet on?

There was the greatest
military power in Europe,

arguably the greatest military
power in the world, and then

there are these 13 Colonies.

So, it was a longshot,
to put it mildly.

Brown: And then there are
significant numbers

of enslaved men and women who
were eying the situation,

trying to figure out, is there
some way that this conflict

could serve my
interests personally,

serve people like me
collectively.

And then you have, both within
the Colonies, at the borders

of the Colonies, Native
nations who are trying to

understand what this emerging
divide might mean for control

of their land
or access to trade.

We know how it turned out.

But nobody in 1775 or 1776
has any idea how this is

going to turn out.

And, so, choosing sides
also means choosing fates.

Wood: The Revolution,
as it emerges

and becomes a war,
is a civil war.

Families are divided, uh,

friends are divided,
neighborhoods are divided.

Schiff: Almost everyone involved
in the Revolution has family

members who are on
the other side,

often, very vitriolically
on the other side.

So, this really does
tear families apart.

In Franklin's case, um,
it comes as a complete break

with his son.

Narrator: By now, hundreds
of British ships had arrived

in New York Harbor with
35,000 British soldiers

and sailors and Hessian
mercenaries, the greatest

and best-equipped
expeditionary force

of the 18th century.

Washington's army would be
overmatched and easily routed

from Long Island.

British Admiral Lord Richard
Howe sent Franklin a letter

offering a truce, with pardons
for the rebels, and rewards

for any Americans who
helped restore peace.

Franklin and a small
delegation met with Howe

on Staten Island
on September 11.

Howe now suggested that the
colonies might also have

control of their own
legislatures and taxes,

yet still be part of the empire.

The Americans said
it was too late.

He should ask the king for
permission to negotiate

with an independent nation.

Howe urged them to reconsider.

"When an American falls,
England feels it," he said.

And if America were to fall,
he added, "I should feel

and lament it like
the loss of a brother."

"We will do our utmost,"
Franklin responded, "to save

your Lordship
that mortification."

"They met, they talked,
they parted," Howe's secretary

wrote of the 3-hour meeting.

"And now, nothing remains
but to fight it out."

Two weeks after the meeting
with Lord Howe, Congress

secretly chose Franklin to be
one of 3 envoys to France

to seek King Louis XVI's help
in the fight with England.

He is the perfect choice.

First of all, there's no other
person who knows

the, uh, the European world
as Franklin does.

And he is the most
celebrated American in Europe.

And he's a natural for the job.

Narrator: On October 27,
he was on board the "Reprisal,"

a swift but cramped
American 2-masted brig.

With him were two grandsons...
16-year-old Temple

and Sally's 7-year-old
son Benny.

14 years earlier,
when France and Britain

were at war, Franklin had
sailed from England

under the protection
of the Royal Navy.

Now it was imperative he avoid
British ships at all costs.

The rough voyage
across the wintry Atlantic

"almost demolished me,"
he wrote.

The diet on board of salted
beef had ruined his digestion

and caused boils, scabs,
and rashes all over his body,

including his scalp.

They reached the west coast
of France in early December.

A fisherman agreed to row him
and his two grandsons to shore

at the hamlet of Auray in
Brittany, 300 miles from Paris.

Franklin had intended to keep
a low profile, but news of his

arrival spread quickly
and reached the capital

long before he did.

The real purpose of his visit,
securing a formal alliance

with France, remained secret.

But everywhere he went,
he was a sensation.

In 1776,
people in France had never

heard of any American
except for Benjamin Franklin.

Schiff: From the French
point of view,

they have sent the
greatest celebrity on Earth,

this side of Voltaire, to Paris.

He is like Newton or
Galileo reincarnated.

Narrator: The city of Nantes
celebrated the renowned

Docteur Franklin, tamer of
lightning, and crowds

cheered him on his carriage
ride into Paris.

They were fascinated by
his soft hat of marten fur,

which resembled the famous
cap worn by the philosopher

Rousseau, in contrast
to the powdered wigs

of the Parisian elite.

Franklin was wearing it to
keep his head warm and to hide

the unsightly sores
on his balding head.

Chaplin: It's such a great
costume and prop,

immediately announcing himself
as a man of science.

I am the famous
Benjamin Franklin...

The "Prometheus of
the Modern Age,"

don't forget it...
Here on business.

Narrator: French admirers
hung portraits of him over the

mantelpieces in their homes.

Poems were written about
the great American scientist

and philosopher who had
miraculously arrived

in their midst.

A collection of
"Poor Richard's" aphorisms

was translated into French as

"La Science du
Bonhomme Richard."

Franklin loved it.

Man as Franklin: Dear Sally,

The clay medallion of me

was the first of
the kind made in France

and the numbers
sold are incredible.

These, with the pictures,
busts, and prints, of which

copies upon copies are spread
everywhere, have made your

father's face as well known
as that of the moon.

Jenkinson: The King,
Louis XVI, became sort of

slightly annoyed and amused
by the Cult of Franklin.

He had a chamber pot with
an image of Franklin put

on the inside of it just
as a way of saying,

"Enough, already."

Narrator: Franklin had serious
and vital business to attend to.

Without France's money,
supplies, and, ideally,

military assistance, America's
fight for independence might

be lost and lost quickly.

Schiff: There's no question that
someone is going to have to

step in to underwrite
this Revolution.

There is no gunpowder in the
Colonies; there is no materiel;

there are very few guns;
there are no uniforms.

The obvious candidate, um,
for that alliance is France.

Cohn: Franklin had a terribly
difficult assignment.

He had to convince one
monarch to help the Americans

overthrow another monarch.

Brands: The French had reasons
to oppose Britain.

They wanted to weaken Britain.

But, King Louis XVI didn't
want to underwrite this

overthrow of monarchies.

The French people
might get ideas.

Narrator: Persuading France's
king and his ministers to

provide any assistance at
all would require delicacy

and discretion, persistence
and shrewd calculation.

Franklin had taken on the
most momentous chess match

of his life.

And playing it would require
him, on his own, to improvise

his strategy again and again.

Jenkinson: Franklin understood
they're not committed

to our people's
republican revolution here.

They want to get back
at the British.

They side with the
colonials and allow us each

to spend ourselves down
in this protracted fight,

that this improves France's
position in the European

balance of power and maybe
gives it a chance to reassert

itself a little bit
in the New World.

And, so, everyone's operating
out of self-interest.

But, Franklin, and Franklin
alone, knows how to negotiate

this slowly, with suavity
and humor and patience.

Narrator: He met frequently
and always surreptitiously

with the Comte de Vergennes,
France's foreign minister,

who found Franklin tactful,
smart, and unassuming.

Vergennes arranged for several
million livres, French pounds,

to be secretly advanced
for the Americans

to purchase supplies.

But he would go no further,
unless the Patriots' military

situation improved.

At the moment,
that didn't appear likely.

George Washington's army had
been chased out of Manhattan,

across New Jersey
and into Pennsylvania.

A large British force
moving south from Canada

had captured Fort Ticonderoga.

Its general, John Burgoyne,

boasted that he would be home
in England by Christmas.

British soldiers also
threatened Philadelphia.

Congress abandoned the city,
as did many of its residents.

Only a few days earlier,
Franklin’s daughter, Sally,

had given birth to a baby girl.

Now the whole family, including
Franklin's sister Jane,

were refugees.

After an American defeat at
Brandywine Creek, Philadelphia

fell without a fight.

A British officer commandeered
Franklin's home and stole his

books and papers,
musical instruments,

and scientific equipment.

In France, Franklin strove
to appear upbeat,

despite the setbacks.

The Americans could
hold out for 30 years,

he bravely declared.

Schiff: Franklin is, first and
foremost, a man of the press.

And he plays that role
to the hilt

in those first months in France.

He is essentially engaged

in a thorough
disinformation campaign.

Washington's men are almost
without uniforms.

There's a wonderful quote
in which someone says,

"They could have scared
the British away

by their nakedness."
They have nothing.

And Washington, during
this time, is in despair.

While Washington is struggling
all over, Franklin is

in France saying, "It's
victory after victory."

Um..."He, like, he has
an army of 80,000," um...

"Yes, the... the British may
take Philadelphia, but they

"will be trapped there,
the river will freeze,

"they won't be able to reach
their ships.

Washington will
surround them."

He's utterly making this up.

He's promoting a war that
isn't really happening.

And he doesn't, for a moment,
in public, drop that mask.

Isaacson: Benjamin Franklin also
realizes he has to win

the hearts and minds of
the French people.

He knows that within the
French population, there's

welling up this sentiment
for liberty and fraternity

and equality.

And he taps into that by being
a public diplomat, not just

a private diplomat.

Narrator: Franklin moved from
a hotel in crowded Paris to

the village of Passy,
2 miles west, where

a wealthy merchant offered
the use of a wing

of his sprawling
estate rent-free.

Soon, a lightning rod
sprouted from its roof.

Franklin sent his grandson
Benny to a boarding school

in Switzerland and assigned
Temple to help with

the diplomatic paperwork...
There were mountains of it...

And the steady stream
of visitors

who began arriving once
they knew the famous

Doctor Franklin
was living there.

Man as Franklin:
You can have no Conception

how I am harass'd.

The Noise of Every Coach
now that enters my Court

terrifies me.

Narrator:
Besides his constant efforts

to get more money from the
French, much of Franklin's

time was consumed handling
requests from individual

Europeans eager to fight
the hated English in America.

Man as Franklin:
Frequently if a Man has

no useful Talents, is good
for nothing, and burdensome

to his Relations,

they are glad to get rid of
him by sending him to

the other End of the World.

Narrator: They came from every
corner of Europe.

All of them, regardless of
their talents and experience,

expected to be
commissioned as officers.

General Washington finally
begged Franklin not to send

anyone else.

But 3 of the men Franklin
recommended would

prove invaluable to
the Revolution:

Count Casimir Pulaski of Poland

would organize
the American cavalry

and serve with bravery
and distinction before being

killed in action
at Savannah, Georgia.

Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von
Steuben would develop a system

of military discipline
and drilling and impressed

the Continental soldiers with
his ability to swear

in multiple languages.

And the Marquis de Lafayette
of France, whose father had

been killed by the British in
the Seven Years' War, believed

that "To injure England is
to serve my country."

Only 19 years old when
he went to America, he would

become a surrogate son to
General Washington and one

of the most ardent champions
of the Revolution.

Early into his diplomatic
mission, Franklin was warned,

"You are surrounded with
spies who watch your every

movement, who you Visit
and by whom you are visited."

He said he didn't care.

Man as Franklin:
As it is impossible

to prevent being
watched by Spies,

I have long observed one Rule:

to be concerned in no affairs
that I should blush to have

made public.

If I was sure, therefore,
that my valet

was a spy, as probably he is,
I think I should probably not

discharge him for that, if in
other respects I liked him.

Narrator: The
chief spy in Franklin's midst

was not his valet.

It was Edward Bancroft,
a Massachusetts-born scientist

now serving as
the secretary to the American

delegation in France,
with access to every document

and letter.

Every week, Bancroft wrote
seemingly personal letters

and then, in invisible ink,
provided his clandestine

reports in the margins.

Each Tuesday night, he dropped
them into the hollow of a tree

in the Tuileries Garden,
where they were retrieved

and taken to
the British embassy in Paris.

For his work as a secret
agent, England paid him

£1,000 a year, the same
amount the Americans were

giving him to be
their secretary.

His double-dealing would
not come to light

for a hundred years.

Schiff: Franklin is encircled

by two sets of
extremely effective spies...

A set of French spies,
who are, themselves,

surrounded by a set
of British spies.

And every piece of paper that,
essentially, moves off

of Franklin's desk will
end up in the wrong place,

will end up either at
Versailles or in London,

but very rarely in the colonies.

Franklin was no fool.

He knew what was happening.

He knew the spying that was
going on was to America's

advantage because the Brits
got the sense that America was

really quite close to France.

And, uh, Franklin did nothing.

I mean, he just
sat there and let it happen.

Narrator: On December 4, 1777,
a messenger rode into

Franklin's courtyard at
Passy with startling news.

After two battles near
Saratoga, New York,

British General Burgoyne
had found himself

surrounded by a larger
American force,

and on October 17,
he surrendered, along with

his entire army,
nearly 6,000 troops.

Schiff: Saratoga changes
everything.

This is the moment Franklin
has been waiting for.

There is no reason for
the French to enter into any

serious alliance until the
Americans have proved that

they can actually win this war,
or at least put up a fight.

So, this is the news that he
needs to take to Vergennes,

the French foreign minister,
and to the Court

to be able to say, "OK, now,
will you take us seriously?

Now, will you officially..."
because until this point,

the help has been unofficial...
"Will you officially

underwrite our Revolution?"

Narrator: Franklin sprang
into action, writing reports

of the American victory that
would be spread

throughout Paris,

praising valiant French officers
now serving in America,

like Lafayette, and
leading the British ambassador

to realize he had completely
underestimated Franklin.

Man as Ambassador Lord Stormont:
They play us off

against one another.

Franklin's natural subtlety
gives him a great advantage

in such a game.

It is easy to see that in
such a situation peace between

England and the House of
Bourbon hangs by the slightest

of all threads.

Narrator: On
February 6, 1778, Franklin

met with Vergennes
and signed 2 treaties.

One, a treaty of friendship
and commerce, meant French aid

would flow in greater
quantities and no longer

in secret.

The other, the most
important, was a treaty

of military alliance.

France had officially joined
the American Revolution.

Isaacson: When they signed the
treaty, he wears this old,

frayed suit.

And it's the one he had worn
in the Cockpit, when he had

been berated by the British
lords for what he was doing.

And he was asked why
he wore that coat.

And he said, "To give it
a little revenge."

Narrator: A month later, he was
presented to King Louis XVI

at Versailles.

Schiff: And he meets the king,
who congratulates him

and says, "I hope
this is for the good

of both countries."

And Franklin utters a line,
which is almost astonishing

in its treachery, which is,
basically, he... he says to

the king, um, "If all rulers
ruled with your benevolence,

republics would
never be formed."

Narrator: Franklin,
a French statesman proclaimed,

has "seized the lightning
from the heavens and now

the scepter from the tyrants."

Man as Franklin:
This is the civilest nation

upon Earth.

Your first
Acquaintances endeavour

to find out what you like,
and they tell others.

Somebody, it seems, gave it
out that I lov'd Ladies.

So everybody presented me
their Ladies

or the Ladies presented
themselves to be embraced,

that is to have
their Necks kissed.

For as to kissing of Lips or
Cheeks, it is not the Mode here;

the first, is reckoned rude,
and the other may

rub off the Paint.

'Tis a delightful
People to live with.

Narrator: All
the while he was negotiating

and maneuvering for the
alliance with France, Franklin

immersed himself in
the intellectual circles

and social salons of Paris.

He considered it part of his
diplomacy and very enjoyable.

He had loved London,
but he adored Paris.

In France, you can flirt at
a very high level

of sophistication and it's
all a beautiful game

of sexual ballet.

And it has nothing to do
with carnality, really.

It's more about, nuance
and just the right touch

of flirtation.

He found personal happiness in
France that he had never found

in the course of his life.

Schiff: I don't think you can
find anyone, anyone except his

colleagues, who fails to
fall under the charms

of Benjamin Franklin.

Franklin is everywhere adored
and everywhere cossetted

in Paris, by no one more so,
than by the women of France.

Every word that drops from his
lips, they think is a gem.

And Franklin just adores
the fact that these women are

essentially hanging
about him at all times.

Narrator: Franklin became
particularly enchanted

with a neighbor of his in Passy,
Madame Brillon de Jouy.

She was beautiful and well-
educated and, at age 33,

a year younger than
Franklin's daughter Sally.

He went to her home twice
a week for tea and music;

composed essays in her honor;
and once played a late-night

game of chess while
she watched from her

covered bathtub.

Isaacson: I think that
Franklin's relationships

with women were more in the mind
than in the flesh.

He loved being flirtatious,
loved being around them,

but I don't think he pursued
a truly passionate romance

with any of them.

Cohn: We'll never know
what happened.

I think Madame Brillon pointed
out to Franklin that she was

a married woman, that any kind
of hanky-panky was simply

out of the question.

I believe Franklin must
have been disappointed,

but he took it very gracefully
and from that point forward,

they agreed that he would
be "Papa" and she would be

his daughter.

Narrator: Franklin's attentions
turned to another woman

a little closer to his own age.

Anne-Catherine Helvétius was
nearly 60, a widow who lived

on a grand estate near Passy.

Eccentric and free-spirited,
she hosted one of the most

renowned salons in France,
attended by intellectuals

and artists.

Franklin became a regular
visitor, sometimes playing his

glass armonica while people
sang his favorite

Scottish ballads in French.

Schiff: She's a philosopher's
widow and very Bohemian.

She had this fleet of
cats whom she would dress

in brocades and silks, and who
would... who would, basically,

wander around her house and
eat their meals off china.

Um, and into that menagerie,
um, walks Benjamin Franklin,

who's immediately smitten.

Man as Franklin: If this lady
is pleased to spend

her days with Monsieur Franklin,

he would be just as pleased
to spend his nights with her.

Narrator: She declined,
but never discouraged him

from showering
her with affection.

Schiff: There is a moment there
where he essentially

says to her, "I would stay in
France, if you would have me."

And she's not interested.

But I would say that that
was probably the most serious

of the relationships with...
With any... with the French women.

Narrator: Meanwhile,
Franklin's social calendar was

always filled with lunches,
teas, and lavish dinners.

Dray: He didn't speak or
understand French all that well.

He wanted to be able to see
the meal in front of him

at a dinner party, but, also, at
the same time, he needed to see

the lips of the people speaking
to him across the table.

So, he became frustrated
that his glasses couldn't do

both things.

This is typical Franklin.
He analyzed the problem.

He sawed his existing glasses
in half, and glued them

together so that one top...
One side did one function,

the other, the other.

Narrator: He called his
newest invention

"double-spectacles"... bifocals.

And Franklin was always
ready for a game of chess

with anyone.

Brands: In one case, he was
having this chess match with

the Duchess of Bourbon and
Franklin professed to forget

the rules and he
captured the king.

His opponent, the Duchess
says, "Well, in... in France,

"we don't capture kings.

That's not the way
the game is played."

He said, "Ah, but
in America, we do."

Man as Adams: It was late
when he breakfasted,

and as soon as breakfast
was over,

a crowd of carriages came.

By far the greater part were
women and children, come to

have the honor to see the
great Franklin, and to have

the pleasure of telling
stories about his

simplicity and his bald head.

He was invited to dine every day
and never declined

and it was the only thing
in which he was punctual.

John Adams.

Narrator: In April,
while the treaties

were crossing the Atlantic,

John Adams arrived in Paris.

He had been sent by Congress
to push more vigorously

for a French alliance and was
chagrined to learn that

Franklin had already
secured two treaties.

Even more aggravating to him
was how Franklin seemed to be

conducting himself.

Adams called it "a scene
of continual dissipation."

Bailyn: He was
absolutely horrified.

Franklin's desk was a mess.

There were papers all over
the place.

And there was no security.

Jenkinson: Adams said,
"Where's 'Poor Richard?'"

"Early to bed, early to rise

"makes a man
healthy, wealthy, and wise.

"Where's... where's the...
The Franklin that we're all...

That's famous
for his discipline?"

Schiff: It's hard to imagine
2 such talented people, 2 men

with so much in common,
who are of absolutely

opposite temperaments.

One of them is very rigid
and dogmatic and brilliant.

And the other one is very
flexible and easy-going

and affable and brilliant.

And they got on
each other's nerves.

Isaacson: Adams is quite wary of
the French, quite Puritanical.

Adams learned French by
memorizing funeral orations,

and Franklin learned French
by writing poetry

and letters to women.

Franklin knew how to be
popular and Adams had no idea

how to be popular.

In fact, Adams
per-perceived popularity

as a sign that he
was not doing the right thing.

Franklin's popularity
drives Adams to distraction.

He's... he feels he's being...
He feels that Franklin is being

ineffective and utterly given
over to Old World luxury,

and, moreover, people are
throwing themselves at him

left and right.

He can't stand these
celebrations of what he sees

as this utterly
irresponsible colleague.

Narrator: Shortly after his
arrival, Adams accompanied

Franklin to the Academy of
Sciences to see Voltaire,

France's greatest
Enlightenment writer

and philosopher.

He was 83 and in poor health,
a month away from dying.

When the crowd demanded that
the two great men embrace,

Adams had to watch
from the sidelines.

Schiff: Adams is an impatient
man, he's a brittle man.

And he doesn't understand
the channels of diplomacy.

And he certainly doesn't
understand the way

the French Court works.

He doesn't see that the secret
to Franklin's success is,

in large part, his inactivity,
the fact that he is...

essentially being
polite and genteel

and is expressing gratitude
toward these people who are

underwriting our...
Our Revolution.

Adams wants to be demanding
things at all times and,

essentially, makes himself
very unwelcome

at the French Court.

Ellis: It's the "good cop"
and the "bad cop."

And Franklin is the good cop.

I think they become
an effective team and instead

of seeing one as right and the
other as wrong, um, it works

for the American cause.

This is probably the greatest
assemblage of diplomatic

talent in American
history... two people.

But Adams is perceived by the
French, especially Vergennes,

the French foreign minister,
as this impossible creature.

Narrator: In February 1779,

Adams learned that,
at Vergennes' insistence,

Congress had named
Benjamin Franklin

the United States'
sole representative in France.

John Adams left for home.

Skemp: This was a war that was
not a sectional war.

This was not North versus South.

Americans were fighting
against Americans.

This was a Continental war
where every single person had

to decide which
side they were on.

Narrator: After being taken
to Connecticut as

a prisoner in 1776,
William Franklin had been

persuaded to sign a paper
promising not to attempt

an escape or to work against
the Patriots so he could be

placed under house arrest
in a comfortable home.

It didn't last long.

He began secretly
corresponding with British

officials in New York,
advising them about Loyalists

in Connecticut and New Jersey.

Congress learned what William
was doing and ordered him

taken to the infamous
Litchfield jail.

He was kept there in solitary
confinement for 8 months,

with nothing but a chamber
pot and a straw pallet

on the floor.

It was, he wrote, as if "I have
been buried alive."

His wife, Elizabeth, had moved
to British-held New York City,

where her already
fragile health worsened.

William appealed to
General Washington, begging

for permission to see her.

Man as William Franklin:
I am certain that an indulgence

in my present request will be

thankfully acknowledged
by my father,

for he has great esteem
for my wife,

and I believe that
though we differ

in our political sentiments,

yet it has not lessened his
natural affection for me,

any more than it
has mine for him.

Narrator:
Washington passed his request

on to Congress, which
refused to intervene.

The same day,
Elizabeth died at age 43.

In his jail cell,
William's own health

began deteriorating.

Man as William Franklin: My Life
has become quite a burden to me.

In short, I suffer so much

that I should deem it
a Favour to be immediately

taken out and shot.

Narrator:
Franklin's daughter Sally

and her husband appealed
to Congress to move him.

So did many of Franklin's
Philadelphia friends.

In France, Benjamin Franklin
himself did nothing

on his son's behalf.

In September of 1778,
Congress approved an exchange

of prisoners.

The British released the
Patriot governor of Delaware.

William Franklin was
taken to New York City.

It was assumed he
would sail to England.

Instead, he stayed to help the
British, establishing a network

of spies that operated behind
American lines and organizing

guerrilla units that conducted
raids along the coast

of Connecticut and Rhode
Island and up the Hudson River

in New York.

Skemp: He came out of that
jail time experience

in the same way that Benjamin
came out of the Cockpit.

He was angry, and he wanted to
do everything that he could

to defeat the Patriots.

He became head of something
called the "Associate Board

of Loyalists," which was
a terrorist organization,

pure and simple.

Narrator: In New Jersey,
Patriots were routinely

murdering Loyalists.

In response, William's
group issued a warning.

Man as William Franklin:
A Warning to Rebels:

If you continue in your murder
and cruelties,

we Loyalists
do Solemnly Declare that we

will Hang Six for One,
which shall be Inflicted

on your Headmen and Leaders.

Narrator: Word of
the alliance with France had

prompted the British
to abandon Philadelphia

and bolster their
defenses in New York.

Franklin's family moved back
into their Market Street home.

Sally organized women who went
door-to-door to raise money

for the Continental Army
and knitted shirts

for Washington's men.

But elsewhere in America,
the war was not going well.

The first joint American-
French military operation,

in Rhode Island, had failed
to take Newport

back from the British,

who opened up their
own offensive in the South.

They captured Savannah,
Georgia, and later,

Charleston, South Carolina,
where 5,000 American troops,

4 ships, and 300 pieces of
artillery were surrendered.

Soon, a British army, under
General Lord Cornwallis,

would begin marching
toward Virginia.

"Our present situation makes one
of two things essential to us,"

George Washington
wrote to Franklin.

"A peace or the most
vigorous aid of our allies,

particularly in
the article of money."

Lafayette reported to Franklin
how dire things had become.

Man as Lafayette: My dear
friend, You have no idea

of the shocking situation
the Army is in.

We are naked, shockingly
naked, and worse off on that

respect than we have ever been.

For God's sake let us have

fifteen or twenty thousand
uniforms

and let it be done in such
a way as will insure their

timely departure from France.

Narrator: In France,
managing the purchase

and shipment of supplies
proved frustratingly slow.

Franklin did what he could
to speed things up, but some

in Congress blamed him for the
delays anyway and discussed

having him replaced.

Vergennes was
angered at the news.

He approved an outright gift,
not a loan, the largest

of the war to the United
States, and wrote Congress

that it had been granted
specifically because

of Franklin's persistence.

Franklin, meanwhile,
wrote Congress,

asking to be replaced.

Man as Franklin: I have
pass'd my 75th Year.

I have been engag'd in publick
Affairs, and enjoy'd public

Confidence in some Shape or
other, during the long Term

of fifty Years, an Honour
sufficient to satisfy any

reasonable Ambition, and I
have no other left, but that

of Repose, which I hope
the Congress will grant me,

by sending some Person
to supply my Place.

Narrator: On November 19, 1781,
a young American merchant

named Elkanah Watson
paid a visit to Passy

and found the old man
lost in thought.

Franklin invited him in for
dinner, played a Scottish

pastoral tune for him on the
armonica, and then they talked

late into the night about
the state of the war.

Man as Elkanah Watson: We
weighed probabilities, balanc'd

vicissitudes, dissected the
best Maps; and finally it

resulted in a disheartening
foreboding,

that the English
Fleet wou'd intercept

& destroy the French Fleet,
Land their Army & brake up

Washington’s quarters.

Thus our unhappy Country would
again bleed at every vein

& the war commence
with fresh vigor

on the part
of our implacable enemy.

Cohn: Franklin was
extremely discouraged.

He was working night and day
to supply the Americans

with everything they needed.

But the war was dragging
on and on and on.

So, when, at midnight,
a courier came galloping into

Franklin's courtyard with
the news of the victory

at Yorktown, it transformed him.

Narrator: A month earlier,
Washington's army

of 9,000 Americans and nearly
as many French troops

had trapped British General
Cornwallis at Yorktown

on the Virginia Peninsula.

The French fleet offshore
had cut off any chance of his

being resupplied or reinforced.

After 9 days of heavy
bombardment, Cornwallis

surrendered his 8,000 troops
on October 19, 1781.

Lafayette, a division
commander of American forces,

was at Washington's side.

Isaacson: If France had not
supplied the ships,

if Lafayette hadn't come over,

if Vergennes and others
hadn't done what they did,

if we hadn't had
the French Navy helping by

the time we got to Yorktown,
I do not think that

the American Colonies would
have won the Revolution.

I think Benjamin Franklin,
by sealing the alliance

with France, did as much to
win the Revolution as anybody

with the possible exception
of George Washington.

Narrator: The Americans
had won a great victory,

but the British still had
26,000 troops in North America,

and the war with
England was not over.

Neither were Franklin’s duties.

Congress refused to accept his
resignation and instead gave him

an additional mission.

He was now part of
a delegation to begin peace

negotiations with England.

Franklin drew up a list of
4 non-negotiable demands

during informal talks with
the British and rebuffed their

suggestions that the
Americans cut the French

out of the deliberations.

To complicate things, when
two other American negotiators

arrived in Paris, they had
their own opinions

on the best way forward.

One was John Jay,
a brilliant New York lawyer.

The other was John Adams.

Man as Adams: That I have
no friendship

for Franklin, I avow.

That I am incapable of having
any with a man of his moral

sentiments, I avow.

His whole Life has been one
continued Insult

to good Manners and to Decency.

I can have no
Dependence on his Word.

I never know when he speaks
the Truth, and when not.

I wish with all my Soul he
was out of public Service,

and in Retirement,
repenting of his past Life,

and preparing, as he ought
to be, for another World.

Ellis: Franklin was
the kind of man put on Earth

to drive a man like
Adams absolutely crazy.

Franklin, himself, writes back
to the Congress during

the time they're both Ministers
in France and says,

"John Adams is an honest man;
sometimes, a great one.

"But, in some ways and some
things, absolutely out

of his senses."

Narrator: Despite their
differences, the Americans

settled down to work.

John Jay agreed with Adams,

that they should not consult
with Vergennes,

even though the alliance with
France required it.

For the sake of unanimity,
Franklin reluctantly consented.

By November of 1782, more
than a year after Yorktown,

a preliminary agreement
seemed within reach.

England would recognize
American independence,

remove its troops
from the United States,

allow American fishing rights
off the coast of Newfoundland,

and relinquish any claims
south of the Great Lakes.

But there was a sticking point.

The British wanted a provision
that would compensate

American Loyalists for their
losses during the war.

Adams and Jay wavered
on the issue.

Franklin wouldn't budge.

Jenkinson:
And Franklin got angry.

He didn't very often
get angry, and he said,

"Wait a minute.
You ruined our crops.

"You burned our cities.

"You took our citizens
across the Atlantic

"and tortured them.

"You engaged in state
terror against the citizens

"of the United States.

"Don't talk to me about
recompensing Loyalists unless

"you want to pay for Norfolk
and all the cities you burned

"and trashed, and the houses
that you ruined, and the lives

that you shattered."

Narrator: Even Adams was
struck by Franklin's vehemence

on the issue.

His fury came in part from
reports of his son William's

conduct back in
the United States.

Intent on keeping the war
going, despite the British

defeat at Yorktown, William's
group of guerrilla marauders

had pressed forward
with their raids.

In one notorious incident,
they hanged a Patriot leader

in the midst of what was
supposed to be a peaceful

exchange of prisoners.

It was an outrage that
threatened to mushroom into

an international crisis,
complicating Franklin's

diplomacy in Paris at
precisely the wrong time.

At the end of 1782,
a preliminary agreement

of peace was signed and sent
to London and Philadelphia

for approval.

It did not require reparations
to Americans who had remained

loyal to England.

And France, which had given
so much to the new nation,

had been excluded altogether.

Franklin was assigned the
task of smoothing things over

with Vergennes.

Jenkinson: Franklin writes one
of the greatest letters

he ever wrote to Vergennes,

apologizing for
this in a beautiful way and...

And really disarming the...
What could have been a huge

international crisis, that we
had not fulfilled our promise

to work out the diplomatic
aspects of the end of the war

with France and not separately.

But he also, in that same letter
of apology to Vergennes,

this masterpiece, said,
"And, by the way,

we need some more money, too,"
and he got it!

Narrator: Finally,
on September 3, 1783,

the Treaty of Paris was signed.

England officially recognized
its former colonies

as the United States of America.

The Revolutionary War was over.

Members of the British
delegation refused to pose

for the portrait meant to
commemorate the moment.

In the unfinished painting,
Franklin sits in the middle,

with his grandson Temple,
the delegation's secretary,

sitting to his left.

On Franklin's right sits
John Adams, already worried

about how history would
remember the Revolution.

Man as Adams: The history
of our revolution will be

one continued lie
from one end to the other.

And the essence of the whole
will be that Dr. Franklin's

electrical rod smote the Earth,
and out sprang

General Washington.

That Franklin electrified him
with his rod and thence forward

these two conducted
all the policy, negotiations,

legislation and war.

Ellis: The Treaty of 1783
is one of the most

lopsided treaties in
American diplomatic history.

It's a total victory
for the United States.

Its independence is recognized
by France and the rest

of Europe and England.

And we get a third of
a continent, everything from the

Mississippi to the Atlantic,
and from the Canadian border

to Florida.

We now become a nation
larger than France, England,

and Spain put together.

There is a consensus, at the
end, uh, among the negotiators,

including the Brits,
that we're witnessing

the creation of
an American empire.

Cohn: By the end of the war,
France's coffers were

more or less depleted.

France had the satisfaction
in triumphing over their

arch enemy Great Britain,

but they hadn't counted on
bankrupting, uh, their own

country in the process.

So, Franklin extracted,
in a way, the lifeblood

out of the royal coffers and he
gave in return something

that the monarchy was not
counting on.

He lit a fire,
not only in France,

but in all of Europe,
promoting the democratic ideals

that the
United States stood for.

To put down tyranny was
something that all

the peasants could understand.

Narrator: For Native Americans,
the treaty was devastating.

Many Nations had decided that
they would be better off by

allying with the British, not
the colonists, who for nearly

2 centuries had been
encroaching on their lands.

Now the United States
was claiming

an even vaster territory,

and as its white citizens
pushed farther west,

more and more Native people
would be dispossessed,

regardless of whose side they
had taken during the war.

In the summer and fall of 1783,
huge balloons suddenly

appeared in
the skies over Paris.

Hundreds of thousands of
people turned out to see

human beings flying for
the first time.

And Franklin is watching this,
with his usual spirit of,

you know, what does this
portend and what are

the applications for war,
for travel, for recreation.

And a man that was standing
next to him, uh, watched all

this and said, "Interesting,
but what's the use of it?"

And Franklin turned
to him and said,

"What's the use
of a newborn baby?"

Narrator: In early 1785,
another balloon crossed

the English Channel
and landed in France.

It carried the world's first
airmail letter addressed to

Temple Franklin at Passy.

It came from his father,
William, who was now in London.

He had reestablished his
relationship with Temple

and was hoping to do
the same with his father.

Man as William Franklin:
Dear and Honoured Father,

Ever since the termination

of the unhappy contest between
Great Britain and America,

I have been
anxious to write to you,

and to endeavor to revive
that affectionate connection

which till the commencement
of the late troubles

had been the pride
and happiness of my life.

Man as Franklin: Dear Son,
I received your letter.

Nothing has ever hurt me so
much and affected me with such

keen sensations as to find
myself deserted in my old age

by my only son; and not only
deserted, but to find him

taking up arms against me.

There are natural duties
which precede political ones,

and cannot be
extinguished by them.

You may confide to your son
the family affairs you wished

to confer upon with me.

I shall hear from you by him.

Brands: Benjamin Franklin
was estranged from

many of his British associates
and friends during the war.

But after the war, he was
able to repair all those

relationships,
except with William.

And I'm not sure
I can say exactly why.

William is willing to make up,
but Benjamin is not.

And I just sort of imagine
that William is... is holding out

his hand to his father and
his father just won't take it.

I guess the hurt went too deep.

Narrator: By May of 1785,
Thomas Jefferson had arrived

as the new ambassador to
France, and Franklin learned

that Congress had finally
accepted his resignation.

By July, with his grandsons
Temple and Benny,

he was ready to leave.

They crossed the Channel
and lingered for several days

in the port at Southampton,
where Franklin visited

with some of his
oldest English friends.

Then William arrived.

He and his father had not
seen each other in a decade.

Whatever expectations
William held for the reunion,

his father treated it as
a business negotiation.

He insisted that the deeds
to William's properties

in America be turned
over to Temple.

Franklin also made clear that
Temple, William's own son,

would be returning to
the United States with him.

Legal documents were drawn up.

William signed them all.

They would never see
each other again.

On July 27, Franklin's
ship set sail

for his 8th crossing
of the Atlantic.

On board, he soon immersed
himself in the most sustained

scientific work since his
experiments with electricity

back in 1752.

Most of his time was focused
on observations and theories

about the ocean and ships...
From more efficient designs

for hulls and sails, to thoughts
on the outrigger boats

of Pacific Islanders and the
canoes of Native Americans,

from proposals for better
anchors to a better soup bowl

that would be less likely to
spill when the ship tilted.

And with Temple
and Benny's help,

he continued gathering details
about the Gulf Stream-

taking the temperature
of the air and water

3 times a day for more than
40 days.

Finally, his ship docked at
the wharf in Philadelphia,

62 years after his first
arrival as a teenage runaway.

Back then, no one
had heard of him.

This time, he was greeted
by booming cannons,

ringing church bells,

and the cheers
of his fellow Americans.

Schiff: He's been away for
8 1/2 years.

He's about to see
a country that he's created.

It didn't exist when he'd left.

It's a really, um, rather
extraordinary return.

He's greeted at the pier
in Philadelphia by crowds

and acclamations.

Narrator: The crowd carried
him to his Market Street home,

where his daughter Sally
introduced him to

4 new grandchildren who had been
born while he was away.

Man as Franklin: I am now
in the Bosom of my Family,

and find four
new little Prattlers,

who cling about the Knees

of their Grand Papa,
and afford me great Pleasure.

Narrator: In May of 1787,
delegates from

all the former colonies
began converging again

on Philadelphia.

The Articles of Confederation
that had been drawn up after

the Declaration of Independence
had proved inadequate

for the new nation
during the Revolution.

Isaacson: When the
Constitutional Convention

is called,

it's really a last chance
for America

to get its act together.

The Articles of Confederation
really did not do what

Franklin had asked for,

which is unite the Colonies
into one nation.

Narrator: When George
Washington arrived

in Philadelphia,
his first stop was to pay

Franklin a visit.

Man: At the
Constitutional Convention,

he was one
of the two great figures.

There was George Washington
and there was

Benjamin Franklin,
and nobody else came third.

Ellis: Up until the end
of the War,

if you were trying to rate
American leaders,

Washington would be behind him

and Franklin would
be at the head.

Franklin's the great man.

By the end of the War,
Washington has gone ahead,

and in his will, Franklin says,
"I leave him my crab-tree

walking stick for his
stroll towards destiny."

Narrator: On May 25, 1787,
when the convention

gathered for its first day,
Washington was unanimously

elected to preside.

Isaacson: Benjamin Franklin's
health is starting to fade.

Prisoners from the Walnut
Street Jail, they have to

carry him from his home on
Market Street

for the 2 or 3 blocks

to get to what is
now called Independence Hall.

Narrator: Franklin was 81,
nearly crippled by gout

and kidney stones.

Still, he would attend
every session but one.

From the start, it was clear
that the 55 delegates did not

agree on the details
of how to fix

the Articles of Confederation.

Franklin favored a single-body
Congress and a 3-member

executive council instead
of a president.

Virginians proposed
2 legislative bodies...

A House of Representatives

that would select the members
of an upper body

to be called the Senate

and also name the president
and judiciary.

Alexander Hamilton of New York
thought the president should

be elected... for life.

Fierce debates on
all the issues raged for days

during a sweltering
Philadelphia summer.

Man as Franklin:
We must not expect

that a new government
may be formed,

as a game of chess may
be played, by a skillful hand,

without a fault.

We are making
experiments in politics.

The players of our game
are so many, their ideas

so different, their
prejudices so strong

and so various,

that not a move can be
made that is not contested.

Narrator: The convention adopted
many provisions

that Franklin did
not initially support...

A 2-body legislature, a single
executive who could veto laws...

And others that he did...
A 4-year presidential term,

the legislature's power
of impeachment,

and no requirement of property
ownership for voting

or holding office.

One of the thorniest issues
was how Congress

would be apportioned.

Under the Articles of
Confederation, each state had

an equal vote, and delegates
from smaller states demanded

that it stay that way.

Larger states, which would be
contributing more in taxes,

wanted Congress to be
based on population.

Franklin was placed on
a committee to find

a workable compromise.

Isaacson: And, finally, Franklin
gets up and he says,

"When we were young tradesmen
here in Philadelphia,

"we had a joint of wood
that didn't quite fit,

"we'd take a little from one
side and shave from the other

until we had a joint that would
hold together for centuries."

And his point was that
compromises may not make

great heroes, but they do
make great democracies.

Narrator: As the impasse over
apportionment threatened to

derail the convention,
Franklin began inviting

important delegates to
his home, where they could

socialize in the late
afternoon, under the branches

of his mulberry tree,
and try to find common ground.

Isaacson: They discuss science,
they discuss the things

they're talking about that they
have to compromise on.

And he helps cool the passions
of that hot summer

under the shade
of his mulberry tree.

Narrator: In the end,
a compromise was reached.

Each state would have the same
number of senators, 2,

chosen by their legislatures.

The members of the House
of Representatives would be

elected by voters, white men
only, and each state's share

would be based
on its population.

To mollify the southern
states, their populations

would include their number
of enslaved people,

but each of those human beings
would be counted

as only three-fifths
of a person.

Ellis: They can't talk about
slavery directly, and the word

"slavery" is never mentioned
in the document itself.

The difficult fact to accept
is that the Union is only

possible if it
includes the South.

And the states south of the
Chesapeake are committed

to slavery, especially
Virginia and South Carolina.

If you did the moral thing in
the summer of 1787 and took

a clear stand and insisted
on it, the Constitution would

have never passed.

Chaplin: It was a tragic
compromise, obviously, for many

populations in the United
States who had no party

to this agreement.

They had never agreed that
they would be represented

in this way.

And, so, the compromise
looks especially compromised

in those terms.

This is America's original sin,
and they know it.

Nobody in the Convention
or at that moment

talks about slavery as anything
other than a necessary evil.

The original sin of slavery

was more than just
simply compromising.

The original
sin of slavery began, at least

for these colonists,
years before.

For Franklin, unity and
compromise was the only thing

that could make this new
nation move forward.

Without it, it would be
a failed journey.

American democracy would not
develop without it.

And for that reason,
Franklin, as well as others,

sidestepped the issue
of slavery.

Narrator: On September 17, 1787,
the delegates gathered

to vote on
the proposed Constitution.

Benjamin Franklin made
the motion for its adoption.

Man as Franklin:
I agree to this Constitution

with all its faults,
if they are such,

because I think a general
government necessary for us.

I doubt, too, whether any
other convention we can obtain

may be able to make
a better Constitution.

For, when you assemble
a number of men, to have

the advantage of their joint
wisdom, you inevitably

assemble with those men
all their prejudices,

their passions,
their errors of opinion,

their local interests,
and their selfish views.

From such an assembly can
a perfect production

be expected?

It therefore astonishes me,
sir, to find this system

approaching so near to
perfection as it does;

and I think it will astonish our
enemies, who are waiting

with confidence to hear that
our councils are confounded,

like those of the builders of
Babel, and that our States are

on the point of separation,
only to meet hereafter

for the purpose of cutting
one another's throats.

Thus I consent, sir, to this
Constitution because I expect

no better, and because I
am not sure that it is

not the best.

Narrator: Franklin's motion
was approved.

One by one, the delegates
signed the new Constitution,

so it could be sent to the
states for ratification.

Skemp: He signed it.

And I think he was relieved that
it brought Americans together.

And that was something that
he had wanted ever since

the Albany Conference.

He had wanted Americans to
be a part of one grand whole.

This might not be the best,

but it was the best
that you could get,

and he recognized that.

The Constitution is
the framework for an ongoing

argument about who we are
as a people

and where power resides.

And it's presumed that each
generation will be engaged

in an argument and take
it in new directions.

What do we mean by,
"We the people"?

And certainly,
we mean a lot more people now

than we did then.

Narrator: With the work done,

the doors to Independence Hall
were thrown open.

Franklin was approached
by one of the city's

most prominent citizens,
Elizabeth Willing Powel,

whose own rights had
not been considered.

She asked him, "Well, Doctor,
what have we got,

a republic or a monarchy?"

"A republic," he answered,
"if you can keep it."

Jenkinson: "A republic,
if you can keep it,"

which turns out to be

maybe the most prophetic
sentence of all.

Everyone who
cares about this country

has to ask that question
every day.

"A republic,
if you can keep it."

Man as Franklin:
Hitherto, this long life

has been tolerably happy,

so that if I were allowed to
live it over again, I should

make no objection, only
wishing for leave to do what

authors do in a second edition
of their works: correct some

of my Errata.

Narrator: By early 1790,
the Constitution

had been ratified, and Franklin
was now 84 years old.

His kidney stones put him in
such pain, he took regular

doses of laudanum,
a tincture of opium,

to get through the day.

"I should have died 2 years
ago," he wrote to Washington,

who had been elected as
the nation's first president,

"but I am pleased that
I have lived them,

since they have brought me to
see our present Situation."

Man as Franklin: Our
grand machine has at length

begun to work.

I pray God to bless
and guide its operations.

If any form of government is
capable of making a nation happy

ours I think bids fair
for producing that effect.

But after all, much depends
upon the people

who are to be governed.

Our new Constitution is now
established, everything seems

to promise it will be durable;
but, in this world, nothing is

certain except death and taxes.

Narrator: As an Enlightenment
scientist and inventor,

he considered America's
new democracy an experiment.

It should be
tested and tinkered with,

if improvements were needed.

As a man who had once
constructed an elaborate chart

and checklist to help him
better himself,

he still believed in keeping
track of his failings.

Now Benjamin Franklin felt
there was still one more

public duty to carry out,
one more of his life's "errata"

to correct.

During his time as a delegate

to the Constitutional
Convention,

Franklin, a former slave owner,

had accepted the presidency

of the Pennsylvania Society
for Promoting

the Abolition of Slavery,

a Quaker group in Philadelphia.

He had considered introducing
a statement of principle

into the Constitution,

condemning slavery
and the slave trade,

but several delegates had
persuaded him to drop it.

The question of anti-slavery,
pro-slavery, was not

an important issue for
the vast majority of people

who wrote or thought about
or argued about

the American Revolution.

On the other hand, given the
fact that it is the daily

reality for enslaved men and
women, in some ways, that was

the key question every day.

The gross hypocrisy in
fighting a war for liberty,

liberty of people,
and not including everybody

was obvious.

If you're talking about liberty,
you're talking about liberty.

Narrator: With the
Constitution in place,

Franklin felt free to
address the issue head-on.

Man as Franklin:
To the Senate

and House of Representatives
of the United States.

From a persuasion
that equal liberty

is still the
Birthright of all Men,

we earnestly entreat your
serious attention to the subject

of Slavery; that you will be
pleased to countenance

the Restoration of liberty to
those unhappy Men, who alone

in this land of Freedom

are degraded
into perpetual Bondage,

that you will devise means for
removing this Inconsistency

from the Character of
the American People.

Schiff: The first
real act of Franklin's life,

or the first
public act, I guess,

is his running away from home.

So, here you have a young
man in quest of freedom.

And the last real act of...
The last public act

of Franklin's life, um,
is a treatise against slavery.

So, the end... the life is
largely bookended in a way, um,

by these two, um, endorsements,
in some way, of freedom.

Benjamin Franklin evolved
as far as his understanding

of race relations
and slavery were concerned.

He had owned slaves.

He didn't see anything
wrong with it

until very late in the game.

But in his last years,
he started to change his mind.

Dunbar: Philadelphia became
a leader in abolition

and the emancipation of enslaved
people of African descent.

There were laws on the books
that began the dismantling

of slavery.

It was a train that
could not be stopped.

And, so, we see someone
who understands the tide

of the city, of the state,

looks at the laws, understands
that slavery is going to end,

at least in Pennsylvania,

and he got on the right side
of that conversation.

Ellis: If this were a petition
coming from anybody else,

the Congress would have
never even considered it,

but because of
Franklin’s signature,

they're forced to consider it.

And it's the first outspoken,
in public, debate

in the American history on...
Under the new nation

on slavery.

Narrator: In Congress,
the petition was immediately

attacked by southerners.

Representative James Jackson
of Georgia warned that if

Congress tried to abolish
slavery, it would "light up

the flame of civil discord"
and the southern states

"will never suffer themselves to
be divested of their property

without a struggle."

Another congressman claimed that
the South's sweltering climate

prohibited whites
from working the soil.

For that, he said,
they needed slaves.

Isaacson: And Franklin goes back
to a device he had used as

a teenager, which is to
write a parody in the voice

of somebody else.

So he writes a sermon that
he pretends has been given by

a Muslim from North Africa
about why they have to keep

white Europeans in slavery.

And it parodies the entire
argument of all those who are

opposing abolition in
the United States.

Narrator: "If we forbear
to make slaves

of the Christians,"
Franklin's character asks,

who, in this hot climate,
are to cultivate our lands?"

Man as Franklin: And if
we set our slaves free,

what is to be done with them?

For men accustomed to
slavery, will not work

for a livelihood
when not compelled.

Here they are brought into a
land where the sun of Islam

gives forth its light

and they have an
opportunity of making

themselves acquainted with
the true doctrine, and thereby

saving their immortal souls.

Jenkinson: And, so,
of course, the reader realizes

that Franklin is using
precisely the same arguments

of James Jackson of Georgia,
which immediately proves to you,

without question, the absurdity
of the arguments.

This is the genius of Franklin,
to... to take something

and just turn it around,
to switch the lens and say,

"So, how would you like it
if it looked like that?"

Narrator: The House of
Representatives voted 29-25

that "Congress has
no authority to interfere"

on the issue of slavery.

In the Senate, the petition
was tabled without discussion.

Brown: What they agree on,
more than anything else,

is we're not talking about this.

The Federal Government is
not talking about this.

This is not the forum to deal
with the national question

of slavery, because there is
no national question.

It's a state question.

The question of the future
of slavery is really left

for the individual
States to decide.

That's how we end up with
the North-South division.

Bailyn: I would put it
this way.

Before the Revolution, slavery
was never a major public issue.

There were people who spoke,
before the Revolution,

who spoke against it and gave
good reasons to what evil

it was, but it was not
a major public issue.

After the Revolution, there
never was a time when it wasn't.

Man as Franklin:
Here is my creed:

I believe in one God,
creator of the universe.

That he governs it
by his providence.

That he ought to be worshipped.

That the most acceptable
service we render to him

is doing good to his
other children.

That the soul of man is immortal
and will be treated

with justice in another life
respecting its conduct in this.

These I take to be the
fundamental principles of all

sound religion,
and I regard them

in whatever sect
I meet with them.

Narrator: Franklin's worsening
health kept him housebound.

"People who live long,
who will drink from the cup

of Life to the very bottom,"
he wrote a friend,

"must expect to meet with some
of the usual dregs."

In the spring of 1790,
he suffered chest pains

and a fever that confined him
to his bed,

surrounded by his family.

He asked his daughter Sally
to arrange things so he could

"die in a decent manner."

She told him everyone hoped
he would live many more years.

"I hope not," he replied.

On April 17, 1790,
an abscess in his lung burst,

and he slipped
into unconsciousness.

At 11:00 that night,
Benjamin Franklin died.

He was 84 years old.

More than 20,000 people,

the largest crowd Philadelphia
had ever seen,

turned out for
his funeral procession.

Leading it from his house
on Market Street

to the burial ground
at Christ Church

were the clergy of every church
of every sect in the city,

walking arm in arm.

When he was 22 years old,

Franklin had composed
an epitaph for his grave.

"The Body of B. Franklin,
Printer,

"Like the Cover of an old Book,

"Its contents torn out,
And Stript of its Lettering

"and Gilding,
"Lies here, Food for Worms.

"But the Work shall not be
wholly lost,

"For it will, as he believed,
appear once more,

"In a new & more perfect Edition

Corrected and amended
By the Author."

As he aged, however, the old
printer had, of course,

edited it down.

The gravestone's epitaph became,

"BENJAMIN
And DEBORAH FRANKLIN."

He had never completed
the autobiography he started

back in 1771.

His grandson Temple eventually
published the manuscript.

The book would go through
hundreds of editions

in dozens of languages,

inspiring generations of
ambitious strivers

wanting to get ahead in life.

There's nothing dreamy
or romantic about Franklin.

But in that self-improving,
marvelously protean way,

there's something about him
that so much becomes what we

all quest for, what we think
of as the sort of, American

ingenuity, that American
feeling that we can

accomplish anything.

Narrator: In his will, Franklin
left most of his wealth

and possessions to
members of his family,

except to his son William.

But in memory of his start as
a lowly printer's apprentice,

he created a trust fund,
still active today,

to help young people with
ambition and talent

from his two hometowns
of Boston and Philadelphia.

Man as Franklin:
I begin to be almost sorry

I was born so soon,

since I cannot have the
Happiness of knowing what will

be known 100 Years hence.

But it is the will of God
and Nature that these mortal

bodies be laid aside.

Whether I have been doing
good or mischief is for time

to discover.

I only know that
I intended well,

and I hope all will end well.

Adieu.

Benjamin Franklin.

♪

Corporate Funding
For "Benjamin Franklin"

WAS PROVIDED BY BANK OF AMERICA.

Announcer: Major funding

for "Benjamin Franklin"

was provided by David
M. Rubinstein.

Investing in people
and institutions

that help us understand the past

and prepare us for the future.

By the Pew Charitable Trusts

and by The Better Angels Society

and its members,
Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine.

The University of Pennsylvania.

Impact through innovation
and inclusion.

Gilchrist and Amy Berg,

Perry and Donna Golkin,

and by these additional

contributors.

♪

By the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting

and by generous contributions

to your PBS station
from viewers like you.

Thank you.