Benjamin Franklin - Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State

Life & Contributions

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) was America’s first foreign minister and signed America’s first treaties with a European nation. Shortly after declaring independence from Great Britain, Congress sent Franklin to France to seek an alliance. He was an obvious choice, as for nearly two decades he had represented the interests of Pennsylvania and other colonies in London. But when Franklin arrived in Paris in December 1776, he was more famous for his kite-and-key experiments with electricity, which French scientists had replicated nearly 25 years earlier. Franklin was immediately welcomed into scientific circles, all the while charming French society with his rustic appearance. It was an impression he cultivated. His plain fur cap and cloth coat conveyed America’s republican values at the court of Versailles, where courtiers in powdered wigs and expensive silks marveled over his simplicity. Soon fur caps were all the rage in Paris and Franklin was a celebrity, his likeness appearing on rings, bracelets, and snuff boxes. “Your father’s face,” Franklin wrote to this daughter, is “as well known as that of the moon.”^{1_{Benjamin Franklin to Sarah Bache, June 3, 1779, Founders Online, National Archives, version of January 18, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-29-02-0496 (accessed March 12, 2020) (original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 29, March 1 through June 30, 1779, ed. Barbara B. Oberg [New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992], 612–15).}}

Franklin’s popularity brought diplomatic success. The treaties he negotiated recognized American independence, affirmed Franco-American friendship, set terms for commerce, and promised mutual military support. France sent armies and warships across the Atlantic to America, where they proved instrumental in forcing Britain’s surrender. Franklin stayed on in Paris to negotiate the treaty that ended the war in 1783.

Even before he became a diplomat, Franklin was a legend. Born poor in Boston, he had grown rich as a printer in Philadelphia. His Poor Richard’s Almanac offered witty wisdom about the hard work that had brought him prosperity. He was generous with his wealth, establishing a library, hospital, and academy. In addition to his scientific interests, he was an early advocate of colonial union and helped write the Declaration of Independence.

After a decade in France, Franklin returned home to Philadelphia. As a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, he contributed to the framing of the United States Constitution. Of the Founding Fathers, Franklin was the eldest, at once practical and inventive. He pioneered the position of an American diplomat and is regarded as the Father of the Foreign Service.

Exhibit

The First American Diplomat

Benjamin Franklin was celebrated for the many roles he played in life. Before he became America’s founding father, he was a printer, the author of Poor Richard’s Almanac, and an accomplished scientist admired for drawing electricity from the skies. Franklin might have looked forward to a peaceful future had he not lived in extraordinary times.

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