1 00:00:08,384 --> 00:00:10,886 MAN AS BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: Being now in my last Act, 2 00:00:11,053 --> 00:00:15,349 I begin to cast about for something fit to end with. 3 00:00:15,516 --> 00:00:19,562 Or if mine be more properly compar'd to an Epigram, 4 00:00:19,729 --> 00:00:22,064 I am very desirous of concluding 5 00:00:22,231 --> 00:00:24,066 with a bright Point. 6 00:00:24,233 --> 00:00:26,736 Benjamin Franklin. 7 00:00:26,902 --> 00:00:28,362 SCHIFF: The thing about Franklin is, 8 00:00:28,529 --> 00:00:30,114 whatever you say about him, on the one hand, 9 00:00:30,281 --> 00:00:32,199 you can always say the opposite, as well. 10 00:00:32,366 --> 00:00:35,036 I mean, this is a man who is very much pro-temperance 11 00:00:35,202 --> 00:00:37,371 and he writes bawdy drinking songs. 12 00:00:37,538 --> 00:00:38,914 He founds a fire company, 13 00:00:39,081 --> 00:00:41,042 and he founds a fire insurance company. 14 00:00:41,208 --> 00:00:43,127 He does play all sides. 15 00:00:43,294 --> 00:00:45,921 But during those British years, he very much plays 16 00:00:46,088 --> 00:00:47,548 the British gentleman. 17 00:00:47,715 --> 00:00:51,260 He has a--a crest on the door of his carriage. 18 00:00:51,427 --> 00:00:54,513 And, yet, by the time he becomes an American rebel, 19 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:57,600 so to speak, he is entirely an American. 20 00:01:06,525 --> 00:01:13,032 NARRATOR: In January of 1775, Benjamin Franklin turned 69. 21 00:01:13,199 --> 00:01:16,160 He had already achieved extraordinary success 22 00:01:16,327 --> 00:01:19,663 as a printer and publisher in his adopted hometown 23 00:01:19,830 --> 00:01:23,834 of Philadelphia, where a library, a college, 24 00:01:24,001 --> 00:01:26,420 and countless civic improvements 25 00:01:26,587 --> 00:01:29,965 testified to his belief that his highest calling 26 00:01:30,132 --> 00:01:31,967 lay not in making money, 27 00:01:32,134 --> 00:01:35,888 but in improving the lives of everyday people. 28 00:01:36,055 --> 00:01:38,682 [THUNDER] And his revolutionary breakthroughs 29 00:01:38,849 --> 00:01:41,769 in unraveling the mysteries of electricity 30 00:01:41,936 --> 00:01:47,191 had made him the most famous American in the world. 31 00:01:47,358 --> 00:01:49,151 ELLIS: He is every man, 32 00:01:49,318 --> 00:01:52,488 but he's a very extraordinary every man. 33 00:01:52,655 --> 00:01:56,617 He was a Nobel Prize-winning caliber scientist, 34 00:01:56,784 --> 00:02:00,162 probably the great--greatest prose stylist of his generation, 35 00:02:00,329 --> 00:02:02,414 and he's probably the greatest diplomat 36 00:02:02,581 --> 00:02:04,667 in American history. 37 00:02:04,834 --> 00:02:08,129 NARRATOR: Franklin had been in England for the last decade, 38 00:02:08,295 --> 00:02:10,965 trying desperately to bridge the growing gulf 39 00:02:11,132 --> 00:02:15,094 between Parliament and the American colonies. 40 00:02:15,261 --> 00:02:18,389 Only a year earlier, the future he had envisioned 41 00:02:18,556 --> 00:02:22,268 for himself and his family seemed bright and tethered 42 00:02:22,434 --> 00:02:25,354 inextricably to the British Empire. 43 00:02:25,521 --> 00:02:29,233 Now that dream was in ruins. 44 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:31,902 During his long absence from home, 45 00:02:32,069 --> 00:02:36,866 he had missed his wife Deborah's death and funeral. 46 00:02:37,032 --> 00:02:40,494 In London, in a government chamber called the Cockpit, 47 00:02:40,661 --> 00:02:43,038 he had been publicly humiliated, 48 00:02:43,205 --> 00:02:47,543 accused of inciting the colonial crisis he had, in fact, 49 00:02:47,710 --> 00:02:50,421 worked so hard to prevent. 50 00:02:50,588 --> 00:02:54,758 And as that crisis intensified, his son William, 51 00:02:54,925 --> 00:02:57,636 now the royal governor of New Jersey, 52 00:02:57,803 --> 00:03:01,557 seemed to be choosing the wrong side. 53 00:03:01,724 --> 00:03:04,810 SKEMP: The longer William stayed in New Jersey, 54 00:03:04,977 --> 00:03:08,397 the more corrupt and rebellious and selfish 55 00:03:08,564 --> 00:03:10,608 the colonies started to look to him 56 00:03:10,774 --> 00:03:15,696 and the more wonderful and inspiring the Crown looked. 57 00:03:15,863 --> 00:03:19,158 I think that the longer that Benjamin Franklin stayed 58 00:03:19,325 --> 00:03:24,371 in England, the more he idealized the colonies and saw 59 00:03:24,538 --> 00:03:27,875 the corruption and venality around him in England. 60 00:03:28,042 --> 00:03:30,044 And so, they began to see things 61 00:03:30,211 --> 00:03:32,588 kind of as a mirror image of one another. 62 00:03:34,506 --> 00:03:36,383 NARRATOR: For years, Franklin had reveled 63 00:03:36,550 --> 00:03:38,886 in the intellectual life of Britain. 64 00:03:39,053 --> 00:03:41,931 But increasingly, he dwelled more on the differences 65 00:03:42,097 --> 00:03:44,558 between the Old World and the New, 66 00:03:44,725 --> 00:03:47,853 rather than what they shared in common. 67 00:03:48,020 --> 00:03:49,521 MAN AS FRANKLIN: In America, 68 00:03:49,688 --> 00:03:52,149 People do not enquire, concerning a stranger, 69 00:03:52,316 --> 00:03:55,903 "What is he?" but "What can he do?" 70 00:03:56,070 --> 00:03:57,154 [TAPPING] 71 00:03:57,321 --> 00:03:59,323 The people have a saying, 72 00:03:59,490 --> 00:04:02,868 that God Almighty is himself a mechanic, 73 00:04:03,035 --> 00:04:05,496 the greatest in the universe; 74 00:04:05,663 --> 00:04:10,376 and he is respected more for the variety, ingenuity, 75 00:04:10,542 --> 00:04:12,711 and utility of his handiworks 76 00:04:12,878 --> 00:04:16,799 than for the antiquity of his family. 77 00:04:18,759 --> 00:04:22,471 NARRATOR: "Life," he once said, "is like chess." 78 00:04:22,638 --> 00:04:26,475 And in the turbulent years ahead, as his country and his 79 00:04:26,642 --> 00:04:30,479 family would be challenged as never before, Benjamin Franklin 80 00:04:30,646 --> 00:04:35,526 would need every skill the game had taught him. 81 00:04:35,693 --> 00:04:37,069 MAN AS FRANKLIN: The game of chess 82 00:04:37,236 --> 00:04:40,364 is not merely an idle amusement. 83 00:04:40,531 --> 00:04:43,951 By playing at chess, we may learn, Foresight, 84 00:04:44,118 --> 00:04:47,204 Circumspection, Caution. 85 00:04:47,371 --> 00:04:49,581 The habit of not being discouraged by present 86 00:04:49,748 --> 00:04:52,835 bad appearances in the state of our affairs, 87 00:04:53,002 --> 00:04:57,006 the habit of hoping for a favorable change, 88 00:04:57,172 --> 00:05:00,384 and that of persevering. 89 00:05:00,551 --> 00:05:02,511 He's different from the other Founders, 90 00:05:02,678 --> 00:05:04,471 from a Washington, from a Jefferson. 91 00:05:04,638 --> 00:05:08,183 He's older. And so he brought a past, 92 00:05:08,350 --> 00:05:12,730 a past in which he created himself as a man. 93 00:05:12,896 --> 00:05:15,357 He brought his wisdom, his experience, 94 00:05:15,524 --> 00:05:18,360 his travel abroad to make, 95 00:05:18,527 --> 00:05:21,905 I think, a much more cosmopolitan and urbane 96 00:05:22,072 --> 00:05:24,325 understanding of what America could be. 97 00:05:26,785 --> 00:05:29,413 BRANDS: Franklin was born an Englishman, like everybody else 98 00:05:29,580 --> 00:05:31,623 in the American Colonies of his generation. 99 00:05:31,790 --> 00:05:33,584 He died an American. 100 00:05:33,751 --> 00:05:38,505 He is made to realize that he will never be allowed to be 101 00:05:38,672 --> 00:05:42,259 sort of a--a fully recognized, respected Briton. 102 00:05:42,426 --> 00:05:44,470 And, for that reason, he decides he has to 103 00:05:44,636 --> 00:05:45,679 become an American. 104 00:06:00,819 --> 00:06:02,321 MAN AS WILLIAM FRANKLIN: Dear Father, 105 00:06:02,488 --> 00:06:04,573 The Measure of Sending Troops to Boston 106 00:06:04,740 --> 00:06:07,284 is putting a Stop to the Riots. 107 00:06:07,451 --> 00:06:10,204 The same Spirit however, still prevails 108 00:06:10,371 --> 00:06:13,749 in the Colonies, and nothing can make them acknowledge 109 00:06:13,916 --> 00:06:16,835 the Right of the Parliament to tax them. 110 00:06:17,002 --> 00:06:20,172 Your dutiful son, William. 111 00:06:20,339 --> 00:06:21,965 [SHOUTING, GLASS BREAKING] 112 00:06:22,132 --> 00:06:24,051 NARRATOR: The repercussions of the Boston Tea Party 113 00:06:24,218 --> 00:06:28,138 had created a tinderbox in the American colonies. 114 00:06:28,305 --> 00:06:30,557 King George III ordered a crackdown 115 00:06:30,724 --> 00:06:33,018 on the American upstarts. 116 00:06:33,185 --> 00:06:36,313 "The New England governments are in a state of rebellion," 117 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:38,065 he declared. 118 00:06:38,232 --> 00:06:41,110 "Blows must decide whether they are to be subject 119 00:06:41,276 --> 00:06:44,196 to this country or independent." 120 00:06:44,363 --> 00:06:48,158 Parliament quickly passed a flurry of new laws. 121 00:06:48,325 --> 00:06:52,621 Until the East India Company was compensated for its lost tea, 122 00:06:52,788 --> 00:06:55,165 Boston Harbor was to be closed. 123 00:06:55,332 --> 00:06:56,708 [SHOUTING, GLASS BREAKING] 124 00:06:56,875 --> 00:07:00,170 Massachusetts was placed under martial law, 125 00:07:00,337 --> 00:07:03,382 the colonial charter was suspended, 126 00:07:03,549 --> 00:07:05,759 the elected assembly outlawed, 127 00:07:05,926 --> 00:07:09,138 and most public meetings banned. 128 00:07:09,304 --> 00:07:12,141 Communities were required to provide quarters 129 00:07:12,307 --> 00:07:14,518 for British troops. 130 00:07:14,685 --> 00:07:19,273 Americans called the new laws the Intolerable Acts. 131 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:23,193 Protests sprang up in every colony. 132 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:26,864 Committees of correspondence were established. 133 00:07:27,030 --> 00:07:30,909 They urged colonists "not to purchase any goods which shall 134 00:07:31,076 --> 00:07:33,454 be imported from Great Britain." 135 00:07:33,620 --> 00:07:36,457 Each colony was asked to send delegates 136 00:07:36,623 --> 00:07:38,375 to a Continental Congress 137 00:07:38,542 --> 00:07:41,962 that could propose a united response. 138 00:07:42,129 --> 00:07:45,883 In New Jersey, Governor William Franklin wrote to his 139 00:07:46,049 --> 00:07:48,177 superiors in London. 140 00:07:49,928 --> 00:07:51,346 MAN AS WILLIAM FRANKLIN: My Lord, 141 00:07:51,513 --> 00:07:54,057 His Majesty may be assured that I shall 142 00:07:54,224 --> 00:07:58,270 omit nothing in my Power to keep this Province quiet, 143 00:07:58,437 --> 00:08:01,690 no Attachments or Connexions shall ever make me swerve 144 00:08:01,857 --> 00:08:03,942 from the Duty of my Station. 145 00:08:04,109 --> 00:08:06,195 Your Lordship's most obedient 146 00:08:06,361 --> 00:08:08,780 and humble Servant. 147 00:08:08,947 --> 00:08:11,742 NARRATOR: For more than a decade, William Franklin 148 00:08:11,909 --> 00:08:14,578 had managed better than other colonial governors 149 00:08:14,745 --> 00:08:17,956 to work with his assembly and steer it toward a more 150 00:08:18,123 --> 00:08:20,125 moderate course. 151 00:08:20,292 --> 00:08:23,879 "The most despotic and worst of all Tyrannies," he told them, 152 00:08:24,046 --> 00:08:25,881 is "the Tyranny of the Mob, 153 00:08:26,048 --> 00:08:28,717 "which must at length involve us all 154 00:08:28,884 --> 00:08:31,261 in one common ruin." 155 00:08:31,428 --> 00:08:34,556 William wrote to his father in London suggesting that 156 00:08:34,723 --> 00:08:39,811 the necessary first step was for Boston to "do justice" and pay 157 00:08:39,978 --> 00:08:42,981 for the tons of tea that had been destroyed. 158 00:08:43,148 --> 00:08:45,234 MAN AS FRANKLIN: Dear Son, 159 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,028 As to "doing Justice," 160 00:08:48,195 --> 00:08:50,197 that should have been thought of by Parliament 161 00:08:50,364 --> 00:08:53,909 before they demanded it of the Bostonians. 162 00:08:54,076 --> 00:08:57,371 They have extorted many Thousand Pounds from America 163 00:08:57,538 --> 00:09:01,750 unconstitutionally and with an armed Force. 164 00:09:01,917 --> 00:09:06,588 Of this Money, they ought to make Restitution. 165 00:09:06,755 --> 00:09:11,718 But you, who are a thorough Courtier, see everything 166 00:09:11,885 --> 00:09:14,096 with Government Eyes. 167 00:09:16,139 --> 00:09:17,849 NARRATOR: The Franklins were coming to 168 00:09:18,016 --> 00:09:21,436 different conclusions about which side was to blame, 169 00:09:21,603 --> 00:09:25,274 but both men still hoped that a complete split between 170 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:29,570 Britain and her colonies might be avoided. 171 00:09:29,736 --> 00:09:31,655 The British government was never a monolith. 172 00:09:31,822 --> 00:09:35,033 There were always dissenters, sympathizers with America, 173 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:37,661 people who thought that Americans were justified 174 00:09:37,828 --> 00:09:39,663 in their opposition. 175 00:09:39,830 --> 00:09:42,416 There were people, well-placed within the British Government, 176 00:09:42,583 --> 00:09:44,501 who believed, with Franklin, 177 00:09:44,668 --> 00:09:47,629 that the future of the British Empire could be great 178 00:09:47,796 --> 00:09:50,299 and could be bright if the British government 179 00:09:50,465 --> 00:09:53,927 recognized that America could be this second pillar 180 00:09:54,094 --> 00:09:56,888 of a transatlantic empire. 181 00:09:57,055 --> 00:09:59,224 NARRATOR: Working behind the scenes, 182 00:09:59,391 --> 00:10:01,268 because his public image in England 183 00:10:01,435 --> 00:10:03,729 was now so badly tarnished, 184 00:10:03,895 --> 00:10:06,773 Franklin and sympathetic members of Parliament 185 00:10:06,940 --> 00:10:09,234 struggled to find some compromise 186 00:10:09,401 --> 00:10:11,445 that could avert a war. 187 00:10:11,612 --> 00:10:14,156 But nothing came of it. 188 00:10:14,323 --> 00:10:16,575 BROWN: Franklin knows exactly what's going on. 189 00:10:16,742 --> 00:10:20,120 And what's going on leads him to despair. 190 00:10:20,287 --> 00:10:23,624 I'm not sure there were many who were more disappointed 191 00:10:23,790 --> 00:10:26,668 by the separation than Franklin. 192 00:10:26,835 --> 00:10:28,170 In part, because I think he really thought it 193 00:10:28,337 --> 00:10:29,588 was avoidable. 194 00:10:30,922 --> 00:10:31,923 MAN AS WILLIAM FRANKLIN: Gentlemen, 195 00:10:32,090 --> 00:10:34,009 You have now two roads-- 196 00:10:34,176 --> 00:10:37,929 one evidently leading to peace, happiness, and a restoration 197 00:10:38,096 --> 00:10:40,182 of the public tranquility-- 198 00:10:40,349 --> 00:10:43,060 the other inevitably conducting you 199 00:10:43,226 --> 00:10:46,772 to anarchy, misery, and all the horrors 200 00:10:46,938 --> 00:10:49,691 of a civil war. 201 00:10:52,277 --> 00:10:54,780 NARRATOR: In New Jersey, William had refused to 202 00:10:54,946 --> 00:10:58,241 convene the colonial assembly in order to prevent them from 203 00:10:58,408 --> 00:11:01,912 sending delegates to the Continental Congress. 204 00:11:02,079 --> 00:11:05,624 They chose representatives anyway. 205 00:11:05,791 --> 00:11:08,502 When the Congress met in Philadelphia 206 00:11:08,669 --> 00:11:12,464 in the fall of 1774, it had asserted that only 207 00:11:12,631 --> 00:11:16,760 elected colonial legislatures had the right of taxation 208 00:11:16,927 --> 00:11:18,512 within their borders. 209 00:11:18,679 --> 00:11:21,181 It banned all imports from Britain 210 00:11:21,348 --> 00:11:24,434 until the Intolerable Acts were repealed 211 00:11:24,601 --> 00:11:27,938 and set a deadline for Parliament to do it. 212 00:11:28,105 --> 00:11:32,317 Otherwise, American exports to England would cease 213 00:11:32,484 --> 00:11:37,197 and a Second Continental Congress would convene in 1775 214 00:11:37,364 --> 00:11:40,283 to consider further steps. 215 00:11:40,450 --> 00:11:44,371 If only his father had been there, William wrote, he might 216 00:11:44,538 --> 00:11:46,998 have been able to steer the Congress toward something 217 00:11:47,165 --> 00:11:49,292 less confrontational. 218 00:11:51,044 --> 00:11:53,130 MAN AS WILLIAM FRANKLIN: However mad you may think the Measures 219 00:11:53,296 --> 00:11:56,550 of the Ministry are, yet I trust you have Candor enough 220 00:11:56,717 --> 00:12:00,387 to acknowledge that we are no ways behind hand with them 221 00:12:00,554 --> 00:12:04,474 in Instances of Madness on this Side of the Water. 222 00:12:07,102 --> 00:12:09,187 NARRATOR: Benjamin Franklin now believed 223 00:12:09,354 --> 00:12:13,400 any chances of averting war were unlikely; but he was 224 00:12:13,567 --> 00:12:16,653 growing more and more worried that he and William 225 00:12:16,820 --> 00:12:20,115 were ending up on opposing sides. 226 00:12:20,282 --> 00:12:23,034 He was ready to head for home. 227 00:12:23,201 --> 00:12:26,288 If he couldn't keep the colonies and England together, 228 00:12:26,455 --> 00:12:30,459 at least he might be able to keep his son. 229 00:12:30,625 --> 00:12:32,085 [SEAGULLS CRYING] 230 00:12:32,252 --> 00:12:36,840 On March 21, 1775, Franklin finally set sail 231 00:12:37,007 --> 00:12:38,800 for Philadelphia. 232 00:12:38,967 --> 00:12:43,221 With him was William's own son, Temple, who had been born 233 00:12:43,388 --> 00:12:46,850 out of wedlock 15 years earlier in England 234 00:12:47,017 --> 00:12:51,021 and discreetly given over to a foster family. 235 00:12:51,188 --> 00:12:54,399 In London, Benjamin had decided to take custody 236 00:12:54,566 --> 00:12:57,277 of the boy and enrolled him in school 237 00:12:57,444 --> 00:13:00,781 but did not tell him he was his grandfather. 238 00:13:00,947 --> 00:13:05,035 Now, he was bringing Temple to America, where he would meet 239 00:13:05,202 --> 00:13:08,121 the father he had never known. 240 00:13:08,288 --> 00:13:12,542 ISAACSON: When Benjamin Franklin sails home in 1775, 241 00:13:12,709 --> 00:13:14,878 he's estranged from William. 242 00:13:15,045 --> 00:13:16,880 His wife Deborah has died. 243 00:13:17,047 --> 00:13:20,592 He feels this enormous sense of failure. 244 00:13:20,759 --> 00:13:24,513 His whole mission had been to try to hold the Colonies 245 00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:26,181 and Britain together. 246 00:13:26,348 --> 00:13:27,974 And that has failed. 247 00:13:31,645 --> 00:13:32,979 NARRATOR: But being at sea 248 00:13:33,146 --> 00:13:35,774 always revived Franklin's spirits 249 00:13:35,941 --> 00:13:39,569 and ignited his scientific curiosity. 250 00:13:39,736 --> 00:13:42,656 ISAACSON: He still wants to chart the Gulf Stream. 251 00:13:42,823 --> 00:13:47,410 He still is curious about natural phenomenon. 252 00:13:47,577 --> 00:13:50,288 And, so, there's Temple Franklin helping 253 00:13:50,455 --> 00:13:54,960 his grandfather Benjamin as they lower barrels into the ocean 254 00:13:55,126 --> 00:13:56,962 to take the temperature of the water, 255 00:13:57,128 --> 00:13:59,923 to see where the Gulf Stream could be, 256 00:14:00,090 --> 00:14:02,425 and he's almost replicating those moments 257 00:14:02,592 --> 00:14:05,387 with William Franklin, where Ben Franklin and William 258 00:14:05,554 --> 00:14:09,349 flew the kite in the rain to discover electricity. 259 00:14:09,516 --> 00:14:12,060 NARRATOR: When he and Temple arrived in Philadelphia 260 00:14:12,227 --> 00:14:17,399 on May 5, 1775, Franklin learned startling news. 261 00:14:17,566 --> 00:14:21,736 While he was at sea, the war he had once hoped to prevent 262 00:14:21,903 --> 00:14:24,781 had already started in Massachusetts. 263 00:14:24,948 --> 00:14:26,950 [DRUMS BEATING RHYTHMICALLY] 264 00:14:27,117 --> 00:14:32,289 On April 19th, 700 British troops had marched from Boston 265 00:14:32,455 --> 00:14:35,208 to capture munitions stockpiled in Concord. 266 00:14:35,375 --> 00:14:38,295 [GUNFIRE] A skirmish on the Lexington town green 267 00:14:38,461 --> 00:14:40,171 left 8 Americans dead... 268 00:14:40,338 --> 00:14:43,258 [SHOUTING, GUNFIRE] but a larger fight broke out 269 00:14:43,425 --> 00:14:46,678 at Concord's North Bridge that sent British redcoats 270 00:14:46,845 --> 00:14:50,432 retreating back toward Boston. 271 00:14:50,599 --> 00:14:56,396 DUNBAR: The Revolutionary energy in Philadelphia was palpable. 272 00:14:56,563 --> 00:15:00,525 Regular people were talking about "revolution," 273 00:15:00,692 --> 00:15:04,779 were talking about "power," were talking about "human rights," 274 00:15:04,946 --> 00:15:08,742 were talking about "freedom" and "democracy." 275 00:15:08,909 --> 00:15:12,996 These were the things that Franklin came home to. 276 00:15:15,081 --> 00:15:17,667 NARRATOR: A week after Franklin got back home, 277 00:15:17,834 --> 00:15:20,921 delegates to the Second Continental Congress were 278 00:15:21,087 --> 00:15:24,633 gathering in Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Assembly 279 00:15:24,799 --> 00:15:29,012 elected him as one of their representatives. 280 00:15:29,179 --> 00:15:31,264 MAN AS WILLIAM BRADFORD: I can inform you that some delegates 281 00:15:31,431 --> 00:15:34,768 begin to entertain a great suspicion that Dr. Franklin 282 00:15:34,935 --> 00:15:38,605 came rather as a spy than as a friend, and that he means to 283 00:15:38,772 --> 00:15:41,107 discover our weak side. 284 00:15:41,274 --> 00:15:43,693 William Bradford. 285 00:15:43,860 --> 00:15:47,697 NARRATOR: In the early meetings, Franklin remained quiet, 286 00:15:47,864 --> 00:15:51,284 so quiet, John Adams of Massachusetts complained 287 00:15:51,451 --> 00:15:54,496 that he seemed to spend "a great part of the time 288 00:15:54,663 --> 00:15:57,540 fast asleep in his chair." 289 00:15:57,707 --> 00:16:00,835 In the evenings, while other delegates congregated 290 00:16:01,002 --> 00:16:03,672 in taverns and debated whether the Congress 291 00:16:03,838 --> 00:16:05,924 should declare independence, 292 00:16:06,091 --> 00:16:08,677 he preferred to stay at his new house, 293 00:16:08,843 --> 00:16:12,013 with his daughter Sally and her family. 294 00:16:12,180 --> 00:16:15,725 By this time, Franklin had confessed to Temple 295 00:16:15,892 --> 00:16:18,770 that he was the boy's grandfather. 296 00:16:20,271 --> 00:16:23,984 When Governor William Franklin visited from New Jersey, 297 00:16:24,150 --> 00:16:28,780 Temple met his father for the first time. 298 00:16:28,947 --> 00:16:32,617 And later, when Benjamin and William met privately, 299 00:16:32,784 --> 00:16:37,330 Benjamin made it clear he wanted his son to join the cause. 300 00:16:37,497 --> 00:16:41,543 William wanted his father to stay neutral. He still thought 301 00:16:41,710 --> 00:16:46,214 a reconciliation with England might be possible. 302 00:16:46,381 --> 00:16:48,383 They argued all night. 303 00:16:48,550 --> 00:16:53,138 At another meeting, neighbors could hear them shouting. 304 00:16:53,304 --> 00:16:56,850 Father and son went their separate ways. 305 00:16:57,017 --> 00:16:59,811 William would remain a Loyalist. 306 00:16:59,978 --> 00:17:03,648 Benjamin had become a fervent revolutionary-- 307 00:17:03,815 --> 00:17:06,985 what was called a Patriot. 308 00:17:07,152 --> 00:17:08,570 WOOD: Of the major leaders, 309 00:17:08,737 --> 00:17:10,905 he came to the Revolution very late. 310 00:17:11,072 --> 00:17:13,033 In fact, it's hard to understand why he even joined 311 00:17:13,199 --> 00:17:14,701 the Revolution, uh... 312 00:17:14,868 --> 00:17:18,038 He was already successful. He was an old man. 313 00:17:18,204 --> 00:17:20,540 BRANDS: Revolution is a young man's game, 314 00:17:20,707 --> 00:17:24,210 but Franklin decided this is what needs to be done. 315 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:29,132 NARRATOR: At age 69, he was the oldest delegate. 316 00:17:29,299 --> 00:17:33,636 Many of the 62 other delegates had not even been born when he 317 00:17:33,803 --> 00:17:36,765 first entered political life 40 years earlier 318 00:17:36,931 --> 00:17:40,518 and knew Franklin only by his reputation. 319 00:17:40,685 --> 00:17:43,271 John Adams was 39; 320 00:17:43,438 --> 00:17:46,983 Patrick Henry and John Hancock, 38; 321 00:17:47,150 --> 00:17:50,820 Virginia's Thomas Jefferson was only 32-- 322 00:17:50,987 --> 00:17:54,991 all younger than Franklin's son William. 323 00:17:55,158 --> 00:17:58,244 ISAACSON: He's the "old" one. He's the sage one. 324 00:17:58,411 --> 00:18:02,749 And he talks in parables and metaphors. 325 00:18:02,916 --> 00:18:05,710 And a lot of people don't quite know what to make of him. 326 00:18:05,877 --> 00:18:08,630 Here's Franklin, coming with a worldwide reputation, 327 00:18:08,797 --> 00:18:12,050 certainly the most famous American in the world, 328 00:18:12,217 --> 00:18:15,220 and yet, they're not fully trusting him. 329 00:18:15,386 --> 00:18:19,390 Who is this guy? We don't really know him. 330 00:18:19,557 --> 00:18:22,018 NARRATOR: Franklin had traveled more extensively than 331 00:18:22,185 --> 00:18:25,980 any of the others--throughout Europe, but also through most 332 00:18:26,147 --> 00:18:29,067 of the colonies that were only now beginning to think 333 00:18:29,234 --> 00:18:31,945 of themselves as something more than individual 334 00:18:32,112 --> 00:18:33,988 English provinces. 335 00:18:34,155 --> 00:18:39,285 It was an idea he had proposed more than 2 decades before. 336 00:18:41,121 --> 00:18:43,498 The delegates unanimously elected him 337 00:18:43,665 --> 00:18:45,542 as postmaster general, 338 00:18:45,708 --> 00:18:49,587 and he donated his salary to help wounded soldiers. 339 00:18:49,754 --> 00:18:53,842 They assigned him to important committees, creating a system 340 00:18:54,008 --> 00:18:56,761 for paper currency, raising money for weapons 341 00:18:56,928 --> 00:18:59,139 and manufacturing gunpowder, 342 00:18:59,305 --> 00:19:02,642 and negotiating with Indian nations in the hope 343 00:19:02,809 --> 00:19:06,521 they would not side with the British. 344 00:19:06,688 --> 00:19:09,691 Following the battles of Lexington and Concord, 345 00:19:09,858 --> 00:19:12,861 Franklin heard from his favorite sister Jane, 346 00:19:13,027 --> 00:19:17,782 who witnessed the chaos in Boston, the town of his birth. 347 00:19:17,949 --> 00:19:20,118 "The distress it has occasioned 348 00:19:20,285 --> 00:19:22,662 is past my description," she wrote. 349 00:19:22,829 --> 00:19:26,416 "The commotion the town was in after the battle, bringing in 350 00:19:26,583 --> 00:19:30,461 "their wounded men, caused such an agitation of mind, 351 00:19:30,628 --> 00:19:33,548 I believe none had much sleep." 352 00:19:33,715 --> 00:19:36,467 Colonial militia had surrounded the city 353 00:19:36,634 --> 00:19:39,304 and the occupying British forces there. 354 00:19:39,470 --> 00:19:44,726 12,000 of Boston's 15,000 residents, including Jane, 355 00:19:44,893 --> 00:19:47,228 evacuated in panic. 356 00:19:47,395 --> 00:19:51,441 British soldiers then ransacked the nearly empty town. 357 00:19:51,608 --> 00:19:53,693 They would use the pews and pulpit 358 00:19:53,860 --> 00:19:57,155 from the Old South Meeting House as firewood. 359 00:19:57,322 --> 00:19:58,865 [GUNFIRE] 360 00:19:59,032 --> 00:20:02,577 On June 17th, in the Battle of Bunker Hill, 361 00:20:02,744 --> 00:20:06,956 British forces attacked the militiamen in nearby Charlestown 362 00:20:07,123 --> 00:20:08,917 and were repulsed twice, 363 00:20:09,083 --> 00:20:12,462 until the defenders' ammunition ran out. 364 00:20:12,629 --> 00:20:15,173 At the end of the day, the British had taken 365 00:20:15,340 --> 00:20:19,469 the heights, but suffered more than 1,000 casualties 366 00:20:19,636 --> 00:20:22,513 to fewer than half that by the Patriots. 367 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:25,975 Much of Charlestown had been burned by the British 368 00:20:26,142 --> 00:20:29,187 to rid it of American snipers. 369 00:20:29,354 --> 00:20:34,567 Jane's son, Josiah, fought for the Patriots and died. 370 00:20:34,734 --> 00:20:38,279 One of her in-laws died fighting for the British. 371 00:20:38,446 --> 00:20:41,157 "O how horrible is our situation," she wrote 372 00:20:41,324 --> 00:20:44,827 to Benjamin, "that relations seek the destruction 373 00:20:44,994 --> 00:20:46,246 of each other." 374 00:20:48,039 --> 00:20:51,626 Enraged by what the British had done, Franklin sent 375 00:20:51,793 --> 00:20:53,628 a letter to a friend in England, 376 00:20:53,795 --> 00:20:58,007 intended for publication there. 377 00:20:58,174 --> 00:21:00,051 MAN AS FRANKLIN: Britain, at the expense 378 00:21:00,218 --> 00:21:03,096 of three millions, has killed 150 Americans 379 00:21:03,263 --> 00:21:08,351 this campaign, which is 20,000 pounds a head; 380 00:21:08,518 --> 00:21:13,189 and at Bunker's Hill she gained a mile of ground. 381 00:21:13,356 --> 00:21:16,150 During the same time 60,000 children have been 382 00:21:16,317 --> 00:21:17,819 born in America. 383 00:21:17,986 --> 00:21:20,697 From these data, calculate the time and expense 384 00:21:20,863 --> 00:21:22,782 necessary to kill us all, 385 00:21:22,949 --> 00:21:25,743 and conquer our whole territory. 386 00:21:27,287 --> 00:21:29,497 NARRATOR: And he had written a second letter 387 00:21:29,664 --> 00:21:32,417 to another English friend, which he shared 388 00:21:32,583 --> 00:21:36,838 with colleagues in America but never sent. 389 00:21:37,005 --> 00:21:39,716 MAN AS FRANKLIN: You have begun to burn our towns, 390 00:21:39,882 --> 00:21:42,093 and murder our people. 391 00:21:42,260 --> 00:21:44,053 Look upon your hands! 392 00:21:44,220 --> 00:21:47,974 They are stained with the blood of your relations! 393 00:21:48,141 --> 00:21:53,229 YOU AND I WERE LONG FRIENDS: You are now my enemy, 394 00:21:53,396 --> 00:21:55,064 and I am Yours. 395 00:21:56,399 --> 00:21:58,151 MAN AS BRADFORD: The suspicions against Dr. Franklin 396 00:21:58,318 --> 00:22:00,069 have died away. 397 00:22:00,236 --> 00:22:03,531 Whatever was his design at coming over here, I believe he 398 00:22:03,698 --> 00:22:08,161 has now chosen his side and favors our cause. 399 00:22:08,328 --> 00:22:09,871 MAN AS JOHN ADAMS: Dr. Franklin 400 00:22:10,038 --> 00:22:13,916 has discovered a disposition entirely American. 401 00:22:14,083 --> 00:22:17,211 He is a great and good man. 402 00:22:17,378 --> 00:22:19,422 John Adams. 403 00:22:21,632 --> 00:22:24,052 [HORSE NICKERS] 404 00:22:24,218 --> 00:22:27,013 NARRATOR: In October 1775, 405 00:22:27,180 --> 00:22:29,974 Franklin traveled to Massachusetts to confer 406 00:22:30,141 --> 00:22:33,102 with General George Washington, who desperately 407 00:22:33,269 --> 00:22:37,106 needed more money from Congress to fight the British. 408 00:22:37,273 --> 00:22:40,777 He was trying to cobble together a Continental Army 409 00:22:40,943 --> 00:22:44,947 that would eventually include fishermen, frontiersmen 410 00:22:45,114 --> 00:22:48,910 and farm laborers; recent immigrants, vagrants 411 00:22:49,077 --> 00:22:52,663 and teen-aged boys with few prospects; 412 00:22:52,830 --> 00:22:56,751 Native Americans, free African Americans 413 00:22:56,918 --> 00:23:02,048 and enslaved men, hoping to be freed when the war ended. 414 00:23:02,215 --> 00:23:05,218 Franklin promised Washington he would do what he 415 00:23:05,385 --> 00:23:07,970 could to help. 416 00:23:08,137 --> 00:23:11,933 On his way back, Franklin reunited with his sister Jane 417 00:23:12,100 --> 00:23:13,518 in Rhode Island. 418 00:23:13,684 --> 00:23:17,563 She was still a refugee from occupied Boston. 419 00:23:17,730 --> 00:23:21,567 He persuaded her to come with him to Philadelphia, and they 420 00:23:21,734 --> 00:23:25,238 stopped briefly in New Jersey, so she could see her nephew 421 00:23:25,405 --> 00:23:28,449 William at the governor's mansion. 422 00:23:28,616 --> 00:23:33,162 Franklin hoped her description of the carnage in Boston might 423 00:23:33,329 --> 00:23:38,126 prompt his son to reconsider his loyalty to the Crown. 424 00:23:38,292 --> 00:23:40,378 She was unsuccessful. 425 00:23:40,545 --> 00:23:44,298 William would be the last royal governor trying to carry on 426 00:23:44,465 --> 00:23:47,593 the king's affairs in America. 427 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:50,430 People always ask, why were people Loyalists. 428 00:23:50,596 --> 00:23:52,098 And I think the question to ask is, 429 00:23:52,265 --> 00:23:54,100 "Why were people Patriots?" 430 00:23:54,267 --> 00:23:56,519 Uh, to be loyal is not to change. 431 00:23:56,686 --> 00:23:59,147 It's simply to go on believing what you've always believed 432 00:23:59,313 --> 00:24:01,065 your entire life. 433 00:24:01,232 --> 00:24:03,776 His father taught him to be principled. 434 00:24:03,943 --> 00:24:06,028 He was doing exactly what his father had always 435 00:24:06,195 --> 00:24:08,072 taught him to do. 436 00:24:08,239 --> 00:24:10,491 MAN AS WILLIAM FRANKLIN: For King and Country was the Motto 437 00:24:10,658 --> 00:24:14,120 I assumed when I first commenced my Political Life, 438 00:24:14,287 --> 00:24:16,706 and I am resolved to retain it till Death 439 00:24:16,873 --> 00:24:21,210 shall put an end to my mortal Existence. 440 00:24:21,377 --> 00:24:23,296 NARRATOR: William Franklin had assured his 441 00:24:23,463 --> 00:24:27,758 superiors in London he did not intend to leave his post. 442 00:24:27,925 --> 00:24:31,262 He had advised his wife Elizabeth to seek refuge 443 00:24:31,429 --> 00:24:35,224 with relatives in Barbados, but she insisted on staying 444 00:24:35,391 --> 00:24:38,186 with him in New Jersey. 445 00:24:38,352 --> 00:24:41,689 Benjamin Franklin would not see his son again 446 00:24:41,856 --> 00:24:43,608 for 10 years. 447 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:51,657 [DRUMS BEATING RHYTHMICALLY] 448 00:24:53,951 --> 00:24:55,578 MAN: March! [FLUTES PLAYING TUNE] 449 00:24:55,745 --> 00:24:58,372 NARRATOR: One day in Philadelphia, Franklin noticed 450 00:24:58,539 --> 00:25:02,251 a drummer who had painted a rattlesnake on his drum 451 00:25:02,418 --> 00:25:06,547 along with the words "Don't Tread on Me." 452 00:25:06,714 --> 00:25:08,216 MAN AS FRANKLIN: It occurred to me 453 00:25:08,382 --> 00:25:10,134 that the Rattle-Snake is found 454 00:25:10,301 --> 00:25:14,138 in no other quarter of the world besides America, and may 455 00:25:14,305 --> 00:25:18,267 therefore be chosen, on that account, to represent her. 456 00:25:18,434 --> 00:25:22,605 She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, 457 00:25:22,772 --> 00:25:24,774 EVER SURRENDERS: 458 00:25:24,941 --> 00:25:27,985 I confess I was wholly at a loss what to 459 00:25:28,152 --> 00:25:31,948 make of the rattles, 'till I went back and counted them 460 00:25:32,114 --> 00:25:35,535 and found them just thirteen, exactly the number 461 00:25:35,701 --> 00:25:38,955 of the Colonies united in America; 462 00:25:39,121 --> 00:25:41,332 One of those rattles singly, 463 00:25:41,499 --> 00:25:44,210 is incapable of producing sound, 464 00:25:44,377 --> 00:25:48,631 but the ringing of thirteen together, is sufficient to 465 00:25:48,798 --> 00:25:50,925 alarm the boldest man living. 466 00:25:51,092 --> 00:25:52,635 [RATTLING] 467 00:25:52,802 --> 00:25:54,887 NARRATOR: A delegate from South Carolina 468 00:25:55,054 --> 00:25:58,099 created a bright yellow flag, which was flown from the 469 00:25:58,266 --> 00:26:02,645 flagship of America's first deployment of Marines. 470 00:26:05,565 --> 00:26:10,486 In March of 1776, Franklin was on his way overland to 471 00:26:10,653 --> 00:26:14,407 Montreal, to try to convince the Canadians to join 472 00:26:14,574 --> 00:26:16,617 the colonial cause. 473 00:26:16,784 --> 00:26:19,579 Learning of the mission, William Franklin wrote 474 00:26:19,745 --> 00:26:22,331 immediately to London, betraying his 475 00:26:22,498 --> 00:26:24,292 father's movements. 476 00:26:24,458 --> 00:26:27,253 It was an arduous 9-week trip. 477 00:26:27,420 --> 00:26:30,006 Benjamin Franklin's efforts failed. 478 00:26:30,172 --> 00:26:32,425 Canada would remain loyal. 479 00:26:32,592 --> 00:26:36,095 And when he returned to Philadelphia, he was so sick 480 00:26:36,262 --> 00:26:40,141 he was unable to attend the proceedings in Congress. 481 00:26:40,308 --> 00:26:44,145 All he had to show for his troubles was a soft cap 482 00:26:44,312 --> 00:26:48,316 of marten fur that had kept his head warm. 483 00:26:51,527 --> 00:26:56,115 In June of 1776, William was arrested 484 00:26:56,282 --> 00:26:59,910 at the governor's mansion by Patriot soldiers. 485 00:27:00,077 --> 00:27:02,496 His secret reports about proceedings 486 00:27:02,663 --> 00:27:06,042 in the Continental Congress had been intercepted. 487 00:27:06,208 --> 00:27:09,045 He was declared an "enemy to this country." 488 00:27:09,211 --> 00:27:13,924 Congress voted unanimously that he be transported under guard 489 00:27:14,091 --> 00:27:16,302 out of New Jersey to Connecticut. 490 00:27:18,262 --> 00:27:22,350 His father, still housebound after his trip to Canada, 491 00:27:22,516 --> 00:27:27,021 was spared having to cast a vote against his son. 492 00:27:33,611 --> 00:27:38,949 On June 21, 1776, a packet arrived at Franklin's 493 00:27:39,116 --> 00:27:40,993 Market Street home. 494 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:46,040 It was from Thomas Jefferson, who with Franklin, John Adams, 495 00:27:46,207 --> 00:27:49,460 and two other delegates, had been assigned to draft 496 00:27:49,627 --> 00:27:53,297 a declaration of independence. 497 00:27:53,464 --> 00:27:57,093 Working in a rented second- floor room of a house a few 498 00:27:57,259 --> 00:28:00,638 blocks from Franklin's and attended by his enslaved 499 00:28:00,805 --> 00:28:02,640 servant Robert Hemings, 500 00:28:02,807 --> 00:28:06,894 Jefferson completed a first draft. 501 00:28:07,061 --> 00:28:10,773 He asked Franklin to "suggest such alterations as your 502 00:28:10,940 --> 00:28:14,902 more enlarged view of the subject will dictate." 503 00:28:15,069 --> 00:28:18,614 The old editor and writer recognized the elegance 504 00:28:18,781 --> 00:28:22,118 of Jefferson's prose and made only a few changes 505 00:28:22,284 --> 00:28:24,787 before returning it. 506 00:28:24,954 --> 00:28:27,707 JENKINSON: Franklin sits back and ponders it a little 507 00:28:27,873 --> 00:28:29,375 and he makes a few 508 00:28:29,542 --> 00:28:32,753 really extraordinary suggestions to Jefferson. 509 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:35,798 And one of them is world class. 510 00:28:35,965 --> 00:28:39,385 Jefferson had written, "We hold these truths to be 511 00:28:39,552 --> 00:28:42,388 sacred and undeniable." 512 00:28:42,555 --> 00:28:44,849 And Franklin said, "No, no. 513 00:28:45,015 --> 00:28:47,685 'We hold these truths to be self-evident.'" 514 00:28:47,852 --> 00:28:53,023 Just as 2 plus 2 is 4 and the sun rises in the morning, 515 00:28:53,190 --> 00:28:58,738 it is self-evident that we have a right to revolution. 516 00:28:58,904 --> 00:29:01,741 Franklin is saying, "We're trying to create a new type 517 00:29:01,907 --> 00:29:05,161 "of nation in which our rights come from rationality 518 00:29:05,327 --> 00:29:08,998 "and the consent of the governed, not the dictates or 519 00:29:09,165 --> 00:29:11,542 dogma of a religion." 520 00:29:11,709 --> 00:29:16,005 BROWN: They were doing something very radical and very scary. 521 00:29:16,172 --> 00:29:18,424 To say something is "self evident," to say that it's 522 00:29:18,591 --> 00:29:23,512 common sense, is to say that there is no other way to think 523 00:29:23,679 --> 00:29:28,642 about this, that only an irrational person, who's not 524 00:29:28,809 --> 00:29:34,023 using their mind correctly could contend with this thing, 525 00:29:34,190 --> 00:29:36,609 which is, in fact, really contentious. 526 00:29:36,776 --> 00:29:39,737 It's a classic lawyer's trick to say, 527 00:29:39,904 --> 00:29:42,114 "We all agree to this thing." 528 00:29:42,281 --> 00:29:46,869 Who is "we?" The "we" is presumptuous. 529 00:29:47,036 --> 00:29:50,456 BAILYN: They were not talking about liberating women in any 530 00:29:50,623 --> 00:29:54,251 particular way or certainly not slaves. 531 00:29:54,418 --> 00:29:59,381 But in incremental ways, it grew and grew because if you 532 00:29:59,548 --> 00:30:04,136 talk about liberty for the individual, of you and me, uh, 533 00:30:04,303 --> 00:30:07,348 you're talking about a greater liberty that can be applied 534 00:30:07,515 --> 00:30:09,725 to other people. 535 00:30:09,892 --> 00:30:12,937 NARRATOR: On July 2, the Continental Congress 536 00:30:13,103 --> 00:30:16,023 unanimously approved the central clause 537 00:30:16,190 --> 00:30:18,234 of the declaration, proclaiming 538 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:21,570 American independence. 539 00:30:21,737 --> 00:30:28,452 Two days later, July 4, 1776, 12 of the 13 former 540 00:30:28,619 --> 00:30:32,623 colonies approved the entire declaration. 541 00:30:32,790 --> 00:30:37,419 New York would take a few more days to make up its mind. 542 00:30:37,586 --> 00:30:38,796 MAN AS FRANKLIN: And for the support 543 00:30:38,963 --> 00:30:40,714 of this declaration, 544 00:30:40,881 --> 00:30:45,302 we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, 545 00:30:45,469 --> 00:30:47,596 and our sacred honor. 546 00:30:48,973 --> 00:30:50,933 NARRATOR: On the same day Benjamin Franklin 547 00:30:51,100 --> 00:30:54,854 was voting to approve the Declaration, his son William 548 00:30:55,020 --> 00:30:58,190 arrived in Connecticut, where he was told he was now 549 00:30:58,357 --> 00:31:00,901 officially a prisoner of the brand-new 550 00:31:01,068 --> 00:31:03,612 United States of America. 551 00:31:13,622 --> 00:31:15,833 BRANDS: At this point, what are the odds? 552 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:19,461 If you were making a book on this, who would you bet on? 553 00:31:19,628 --> 00:31:22,882 There was the greatest military power in Europe, 554 00:31:23,048 --> 00:31:25,259 arguably the greatest military power in the world, and then 555 00:31:25,426 --> 00:31:27,219 there are these 13 Colonies. 556 00:31:27,386 --> 00:31:30,514 So, it was a longshot, to put it mildly. 557 00:31:30,681 --> 00:31:32,766 BROWN: And then there are significant numbers 558 00:31:32,933 --> 00:31:35,311 of enslaved men and women who were eying the situation, 559 00:31:35,477 --> 00:31:38,147 trying to figure out, is there some way that this conflict 560 00:31:38,314 --> 00:31:40,858 could serve my interests personally, 561 00:31:41,025 --> 00:31:44,278 serve people like me collectively. 562 00:31:44,445 --> 00:31:46,947 And then you have, both within the Colonies, at the borders 563 00:31:47,114 --> 00:31:49,950 of the Colonies, Native nations who are trying to 564 00:31:50,117 --> 00:31:55,414 understand what this emerging divide might mean for control 565 00:31:55,581 --> 00:31:58,250 of their land or access to trade. 566 00:31:58,417 --> 00:32:00,210 We know how it turned out. 567 00:32:00,377 --> 00:32:02,880 But nobody in 1775 or 1776 has any idea how this is 568 00:32:03,047 --> 00:32:04,673 going to turn out. 569 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:07,801 And, so, choosing sides also means choosing fates. 570 00:32:07,968 --> 00:32:09,511 [GUNFIRE] 571 00:32:09,678 --> 00:32:11,221 WOOD: The Revolution, as it emerges 572 00:32:11,388 --> 00:32:14,308 and becomes a war, is a civil war. 573 00:32:14,475 --> 00:32:16,393 Families are divided, uh, 574 00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:19,313 friends are divided, neighborhoods are divided. 575 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:22,274 SCHIFF: Almost everyone involved in the Revolution has family 576 00:32:22,441 --> 00:32:24,234 members who are on the other side, 577 00:32:24,401 --> 00:32:26,779 often, very vitriolically on the other side. 578 00:32:26,946 --> 00:32:30,366 So, this really does tear families apart. 579 00:32:30,532 --> 00:32:34,328 In Franklin's case, um, it comes as a complete break 580 00:32:34,495 --> 00:32:36,205 with his son. 581 00:32:36,372 --> 00:32:39,333 NARRATOR: By now, hundreds of British ships had arrived 582 00:32:39,500 --> 00:32:43,212 in New York Harbor with 35,000 British soldiers 583 00:32:43,379 --> 00:32:46,966 and sailors and Hessian mercenaries, the greatest 584 00:32:47,132 --> 00:32:49,218 and best-equipped expeditionary force 585 00:32:49,385 --> 00:32:51,637 of the 18th century. 586 00:32:51,804 --> 00:32:55,391 Washington's army would be overmatched and easily routed 587 00:32:55,557 --> 00:32:57,309 from Long Island. 588 00:32:57,476 --> 00:33:01,355 British Admiral Lord Richard Howe sent Franklin a letter 589 00:33:01,522 --> 00:33:05,401 offering a truce, with pardons for the rebels, and rewards 590 00:33:05,567 --> 00:33:08,904 for any Americans who helped restore peace. 591 00:33:09,071 --> 00:33:12,199 Franklin and a small delegation met with Howe 592 00:33:12,366 --> 00:33:15,911 on Staten Island on September 11. 593 00:33:16,078 --> 00:33:19,289 Howe now suggested that the colonies might also have 594 00:33:19,456 --> 00:33:22,876 control of their own legislatures and taxes, 595 00:33:23,043 --> 00:33:26,005 yet still be part of the empire. 596 00:33:26,171 --> 00:33:28,465 The Americans said it was too late. 597 00:33:28,632 --> 00:33:31,468 He should ask the king for permission to negotiate 598 00:33:31,635 --> 00:33:33,887 with an independent nation. 599 00:33:34,054 --> 00:33:36,765 Howe urged them to reconsider. 600 00:33:36,932 --> 00:33:40,561 "When an American falls, England feels it," he said. 601 00:33:40,728 --> 00:33:44,314 And if America were to fall, he added, "I should feel 602 00:33:44,481 --> 00:33:47,359 and lament it like the loss of a brother." 603 00:33:47,526 --> 00:33:51,030 "We will do our utmost," Franklin responded, "to save 604 00:33:51,196 --> 00:33:54,742 your Lordship that mortification." 605 00:33:54,908 --> 00:33:58,495 "They met, they talked, they parted," Howe's secretary 606 00:33:58,662 --> 00:34:00,414 wrote of the 3-hour meeting. 607 00:34:00,581 --> 00:34:04,418 "And now, nothing remains but to fight it out." 608 00:34:06,128 --> 00:34:09,298 Two weeks after the meeting with Lord Howe, Congress 609 00:34:09,465 --> 00:34:13,886 secretly chose Franklin to be one of 3 envoys to France 610 00:34:14,053 --> 00:34:18,557 to seek King Louis XVI's help in the fight with England. 611 00:34:18,724 --> 00:34:20,184 He is the perfect choice. 612 00:34:20,350 --> 00:34:22,478 First of all, there's no other person who knows 613 00:34:22,644 --> 00:34:25,564 the, uh, the European world as Franklin does. 614 00:34:25,731 --> 00:34:28,776 And he is the most celebrated American in Europe. 615 00:34:28,942 --> 00:34:31,278 And he's a natural for the job. 616 00:34:31,445 --> 00:34:35,324 NARRATOR: On October 27, he was on board the "Reprisal," 617 00:34:35,491 --> 00:34:39,286 a swift but cramped American 2-masted brig. 618 00:34:39,453 --> 00:34:43,999 With him were two grandsons-- 16-year-old Temple 619 00:34:44,166 --> 00:34:47,586 and Sally's 7-year-old son Benny. 620 00:34:47,753 --> 00:34:50,172 14 years earlier, when France and Britain 621 00:34:50,339 --> 00:34:53,217 were at war, Franklin had sailed from England 622 00:34:53,383 --> 00:34:56,178 under the protection of the Royal Navy. 623 00:34:56,345 --> 00:35:01,141 Now it was imperative he avoid British ships at all costs. 624 00:35:05,020 --> 00:35:07,856 The rough voyage across the wintry Atlantic 625 00:35:08,023 --> 00:35:10,067 "almost demolished me," he wrote. 626 00:35:10,234 --> 00:35:14,238 The diet on board of salted beef had ruined his digestion 627 00:35:14,404 --> 00:35:18,534 and caused boils, scabs, and rashes all over his body, 628 00:35:18,700 --> 00:35:20,661 including his scalp. 629 00:35:20,828 --> 00:35:25,082 They reached the west coast of France in early December. 630 00:35:25,249 --> 00:35:29,461 A fisherman agreed to row him and his two grandsons to shore 631 00:35:29,628 --> 00:35:35,134 at the hamlet of Auray in Brittany, 300 miles from Paris. 632 00:35:35,300 --> 00:35:39,429 Franklin had intended to keep a low profile, but news of his 633 00:35:39,596 --> 00:35:42,516 arrival spread quickly and reached the capital 634 00:35:42,683 --> 00:35:44,726 long before he did. 635 00:35:44,893 --> 00:35:49,106 The real purpose of his visit, securing a formal alliance 636 00:35:49,273 --> 00:35:52,484 with France, remained secret. 637 00:35:52,651 --> 00:35:58,157 But everywhere he went, he was a sensation. 638 00:35:58,323 --> 00:36:02,995 In 1776, people in France had never 639 00:36:03,162 --> 00:36:07,332 heard of any American except for Benjamin Franklin. 640 00:36:07,499 --> 00:36:09,251 SCHIFF: From the French point of view, 641 00:36:09,418 --> 00:36:11,837 they have sent the greatest celebrity on Earth, 642 00:36:12,004 --> 00:36:14,089 this side of Voltaire, to Paris. 643 00:36:14,256 --> 00:36:17,676 He is like Newton or Galileo reincarnated. 644 00:36:17,843 --> 00:36:21,054 NARRATOR: The city of Nantes celebrated the renowned 645 00:36:21,221 --> 00:36:24,892 Docteur Franklin, tamer of lightning, and crowds 646 00:36:25,058 --> 00:36:28,353 cheered him on his carriage ride into Paris. 647 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:32,024 They were fascinated by his soft hat of marten fur, 648 00:36:32,191 --> 00:36:35,277 which resembled the famous cap worn by the philosopher 649 00:36:35,444 --> 00:36:38,280 Rousseau, in contrast to the powdered wigs 650 00:36:38,447 --> 00:36:41,408 of the Parisian elite. 651 00:36:41,575 --> 00:36:45,370 Franklin was wearing it to keep his head warm and to hide 652 00:36:45,537 --> 00:36:49,249 the unsightly sores on his balding head. 653 00:36:49,416 --> 00:36:52,920 CHAPLIN: It's such a great costume and prop, 654 00:36:53,086 --> 00:36:57,758 immediately announcing himself as a man of science. 655 00:36:57,925 --> 00:37:00,969 I am the famous Benjamin Franklin-- 656 00:37:01,136 --> 00:37:02,930 the "Prometheus of the Modern Age," 657 00:37:03,096 --> 00:37:05,307 don't forget it-- here on business. 658 00:37:06,892 --> 00:37:09,728 NARRATOR: French admirers hung portraits of him over the 659 00:37:09,895 --> 00:37:12,272 mantelpieces in their homes. 660 00:37:12,439 --> 00:37:15,651 Poems were written about the great American scientist 661 00:37:15,817 --> 00:37:18,820 and philosopher who had miraculously arrived 662 00:37:18,987 --> 00:37:20,948 in their midst. 663 00:37:21,114 --> 00:37:23,784 A collection of "Poor Richard's" aphorisms 664 00:37:23,951 --> 00:37:26,203 was translated into French as 665 00:37:26,370 --> 00:37:28,914 "La Science du Bonhomme Richard." 666 00:37:29,081 --> 00:37:31,625 Franklin loved it. 667 00:37:31,792 --> 00:37:33,126 MAN AS FRANKLIN: Dear Sally, 668 00:37:33,293 --> 00:37:35,003 The clay medallion of me 669 00:37:35,170 --> 00:37:37,839 was the first of the kind made in France 670 00:37:38,006 --> 00:37:41,677 and the numbers sold are incredible. 671 00:37:41,843 --> 00:37:46,139 These, with the pictures, busts, and prints, of which 672 00:37:46,306 --> 00:37:50,018 copies upon copies are spread everywhere, have made your 673 00:37:50,185 --> 00:37:55,023 father's face as well known as that of the moon. 674 00:37:55,190 --> 00:37:57,734 JENKINSON: The King, Louis XVI, became sort of 675 00:37:57,901 --> 00:38:01,029 slightly annoyed and amused by the Cult of Franklin. 676 00:38:01,196 --> 00:38:03,991 He had a chamber pot with an image of Franklin put 677 00:38:04,157 --> 00:38:06,910 on the inside of it just as a way of saying, 678 00:38:07,077 --> 00:38:09,037 "Enough, already." 679 00:38:09,204 --> 00:38:14,334 NARRATOR: Franklin had serious and vital business to attend to. 680 00:38:14,501 --> 00:38:17,963 Without France's money, supplies, and, ideally, 681 00:38:18,130 --> 00:38:22,592 military assistance, America's fight for independence might 682 00:38:22,759 --> 00:38:25,804 be lost and lost quickly. 683 00:38:25,971 --> 00:38:28,181 SCHIFF: There's no question that someone is going to have to 684 00:38:28,348 --> 00:38:31,018 step in to underwrite this Revolution. 685 00:38:31,184 --> 00:38:33,979 There is no gunpowder in the Colonies; there is no materiel; 686 00:38:34,146 --> 00:38:36,231 there are very few guns; there are no uniforms. 687 00:38:36,398 --> 00:38:38,900 There's very little common purpose, in fact. 688 00:38:39,067 --> 00:38:43,447 The obvious candidate, um, for that alliance is France. 689 00:38:43,613 --> 00:38:47,075 COHN: Franklin had a terribly difficult assignment. 690 00:38:47,242 --> 00:38:52,372 He had to convince one monarch to help the Americans 691 00:38:52,539 --> 00:38:55,417 overthrow another monarch. 692 00:38:55,584 --> 00:38:58,295 BRANDS: The French had reasons to oppose Britain. 693 00:38:58,462 --> 00:39:00,339 They wanted to weaken Britain. 694 00:39:00,505 --> 00:39:04,593 But, King Louis XVI didn't want to underwrite this 695 00:39:04,760 --> 00:39:06,970 overthrow of monarchies. 696 00:39:07,137 --> 00:39:10,223 The French people might get ideas. 697 00:39:10,390 --> 00:39:13,935 NARRATOR: Persuading France's king and his ministers to 698 00:39:14,102 --> 00:39:17,689 provide any assistance at all would require delicacy 699 00:39:17,856 --> 00:39:22,486 and discretion, persistence and shrewd calculation. 700 00:39:22,652 --> 00:39:25,572 Franklin had taken on the most momentous chess match 701 00:39:25,739 --> 00:39:27,532 of his life. 702 00:39:27,699 --> 00:39:32,287 And playing it would require him, on his own, to improvise 703 00:39:32,454 --> 00:39:35,791 his strategy again and again. 704 00:39:35,957 --> 00:39:38,543 JENKINSON: Franklin understood they're not committed 705 00:39:38,710 --> 00:39:41,713 to our people's republican revolution here. 706 00:39:41,880 --> 00:39:44,091 They want to get back at the British. 707 00:39:44,257 --> 00:39:47,719 They side with the colonials and allow us each 708 00:39:47,886 --> 00:39:50,847 to spend ourselves down in this protracted fight, 709 00:39:51,014 --> 00:39:54,601 that this improves France's position in the European 710 00:39:54,768 --> 00:39:57,479 balance of power and maybe gives it a chance to reassert 711 00:39:57,646 --> 00:39:59,773 itself a little bit in the New World. 712 00:39:59,940 --> 00:40:02,484 And, so, everyone's operating out of self-interest. 713 00:40:02,651 --> 00:40:05,862 But, Franklin, and Franklin alone, knows how to negotiate 714 00:40:06,029 --> 00:40:12,577 this slowly, with suavity and humor and patience. 715 00:40:12,744 --> 00:40:16,373 NARRATOR: He met frequently and always surreptitiously 716 00:40:16,540 --> 00:40:20,001 with the Comte de Vergennes, France's foreign minister, 717 00:40:20,168 --> 00:40:24,089 who found Franklin tactful, smart, and unassuming. 718 00:40:24,256 --> 00:40:28,468 Vergennes arranged for several million livres, French pounds, 719 00:40:28,635 --> 00:40:30,846 to be secretly advanced for the Americans 720 00:40:31,012 --> 00:40:32,806 to purchase supplies. 721 00:40:32,973 --> 00:40:36,518 But he would go no further, unless the Patriots' military 722 00:40:36,685 --> 00:40:39,146 situation improved. 723 00:40:40,772 --> 00:40:44,317 At the moment, that didn't appear likely. 724 00:40:44,484 --> 00:40:48,321 George Washington's army had been chased out of Manhattan, 725 00:40:48,488 --> 00:40:51,783 across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. 726 00:40:51,950 --> 00:40:55,328 A large British force moving south from Canada 727 00:40:55,495 --> 00:40:57,664 had captured Fort Ticonderoga. 728 00:40:57,831 --> 00:40:59,791 Its general, John Burgoyne, 729 00:40:59,958 --> 00:41:04,504 boasted that he would be home in England by Christmas. 730 00:41:04,671 --> 00:41:08,175 British soldiers also threatened Philadelphia. 731 00:41:08,341 --> 00:41:12,804 Congress abandoned the city, as did many of its residents. 732 00:41:12,971 --> 00:41:16,433 Only a few days earlier, Franklin's daughter, Sally, 733 00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:18,852 had given birth to a baby girl. 734 00:41:19,019 --> 00:41:22,898 Now the whole family, including Franklin's sister Jane, 735 00:41:23,064 --> 00:41:25,233 were refugees. 736 00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:29,613 After an American defeat at Brandywine Creek, Philadelphia 737 00:41:29,779 --> 00:41:31,948 fell without a fight. 738 00:41:32,115 --> 00:41:35,911 A British officer commandeered Franklin's home and stole his 739 00:41:36,077 --> 00:41:39,164 books and papers, musical instruments, 740 00:41:39,331 --> 00:41:41,750 and scientific equipment. 741 00:41:41,917 --> 00:41:45,504 In France, Franklin strove to appear upbeat, 742 00:41:45,670 --> 00:41:47,756 despite the setbacks. 743 00:41:47,923 --> 00:41:50,342 The Americans could hold out for 30 years, 744 00:41:50,509 --> 00:41:52,552 he bravely declared. 745 00:41:52,719 --> 00:41:56,306 SCHIFF: Franklin is, first and foremost, a man of the press. 746 00:41:56,473 --> 00:41:58,725 And he plays that role to the hilt 747 00:41:58,892 --> 00:42:00,143 in those first months in France. 748 00:42:00,310 --> 00:42:01,645 He is essentially engaged 749 00:42:01,811 --> 00:42:04,481 in a thorough disinformation campaign. 750 00:42:04,648 --> 00:42:07,234 Washington's men are almost without uniforms. 751 00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:09,486 There's a wonderful quote in which someone says, 752 00:42:09,653 --> 00:42:11,029 "They could have scared the British away 753 00:42:11,196 --> 00:42:13,657 by their nakedness." They have nothing. 754 00:42:13,823 --> 00:42:16,159 And Washington, during this time, is in despair. 755 00:42:16,326 --> 00:42:18,620 While Washington is struggling all over, Franklin is 756 00:42:18,787 --> 00:42:21,373 in France saying, "It's victory after victory." 757 00:42:21,540 --> 00:42:25,126 Um..."He, like, he has an army of 80,000," um... 758 00:42:25,293 --> 00:42:27,254 "Yes, the--the British may take Philadelphia, but they 759 00:42:27,420 --> 00:42:29,381 "will be trapped there, the river will freeze, 760 00:42:29,548 --> 00:42:31,174 "they won't be able to reach their ships. 761 00:42:31,341 --> 00:42:32,717 Washington will surround them." 762 00:42:32,884 --> 00:42:34,594 He's utterly making this up. 763 00:42:34,761 --> 00:42:37,180 He's promoting a war that isn't really happening. 764 00:42:37,347 --> 00:42:41,393 And he doesn't, for a moment, in public, drop that mask. 765 00:42:42,978 --> 00:42:45,981 ISAACSON: Benjamin Franklin also realizes he has to win 766 00:42:46,147 --> 00:42:48,858 the hearts and minds of the French people. 767 00:42:49,025 --> 00:42:52,487 He knows that within the French population, there's 768 00:42:52,654 --> 00:42:56,241 welling up this sentiment for liberty and fraternity 769 00:42:56,408 --> 00:42:58,201 and equality. 770 00:42:58,368 --> 00:43:03,331 And he taps into that by being a public diplomat, not just 771 00:43:03,498 --> 00:43:05,792 a private diplomat. 772 00:43:05,959 --> 00:43:09,629 NARRATOR: Franklin moved from a hotel in crowded Paris to 773 00:43:09,796 --> 00:43:12,591 the village of Passy, 2 miles west, where 774 00:43:12,757 --> 00:43:15,510 a wealthy merchant offered the use of a wing 775 00:43:15,677 --> 00:43:18,638 of his sprawling estate rent-free. 776 00:43:18,805 --> 00:43:22,684 Soon, a lightning rod sprouted from its roof. 777 00:43:22,851 --> 00:43:25,979 Franklin sent his grandson Benny to a boarding school 778 00:43:26,146 --> 00:43:29,024 in Switzerland and assigned Temple to help with 779 00:43:29,190 --> 00:43:33,361 the diplomatic paperwork-- there were mountains of it-- 780 00:43:33,528 --> 00:43:35,614 and the steady stream of visitors 781 00:43:35,780 --> 00:43:38,700 who began arriving once they knew the famous 782 00:43:38,867 --> 00:43:41,911 Doctor Franklin was living there. 783 00:43:42,078 --> 00:43:43,913 MAN AS FRANKLIN: You can have no Conception 784 00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:45,665 how I am harass'd. 785 00:43:45,832 --> 00:43:49,252 The Noise of Every Coach now that enters my Court 786 00:43:49,419 --> 00:43:51,838 terrifies me. 787 00:43:52,005 --> 00:43:53,798 NARRATOR: Besides his constant efforts 788 00:43:53,965 --> 00:43:57,385 to get more money from the French, much of Franklin's 789 00:43:57,552 --> 00:44:01,097 time was consumed handling requests from individual 790 00:44:01,264 --> 00:44:07,437 Europeans eager to fight the hated English in America. 791 00:44:07,604 --> 00:44:10,065 MAN AS FRANKLIN: Frequently if a Man has 792 00:44:10,231 --> 00:44:14,235 no useful Talents, is good for nothing, and burdensome 793 00:44:14,402 --> 00:44:16,029 to his Relations, 794 00:44:16,196 --> 00:44:19,699 they are glad to get rid of him by sending him to 795 00:44:19,866 --> 00:44:22,577 the other End of the World. 796 00:44:22,744 --> 00:44:25,830 NARRATOR: They came from every corner of Europe. 797 00:44:25,997 --> 00:44:29,668 All of them, regardless of their talents and experience, 798 00:44:29,834 --> 00:44:33,546 expected to be commissioned as officers. 799 00:44:33,713 --> 00:44:37,717 General Washington finally begged Franklin not to send 800 00:44:37,884 --> 00:44:40,011 anyone else. 801 00:44:40,178 --> 00:44:43,390 But 3 of the men Franklin recommended would 802 00:44:43,556 --> 00:44:46,935 prove invaluable to the Revolution: 803 00:44:47,102 --> 00:44:49,896 Count Casimir Pulaski of Poland 804 00:44:50,063 --> 00:44:52,357 would organize the American cavalry 805 00:44:52,524 --> 00:44:55,777 and serve with bravery and distinction before being 806 00:44:55,944 --> 00:44:59,948 killed in action at Savannah, Georgia. 807 00:45:00,115 --> 00:45:04,119 Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben would develop a system 808 00:45:04,285 --> 00:45:07,080 of military discipline and drilling and impressed 809 00:45:07,247 --> 00:45:10,500 the Continental soldiers with his ability to swear 810 00:45:10,667 --> 00:45:13,002 in multiple languages. 811 00:45:13,169 --> 00:45:16,923 And the Marquis de Lafayette of France, whose father had 812 00:45:17,090 --> 00:45:20,635 been killed by the British in the Seven Years' War, believed 813 00:45:20,802 --> 00:45:24,889 that "To injure England is to serve my country." 814 00:45:25,056 --> 00:45:28,268 Only 19 years old when he went to America, he would 815 00:45:28,435 --> 00:45:31,980 become a surrogate son to General Washington and one 816 00:45:32,147 --> 00:45:35,775 of the most ardent champions of the Revolution. 817 00:45:39,988 --> 00:45:43,825 Early into his diplomatic mission, Franklin was warned, 818 00:45:43,992 --> 00:45:47,078 "You are surrounded with spies who watch your every 819 00:45:47,245 --> 00:45:51,666 movement, who you Visit and by whom you are visited." 820 00:45:51,833 --> 00:45:55,712 He said he didn't care. 821 00:45:55,879 --> 00:45:57,255 MAN AS FRANKLIN: As it is impossible 822 00:45:57,422 --> 00:45:59,716 to prevent being watched by Spies, 823 00:45:59,883 --> 00:46:02,427 I have long observed one Rule: 824 00:46:02,594 --> 00:46:05,513 to be concerned in no affairs that I should blush to have 825 00:46:05,680 --> 00:46:07,265 made public. 826 00:46:07,432 --> 00:46:10,101 If I was sure, therefore, that my valet 827 00:46:10,268 --> 00:46:14,981 was a spy, as probably he is, I think I should probably not 828 00:46:15,148 --> 00:46:19,444 discharge him for that, if in other respects I liked him. 829 00:46:20,904 --> 00:46:23,448 NARRATOR: The chief spy in Franklin's midst 830 00:46:23,615 --> 00:46:25,325 was not his valet. 831 00:46:25,492 --> 00:46:29,370 It was Edward Bancroft, a Massachusetts-born scientist 832 00:46:29,537 --> 00:46:32,290 now serving as the secretary to the American 833 00:46:32,457 --> 00:46:36,252 delegation in France, with access to every document 834 00:46:36,419 --> 00:46:38,379 and letter. 835 00:46:38,546 --> 00:46:42,300 Every week, Bancroft wrote seemingly personal letters 836 00:46:42,467 --> 00:46:46,137 and then, in invisible ink, provided his clandestine 837 00:46:46,304 --> 00:46:48,973 reports in the margins. 838 00:46:49,140 --> 00:46:52,644 Each Tuesday night, he dropped them into the hollow of a tree 839 00:46:52,811 --> 00:46:55,438 in the Tuileries Garden, where they were retrieved 840 00:46:55,605 --> 00:46:59,400 and taken to the British embassy in Paris. 841 00:46:59,567 --> 00:47:03,029 For his work as a secret agent, England paid him 842 00:47:03,196 --> 00:47:06,991 £1,000 a year, the same amount the Americans were 843 00:47:07,158 --> 00:47:10,203 giving him to be their secretary. 844 00:47:10,370 --> 00:47:12,956 His double-dealing would not come to light 845 00:47:13,122 --> 00:47:15,208 for a hundred years. 846 00:47:16,793 --> 00:47:18,253 SCHIFF: Franklin is encircled 847 00:47:18,419 --> 00:47:21,965 by two sets of extremely effective spies-- 848 00:47:22,131 --> 00:47:23,883 a set of French spies, who are, themselves, 849 00:47:24,050 --> 00:47:26,386 surrounded by a set of British spies. 850 00:47:26,553 --> 00:47:30,056 And every piece of paper that, essentially, moves off 851 00:47:30,223 --> 00:47:32,183 of Franklin's desk will end up in the wrong place, 852 00:47:32,350 --> 00:47:34,394 will end up either at Versailles or in London, 853 00:47:34,561 --> 00:47:37,146 but very rarely in the colonies. 854 00:47:37,313 --> 00:47:40,400 Franklin was no fool. 855 00:47:40,567 --> 00:47:43,278 He knew what was happening. 856 00:47:43,444 --> 00:47:47,782 He knew the spying that was going on was to America's 857 00:47:47,949 --> 00:47:52,996 advantage because the Brits got the sense that America was 858 00:47:53,162 --> 00:47:55,707 really quite close to France. 859 00:47:55,874 --> 00:47:57,375 And, uh, Franklin did nothing. 860 00:47:57,542 --> 00:48:01,296 I mean, he just sat there and let it happen. 861 00:48:05,216 --> 00:48:06,801 [GALLOPING HOOFBEATS] 862 00:48:06,968 --> 00:48:09,220 [HORSE NICKERS] 863 00:48:09,387 --> 00:48:13,600 NARRATOR: On December 4, 1777, a messenger rode into 864 00:48:13,766 --> 00:48:18,021 Franklin's courtyard at Passy with startling news. 865 00:48:19,647 --> 00:48:22,901 After two battles near Saratoga, New York, 866 00:48:23,067 --> 00:48:25,653 British General Burgoyne had found himself 867 00:48:25,820 --> 00:48:28,948 surrounded by a larger American force, 868 00:48:29,115 --> 00:48:32,994 and on October 17, he surrendered, along with 869 00:48:33,161 --> 00:48:37,957 his entire army, nearly 6,000 troops. 870 00:48:38,124 --> 00:48:39,876 SCHIFF: Saratoga changes everything. 871 00:48:40,043 --> 00:48:42,253 This is the moment Franklin has been waiting for. 872 00:48:42,420 --> 00:48:45,548 There is no reason for the French to enter into any 873 00:48:45,715 --> 00:48:48,009 serious alliance until the Americans have proved that 874 00:48:48,176 --> 00:48:50,887 they can actually win this war, or at least put up a fight. 875 00:48:51,054 --> 00:48:53,514 So, this is the news that he needs to take to Vergennes, 876 00:48:53,681 --> 00:48:55,433 the French foreign minister, and to the Court 877 00:48:55,600 --> 00:48:58,061 to be able to say, "OK, now, will you take us seriously? 878 00:48:58,227 --> 00:49:00,688 Now, will you officially--" because until this point, 879 00:49:00,855 --> 00:49:03,024 the help has been unofficial-- "Will you officially 880 00:49:03,191 --> 00:49:05,109 underwrite our Revolution?" 881 00:49:05,276 --> 00:49:08,529 NARRATOR: Franklin sprang into action, writing reports 882 00:49:08,696 --> 00:49:10,740 of the American victory that would be spread 883 00:49:10,907 --> 00:49:12,617 throughout Paris, 884 00:49:12,784 --> 00:49:16,913 praising valiant French officers now serving in America, 885 00:49:17,080 --> 00:49:20,750 like Lafayette, and leading the British ambassador 886 00:49:20,917 --> 00:49:26,005 to realize he had completely underestimated Franklin. 887 00:49:26,172 --> 00:49:27,674 MAN AS AMBASSADOR LORD STORMONT: They play us off 888 00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:29,592 against one another. 889 00:49:29,759 --> 00:49:32,470 Franklin's natural subtlety gives him a great advantage 890 00:49:32,637 --> 00:49:34,305 in such a game. 891 00:49:34,472 --> 00:49:38,101 It is easy to see that in such a situation peace between 892 00:49:38,267 --> 00:49:41,896 England and the House of Bourbon hangs by the slightest 893 00:49:42,063 --> 00:49:43,982 of all threads. 894 00:49:45,566 --> 00:49:47,276 [CHEERING] 895 00:49:47,443 --> 00:49:51,364 NARRATOR: On February 6, 1778, Franklin 896 00:49:51,531 --> 00:49:55,702 met with Vergennes and signed 2 treaties. 897 00:49:55,868 --> 00:49:59,998 One, a treaty of friendship and commerce, meant French aid 898 00:50:00,164 --> 00:50:03,209 would flow in greater quantities and no longer 899 00:50:03,376 --> 00:50:04,877 in secret. 900 00:50:05,044 --> 00:50:08,339 The other, the most important, was a treaty 901 00:50:08,506 --> 00:50:10,341 of military alliance. 902 00:50:10,508 --> 00:50:15,638 France had officially joined the American Revolution. 903 00:50:15,805 --> 00:50:18,850 ISAACSON: When they signed the treaty, he wears this old, 904 00:50:19,017 --> 00:50:21,019 frayed suit. 905 00:50:21,185 --> 00:50:24,897 And it's the one he had worn in the Cockpit, when he had 906 00:50:25,064 --> 00:50:29,444 been berated by the British lords for what he was doing. 907 00:50:29,610 --> 00:50:32,405 And he was asked why he wore that coat. 908 00:50:32,572 --> 00:50:35,700 And he said, "To give it a little revenge." 909 00:50:35,867 --> 00:50:40,413 NARRATOR: A month later, he was presented to King Louis XVI 910 00:50:40,580 --> 00:50:42,749 at Versailles. 911 00:50:42,915 --> 00:50:45,084 SCHIFF: And he meets the king, who congratulates him 912 00:50:45,251 --> 00:50:46,669 and says, "I hope this is for the good 913 00:50:46,836 --> 00:50:48,629 of both countries." 914 00:50:48,796 --> 00:50:51,507 And Franklin utters a line, which is almost astonishing 915 00:50:51,674 --> 00:50:53,843 in its treachery, which is, basically, he--he says to 916 00:50:54,010 --> 00:50:57,847 the king, um, "If all rulers ruled with your benevolence, 917 00:50:58,014 --> 00:51:00,433 republics would never be formed." 918 00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:04,187 NARRATOR: Franklin, a French statesman proclaimed, 919 00:51:04,353 --> 00:51:07,982 has "seized the lightning from the heavens and now 920 00:51:08,149 --> 00:51:11,027 the scepter from the tyrants." 921 00:51:15,740 --> 00:51:21,788 [WALTZ PLAYING] 922 00:51:21,954 --> 00:51:23,498 MAN AS FRANKLIN: This is the civilest nation 923 00:51:23,664 --> 00:51:25,291 upon Earth. 924 00:51:25,458 --> 00:51:27,168 Your first Acquaintances endeavor 925 00:51:27,335 --> 00:51:30,963 to find out what you like, and they tell others. 926 00:51:31,130 --> 00:51:36,385 Somebody, it seems, gave it out that I lov'd Ladies. 927 00:51:36,552 --> 00:51:40,181 So everybody presented me their Ladies 928 00:51:40,348 --> 00:51:45,645 or the Ladies presented themselves to be embraced, 929 00:51:45,812 --> 00:51:47,939 that is to have their Necks kissed. 930 00:51:48,106 --> 00:51:52,735 For as to kissing of Lips or Cheeks, it is not the Mode here; 931 00:51:52,902 --> 00:51:56,572 the first, is reckoned rude, and the other may 932 00:51:56,739 --> 00:51:58,324 rub off the Paint. 933 00:51:58,491 --> 00:52:01,744 'Tis a delightful People to live with. 934 00:52:03,079 --> 00:52:05,123 NARRATOR: All the while he was negotiating 935 00:52:05,289 --> 00:52:08,417 and maneuvering for the alliance with France, Franklin 936 00:52:08,584 --> 00:52:11,212 immersed himself in the intellectual circles 937 00:52:11,379 --> 00:52:14,298 and social salons of Paris. 938 00:52:14,465 --> 00:52:20,304 He considered it part of his diplomacy and very enjoyable. 939 00:52:20,471 --> 00:52:24,851 He had loved London, but he adored Paris. 940 00:52:25,017 --> 00:52:27,770 In France, you can flirt at a very high level 941 00:52:27,937 --> 00:52:31,315 of sophistication and it's all a beautiful game 942 00:52:31,482 --> 00:52:33,025 of sexual ballet. 943 00:52:33,192 --> 00:52:35,403 And it has nothing to do with carnality, really. 944 00:52:35,570 --> 00:52:38,865 It's more about, nuance and just the right touch 945 00:52:39,031 --> 00:52:41,033 of flirtation. 946 00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:45,329 he found personal happiness in France that he had never found 947 00:52:45,496 --> 00:52:47,331 in the course of his life. 948 00:52:47,498 --> 00:52:50,668 SCHIFF: I don't think you can find anyone, anyone except his 949 00:52:50,835 --> 00:52:53,171 colleagues, who fails to fall under the charms 950 00:52:53,337 --> 00:52:54,964 of Benjamin Franklin. 951 00:52:56,382 --> 00:52:59,635 Franklin is everywhere adored and everywhere cossetted 952 00:52:59,802 --> 00:53:03,389 in Paris, by no one more so, than by the women of France. 953 00:53:03,556 --> 00:53:06,684 Every word that drops from his lips, they think is a gem. 954 00:53:06,851 --> 00:53:09,395 And Franklin just adores the fact that these women are 955 00:53:09,562 --> 00:53:12,440 essentially hanging about him at all times. 956 00:53:12,607 --> 00:53:15,109 NARRATOR: Franklin became particularly enchanted 957 00:53:15,276 --> 00:53:20,156 with a neighbor of his in Passy, Madame Brillon de Jouy. 958 00:53:20,323 --> 00:53:24,452 She was beautiful and well- educated and, at age 33, 959 00:53:24,619 --> 00:53:28,331 a year younger than Franklin's daughter Sally. 960 00:53:28,497 --> 00:53:32,210 He went to her home twice a week for tea and music; 961 00:53:32,376 --> 00:53:36,505 composed essays in her honor; and once played a late-night 962 00:53:36,672 --> 00:53:39,258 game of chess while she watched from her 963 00:53:39,425 --> 00:53:42,178 covered bathtub. 964 00:53:42,345 --> 00:53:45,139 ISAACSON: I think that Franklin's relationships 965 00:53:45,306 --> 00:53:50,228 with women were more in the mind than in the flesh. 966 00:53:50,394 --> 00:53:54,065 He loved being flirtatious, loved being around them, 967 00:53:54,232 --> 00:53:57,818 but I don't think he pursued a truly passionate romance 968 00:53:57,985 --> 00:54:00,238 with any of them. 969 00:54:00,404 --> 00:54:02,323 COHN: We'll never know what happened. 970 00:54:02,490 --> 00:54:05,201 I think Madame Brillon pointed out to Franklin that she was 971 00:54:05,368 --> 00:54:09,038 a married woman, that any kind of hanky-panky was simply 972 00:54:09,205 --> 00:54:10,998 out of the question. 973 00:54:11,165 --> 00:54:14,627 I believe Franklin must have been disappointed, 974 00:54:14,794 --> 00:54:19,048 but he took it very gracefully and from that point forward, 975 00:54:19,215 --> 00:54:23,678 they agreed that he would be "Papa" and she would be 976 00:54:23,844 --> 00:54:25,429 his daughter. 977 00:54:27,306 --> 00:54:30,142 NARRATOR: Franklin's attentions turned to another woman 978 00:54:30,309 --> 00:54:32,603 a little closer to his own age. 979 00:54:32,770 --> 00:54:37,483 Anne-Catherine Helvétius was nearly 60, a widow who lived 980 00:54:37,650 --> 00:54:40,111 on a grand estate near Passy. 981 00:54:40,278 --> 00:54:43,781 Eccentric and free-spirited, she hosted one of the most 982 00:54:43,948 --> 00:54:48,035 renowned salons in France, attended by intellectuals 983 00:54:48,202 --> 00:54:49,870 and artists. 984 00:54:50,037 --> 00:54:53,791 Franklin became a regular visitor, sometimes playing his 985 00:54:53,958 --> 00:54:57,003 glass armonica while people sang his favorite 986 00:54:57,169 --> 00:55:00,673 Scottish ballads in French. 987 00:55:00,840 --> 00:55:04,302 SCHIFF: She's a philosopher's widow and very Bohemian. 988 00:55:04,468 --> 00:55:07,930 She had this fleet of cats whom she would dress 989 00:55:08,097 --> 00:55:11,100 in brocades and silks, and who would--who would, basically, 990 00:55:11,267 --> 00:55:13,686 wander around her house and eat their meals off china. 991 00:55:13,853 --> 00:55:18,065 Um, and into that menagerie, um, walks Benjamin Franklin, 992 00:55:18,232 --> 00:55:20,026 who's immediately smitten. 993 00:55:20,192 --> 00:55:22,278 MAN AS FRANKLIN: If this lady is pleased to spend 994 00:55:22,445 --> 00:55:24,739 her days with Monsieur Franklin, 995 00:55:24,905 --> 00:55:30,619 he would be just as pleased to spend his nights with her. 996 00:55:30,786 --> 00:55:33,873 NARRATOR: She declined, but never discouraged him 997 00:55:34,040 --> 00:55:36,459 from showering her with affection. 998 00:55:36,625 --> 00:55:38,461 SCHIFF: There is a moment there where he essentially 999 00:55:38,627 --> 00:55:42,048 says to her, "I would stay in France, if you would have me." 1000 00:55:42,214 --> 00:55:43,883 And she's not interested. 1001 00:55:44,050 --> 00:55:46,552 But I would say that that was probably the most serious 1002 00:55:46,719 --> 00:55:50,097 of the relationships with-- with any--with the French women. 1003 00:55:50,264 --> 00:55:52,975 NARRATOR: Meanwhile, Franklin's social calendar was 1004 00:55:53,142 --> 00:55:57,938 always filled with lunches, teas, and lavish dinners. 1005 00:55:58,105 --> 00:56:01,484 DRAY: He didn't speak or understand French all that well. 1006 00:56:01,650 --> 00:56:03,819 He wanted to be able to see the meal in front of him 1007 00:56:03,986 --> 00:56:06,280 at a dinner party, but, also, at the same time, he needed to see 1008 00:56:06,447 --> 00:56:09,408 the lips of the people speaking to him across the table. 1009 00:56:09,575 --> 00:56:11,994 So, he became frustrated that his glasses couldn't do 1010 00:56:12,161 --> 00:56:13,621 both things. 1011 00:56:13,788 --> 00:56:17,458 This is typical Franklin. He analyzed the problem. 1012 00:56:17,625 --> 00:56:20,628 He sawed his existing glasses in half, and glued them 1013 00:56:20,795 --> 00:56:23,381 together so that one top-- one side did one function, 1014 00:56:23,547 --> 00:56:24,882 the other, the other. 1015 00:56:25,049 --> 00:56:27,259 NARRATOR: He called his newest invention 1016 00:56:27,426 --> 00:56:31,055 "double-spectacles"-- bifocals. 1017 00:56:31,222 --> 00:56:34,558 And Franklin was always ready for a game of chess 1018 00:56:34,725 --> 00:56:36,644 with anyone. 1019 00:56:36,811 --> 00:56:40,606 BRANDS: In one case, he was having this chess match with 1020 00:56:40,773 --> 00:56:44,735 the Duchess of Bourbon and Franklin professed to forget 1021 00:56:44,902 --> 00:56:48,072 the rules and he captured the king. 1022 00:56:48,239 --> 00:56:50,825 His opponent, the Duchess says, "Well, in--in France, 1023 00:56:50,991 --> 00:56:52,368 "we don't capture kings. 1024 00:56:52,535 --> 00:56:54,286 That's not the way the game is played." 1025 00:56:54,453 --> 00:56:56,914 He said, "Ah, but in America, we do." 1026 00:56:58,958 --> 00:57:01,252 [HOOFBEATS] 1027 00:57:01,419 --> 00:57:03,796 MAN AS ADAMS: It was late when he breakfasted, 1028 00:57:03,963 --> 00:57:05,798 and as soon as breakfast was over, 1029 00:57:05,965 --> 00:57:08,843 a crowd of carriages came. 1030 00:57:09,009 --> 00:57:11,804 By far the greater part were women and children, come to 1031 00:57:11,971 --> 00:57:15,057 have the honor to see the great Franklin, and to have 1032 00:57:15,224 --> 00:57:17,101 the pleasure of telling stories about his 1033 00:57:17,268 --> 00:57:20,271 simplicity and his bald head. 1034 00:57:20,438 --> 00:57:23,941 He was invited to dine every day and never declined 1035 00:57:24,108 --> 00:57:28,529 and it was the only thing in which he was punctual. 1036 00:57:28,696 --> 00:57:31,031 John Adams. 1037 00:57:31,198 --> 00:57:33,033 NARRATOR: In April, while the treaties 1038 00:57:33,200 --> 00:57:34,910 were crossing the Atlantic, 1039 00:57:35,077 --> 00:57:37,580 John Adams arrived in Paris. 1040 00:57:37,746 --> 00:57:40,958 He had been sent by Congress to push more vigorously 1041 00:57:41,125 --> 00:57:44,545 for a French alliance and was chagrined to learn that 1042 00:57:44,712 --> 00:57:48,757 Franklin had already secured two treaties. 1043 00:57:48,924 --> 00:57:52,887 Even more aggravating to him was how Franklin seemed to be 1044 00:57:53,053 --> 00:57:54,805 conducting himself. 1045 00:57:54,972 --> 00:57:59,143 Adams called it "a scene of continual dissipation." 1046 00:57:59,310 --> 00:58:02,354 BAILYN: He was absolutely horrified. 1047 00:58:02,521 --> 00:58:04,148 Franklin's desk was a mess. 1048 00:58:04,315 --> 00:58:06,484 There were papers all over the place. 1049 00:58:06,650 --> 00:58:09,445 And there was no security. 1050 00:58:09,612 --> 00:58:11,155 JENKINSON: Adams said, "Where's 'Poor Richard?'" 1051 00:58:11,322 --> 00:58:12,781 "Early to bed, early to rise 1052 00:58:12,948 --> 00:58:14,867 "makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. 1053 00:58:15,034 --> 00:58:16,660 "Where's--where's the-- the Franklin that we're all-- 1054 00:58:16,827 --> 00:58:19,079 that's famous for his discipline?" 1055 00:58:19,246 --> 00:58:23,918 SCHIFF: It's hard to imagine 2 such talented people, 2 men 1056 00:58:24,084 --> 00:58:26,712 with so much in common, who are of absolutely 1057 00:58:26,879 --> 00:58:28,714 opposite temperaments. 1058 00:58:28,881 --> 00:58:33,010 One of them is very rigid and dogmatic and brilliant. 1059 00:58:33,177 --> 00:58:35,638 And the other one is very flexible and easy-going 1060 00:58:35,804 --> 00:58:37,139 and affable and brilliant. 1061 00:58:37,306 --> 00:58:39,683 And they got on each other's nerves. 1062 00:58:39,850 --> 00:58:44,355 ISAACSON: Adams is quite wary of the French, quite Puritanical. 1063 00:58:44,522 --> 00:58:48,692 Adams learned French by memorizing funeral orations, 1064 00:58:48,859 --> 00:58:51,820 and Franklin learned French by writing poetry 1065 00:58:51,987 --> 00:58:54,114 and letters to women. 1066 00:58:54,281 --> 00:58:56,825 Franklin knew how to be popular and Adams had no idea 1067 00:58:56,992 --> 00:58:58,369 how to be popular. 1068 00:58:58,536 --> 00:59:00,329 In fact, Adams per-perceived popularity 1069 00:59:00,496 --> 00:59:02,498 as a sign that he was not doing the right thing. 1070 00:59:02,665 --> 00:59:06,418 Franklin's popularity drives Adams to distraction. 1071 00:59:06,585 --> 00:59:08,379 He's--he feels he's being-- he feels that Franklin is being 1072 00:59:08,546 --> 00:59:13,175 ineffective and utterly given over to Old World luxury, 1073 00:59:13,342 --> 00:59:15,219 and, moreover, people are throwing themselves at him 1074 00:59:15,386 --> 00:59:17,012 left and right. 1075 00:59:17,179 --> 00:59:18,764 He can't stand these celebrations of what he sees 1076 00:59:18,931 --> 00:59:21,642 as this utterly irresponsible colleague. 1077 00:59:21,809 --> 00:59:24,853 NARRATOR: Shortly after his arrival, Adams accompanied 1078 00:59:25,020 --> 00:59:28,899 Franklin to the Academy of Sciences to see Voltaire, 1079 00:59:29,066 --> 00:59:31,569 France's greatest Enlightenment writer 1080 00:59:31,735 --> 00:59:33,445 and philosopher. 1081 00:59:33,612 --> 00:59:38,867 He was 83 and in poor health, a month away from dying. 1082 00:59:39,034 --> 00:59:43,205 When the crowd demanded that the two great men embrace, 1083 00:59:43,372 --> 00:59:47,167 Adams had to watch from the sidelines. 1084 00:59:47,334 --> 00:59:51,088 SCHIFF: Adams is an impatient man, he's a brittle man. 1085 00:59:51,255 --> 00:59:53,924 And he doesn't understand the channels of diplomacy. 1086 00:59:54,091 --> 00:59:55,384 And he certainly doesn't understand the way 1087 00:59:55,551 --> 00:59:57,344 the French Court works. 1088 00:59:57,511 --> 01:00:00,973 He doesn't see that the secret to Franklin's success is, 1089 01:00:01,140 --> 01:00:04,184 in large part, his inactivity, the fact that he is... 1090 01:00:04,351 --> 01:00:07,146 essentially being polite and genteel 1091 01:00:07,313 --> 01:00:09,898 and is expressing gratitude toward these people who are 1092 01:00:10,065 --> 01:00:12,234 underwriting our-- our Revolution. 1093 01:00:12,401 --> 01:00:14,820 Adams wants to be demanding things at all times and, 1094 01:00:14,987 --> 01:00:16,363 essentially, makes himself very unwelcome 1095 01:00:16,530 --> 01:00:18,115 at the French Court. 1096 01:00:18,282 --> 01:00:20,784 ELLIS: It's the "good cop" and the "bad cop." 1097 01:00:20,951 --> 01:00:22,745 And Franklin is the good cop. 1098 01:00:22,911 --> 01:00:25,331 I think they become an effective team and instead 1099 01:00:25,497 --> 01:00:28,250 of seeing one as right and the other as wrong, um, it works 1100 01:00:28,417 --> 01:00:30,044 for the American cause. 1101 01:00:30,210 --> 01:00:31,879 This is probably the greatest assemblage of diplomatic 1102 01:00:32,046 --> 01:00:34,715 talent in American history--two people. 1103 01:00:34,882 --> 01:00:39,094 But Adams is perceived by the French, especially Vergennes, 1104 01:00:39,261 --> 01:00:43,766 the French foreign minister, as this impossible creature. 1105 01:00:43,932 --> 01:00:47,728 [SHIP'S BELL CLANGS] NARRATOR: In February 1779, 1106 01:00:47,895 --> 01:00:51,106 Adams learned that, at Vergennes' insistence, 1107 01:00:51,273 --> 01:00:53,734 Congress had named Benjamin Franklin 1108 01:00:53,901 --> 01:00:57,696 the United States' sole representative in France. 1109 01:00:59,948 --> 01:01:02,868 John Adams left for home. 1110 01:01:07,164 --> 01:01:08,415 [GUNFIRE] 1111 01:01:17,383 --> 01:01:20,969 SKEMP: This was a war that was not a sectional war. 1112 01:01:21,136 --> 01:01:24,056 This was not North versus South. 1113 01:01:24,223 --> 01:01:27,351 Americans were fighting against Americans. 1114 01:01:27,518 --> 01:01:31,730 This was a Continental war where every single person had 1115 01:01:31,897 --> 01:01:35,442 to decide which side they were on. 1116 01:01:35,609 --> 01:01:37,444 NARRATOR: After being taken to Connecticut as 1117 01:01:37,611 --> 01:01:41,532 a prisoner in 1776, William Franklin had been 1118 01:01:41,699 --> 01:01:44,910 persuaded to sign a paper promising not to attempt 1119 01:01:45,077 --> 01:01:49,039 an escape or to work against the Patriots so he could be 1120 01:01:49,206 --> 01:01:52,626 placed under house arrest in a comfortable home. 1121 01:01:52,793 --> 01:01:56,296 It didn't last long. 1122 01:01:56,463 --> 01:01:59,341 He began secretly corresponding with British 1123 01:01:59,508 --> 01:02:02,761 officials in New York, advising them about Loyalists 1124 01:02:02,928 --> 01:02:05,723 in Connecticut and New Jersey. 1125 01:02:05,889 --> 01:02:09,059 Congress learned what William was doing and ordered him 1126 01:02:09,226 --> 01:02:12,855 taken to the infamous Litchfield jail. 1127 01:02:13,021 --> 01:02:16,900 He was kept there in solitary confinement for 8 months, 1128 01:02:17,067 --> 01:02:20,237 with nothing but a chamber pot and a straw pallet 1129 01:02:20,404 --> 01:02:22,239 on the floor. 1130 01:02:22,406 --> 01:02:26,952 It was, he wrote, as if "I have been buried alive." 1131 01:02:27,119 --> 01:02:30,956 His wife, Elizabeth, had moved to British-held New York City, 1132 01:02:31,123 --> 01:02:34,418 where her already fragile health worsened. 1133 01:02:34,585 --> 01:02:37,713 William appealed to General Washington, begging 1134 01:02:37,880 --> 01:02:40,632 for permission to see her. 1135 01:02:40,799 --> 01:02:43,051 MAN AS WILLIAM FRANKLIN: I am certain that an indulgence 1136 01:02:43,218 --> 01:02:45,304 in my present request will be 1137 01:02:45,471 --> 01:02:47,765 thankfully acknowledged by my father, 1138 01:02:47,931 --> 01:02:50,809 for he has great esteem for my wife, 1139 01:02:50,976 --> 01:02:53,103 and I believe that though we differ 1140 01:02:53,270 --> 01:02:54,980 in our political sentiments, 1141 01:02:55,147 --> 01:02:58,692 yet it has not lessened his natural affection for me, 1142 01:02:58,859 --> 01:03:02,946 any more than it has mine for him. 1143 01:03:03,113 --> 01:03:04,948 NARRATOR: Washington passed his request 1144 01:03:05,115 --> 01:03:08,952 on to Congress, which refused to intervene. 1145 01:03:09,119 --> 01:03:14,291 The same day, Elizabeth died at age 43. 1146 01:03:14,458 --> 01:03:17,294 In his jail cell, William's own health 1147 01:03:17,461 --> 01:03:20,672 began deteriorating. 1148 01:03:20,839 --> 01:03:24,009 MAN AS WILLIAM FRANKLIN: My Life has become quite a burden to me. 1149 01:03:24,176 --> 01:03:27,054 In short, I suffer so much 1150 01:03:27,221 --> 01:03:30,307 that I should deem it a Favour to be immediately 1151 01:03:30,474 --> 01:03:33,101 taken out and shot. 1152 01:03:35,270 --> 01:03:36,897 NARRATOR: Franklin's daughter Sally 1153 01:03:37,064 --> 01:03:40,150 and her husband appealed to Congress to move him. 1154 01:03:40,317 --> 01:03:44,279 So did many of Franklin's Philadelphia friends. 1155 01:03:44,446 --> 01:03:48,575 In France, Benjamin Franklin himself did nothing 1156 01:03:48,742 --> 01:03:51,995 on his son's behalf. 1157 01:03:52,162 --> 01:03:56,416 In September of 1778, Congress approved an exchange 1158 01:03:56,583 --> 01:03:58,252 of prisoners. 1159 01:03:58,418 --> 01:04:02,464 The British released the Patriot governor of Delaware. 1160 01:04:02,631 --> 01:04:05,509 William Franklin was taken to New York City. 1161 01:04:05,676 --> 01:04:08,720 It was assumed he would sail to England. 1162 01:04:08,887 --> 01:04:13,475 Instead, he stayed to help the British, establishing a network 1163 01:04:13,642 --> 01:04:18,772 of spies that operated behind American lines and organizing 1164 01:04:18,939 --> 01:04:22,484 guerrilla units that conducted raids along the coast 1165 01:04:22,651 --> 01:04:26,071 of Connecticut and Rhode Island and up the Hudson River 1166 01:04:26,238 --> 01:04:28,448 in New York. 1167 01:04:28,615 --> 01:04:31,660 SKEMP: He came out of that jail time experience 1168 01:04:31,827 --> 01:04:35,163 in the same way that Benjamin came out of the Cockpit. 1169 01:04:35,330 --> 01:04:39,084 He was angry, and he wanted to do everything that he could 1170 01:04:39,251 --> 01:04:41,003 to defeat the Patriots. 1171 01:04:41,169 --> 01:04:44,464 He became head of something called the "Associate Board 1172 01:04:44,631 --> 01:04:47,593 of Loyalists," which was a terrorist organization, 1173 01:04:47,759 --> 01:04:49,303 pure and simple. 1174 01:04:49,469 --> 01:04:52,598 NARRATOR: In New Jersey, Patriots were routinely 1175 01:04:52,764 --> 01:04:54,725 murdering Loyalists. 1176 01:04:54,892 --> 01:04:59,479 In response, William's group issued a warning. 1177 01:04:59,646 --> 01:05:02,274 MAN AS WILLIAM FRANKLIN: A Warning to Rebels: 1178 01:05:02,441 --> 01:05:06,111 If you continue in your murder and cruelties, 1179 01:05:06,278 --> 01:05:09,698 we Loyalists do Solemnly Declare that we 1180 01:05:09,865 --> 01:05:13,535 will Hang Six for One, which shall be Inflicted 1181 01:05:13,702 --> 01:05:16,538 on your Headmen and Leaders. 1182 01:05:20,918 --> 01:05:23,545 NARRATOR: Word of the alliance with France had 1183 01:05:23,712 --> 01:05:26,465 prompted the British to abandon Philadelphia 1184 01:05:26,632 --> 01:05:29,885 and bolster their defenses in New York. 1185 01:05:30,052 --> 01:05:34,139 Franklin's family moved back into their Market Street home. 1186 01:05:34,306 --> 01:05:38,101 Sally organized women who went door-to-door to raise money 1187 01:05:38,268 --> 01:05:40,938 for the Continental Army and knitted shirts 1188 01:05:41,104 --> 01:05:43,106 for Washington's men. 1189 01:05:43,273 --> 01:05:47,861 But elsewhere in America, the war was not going well. 1190 01:05:48,028 --> 01:05:51,406 The first joint American- French military operation, 1191 01:05:51,573 --> 01:05:54,284 in Rhode Island, had failed to take Newport 1192 01:05:54,451 --> 01:05:56,036 back from the British, 1193 01:05:56,203 --> 01:05:59,706 who opened up their own offensive in the South. 1194 01:05:59,873 --> 01:06:02,668 They captured Savannah, Georgia, and later, 1195 01:06:02,834 --> 01:06:07,339 Charleston, South Carolina, where 5,000 American troops, 1196 01:06:07,506 --> 01:06:12,803 4 ships, and 300 pieces of artillery were surrendered. 1197 01:06:12,970 --> 01:06:16,848 Soon, a British army, under General Lord Cornwallis, 1198 01:06:17,015 --> 01:06:20,102 would begin marching toward Virginia. 1199 01:06:20,268 --> 01:06:25,315 "Our present situation makes one of two things essential to us," 1200 01:06:25,482 --> 01:06:27,818 George Washington wrote to Franklin. 1201 01:06:27,985 --> 01:06:31,947 "A peace or the most vigorous aid of our allies, 1202 01:06:32,114 --> 01:06:35,325 particularly in the article of money." 1203 01:06:35,492 --> 01:06:40,872 Lafayette reported to Franklin how dire things had become. 1204 01:06:41,039 --> 01:06:44,292 MAN AS LAFAYETTE: My dear friend, You have no idea 1205 01:06:44,459 --> 01:06:46,962 of the shocking situation the Army is in. 1206 01:06:47,129 --> 01:06:50,465 We are naked, shockingly naked, and worse off on that 1207 01:06:50,632 --> 01:06:52,759 respect than we have ever been. 1208 01:06:52,926 --> 01:06:54,219 For God's sake let us have 1209 01:06:54,386 --> 01:06:56,555 fifteen or twenty thousand uniforms 1210 01:06:56,722 --> 01:06:59,224 and let it be done in such a way as will insure their 1211 01:06:59,391 --> 01:07:02,269 timely departure from France. 1212 01:07:02,436 --> 01:07:04,730 NARRATOR: In France, managing the purchase 1213 01:07:04,896 --> 01:07:09,276 and shipment of supplies proved frustratingly slow. 1214 01:07:09,443 --> 01:07:12,946 Franklin did what he could to speed things up, but some 1215 01:07:13,113 --> 01:07:17,159 in Congress blamed him for the delays anyway and discussed 1216 01:07:17,325 --> 01:07:19,745 having him replaced. 1217 01:07:19,911 --> 01:07:22,998 Vergennes was angered at the news. 1218 01:07:23,165 --> 01:07:27,461 He approved an outright gift, not a loan, the largest 1219 01:07:27,627 --> 01:07:31,381 of the war to the United States, and wrote Congress 1220 01:07:31,548 --> 01:07:34,551 that it had been granted specifically because 1221 01:07:34,718 --> 01:07:37,888 of Franklin's persistence. 1222 01:07:38,055 --> 01:07:41,016 Franklin, meanwhile, wrote Congress, 1223 01:07:41,183 --> 01:07:43,977 asking to be replaced. 1224 01:07:44,144 --> 01:07:47,022 MAN AS FRANKLIN: I have pass'd my 75th Year. 1225 01:07:47,189 --> 01:07:51,985 I have been engag'd in publick Affairs, and enjoy'd public 1226 01:07:52,152 --> 01:07:56,323 Confidence in some Shape or other, during the long Term 1227 01:07:56,490 --> 01:08:00,869 of fifty Years, an Honor sufficient to satisfy any 1228 01:08:01,036 --> 01:08:05,290 reasonable Ambition, and I have no other left, but that 1229 01:08:05,457 --> 01:08:10,212 of Repose, which I hope the Congress will grant me, 1230 01:08:10,378 --> 01:08:15,092 by sending some Person to supply my Place. 1231 01:08:15,258 --> 01:08:17,552 [THUNDER] 1232 01:08:17,719 --> 01:08:22,682 NARRATOR: On November 19, 1781, a young American merchant 1233 01:08:22,849 --> 01:08:26,311 named Elkanah Watson paid a visit to Passy 1234 01:08:26,478 --> 01:08:29,731 and found the old man lost in thought. 1235 01:08:29,898 --> 01:08:33,443 Franklin invited him in for dinner, played a Scottish 1236 01:08:33,610 --> 01:08:37,823 pastoral tune for him on the armonica, and then they talked 1237 01:08:37,989 --> 01:08:43,578 late into the night about the state of the war. 1238 01:08:43,745 --> 01:08:46,540 MAN AS ELKANAH WATSON: We weighed probabilities, balanc'd 1239 01:08:46,706 --> 01:08:51,336 vicissitudes, dissected the best Maps; and finally it 1240 01:08:51,503 --> 01:08:54,548 resulted in a disheartening foreboding, 1241 01:08:54,714 --> 01:08:56,508 that the English Fleet wou'd intercept 1242 01:08:56,675 --> 01:09:00,762 and destroy the French Fleet, Land their Army and brake up 1243 01:09:00,929 --> 01:09:03,223 Washington's quarters. 1244 01:09:03,390 --> 01:09:07,769 Thus our unhappy Country would again bleed at every vein 1245 01:09:07,936 --> 01:09:10,105 and the war commence with fresh vigor 1246 01:09:10,272 --> 01:09:13,108 on the part of our implacable enemy. 1247 01:09:14,901 --> 01:09:18,363 COHN: Franklin was extremely discouraged. 1248 01:09:18,530 --> 01:09:22,868 He was working night and day to supply the Americans 1249 01:09:23,034 --> 01:09:26,163 with everything they needed. 1250 01:09:26,329 --> 01:09:31,960 But the war was dragging on and on and on. 1251 01:09:32,127 --> 01:09:37,299 So, when, at midnight, a courier came galloping into 1252 01:09:37,465 --> 01:09:40,969 Franklin's courtyard with the news of the victory 1253 01:09:41,136 --> 01:09:45,098 at Yorktown, it transformed him. 1254 01:09:45,265 --> 01:09:47,893 NARRATOR: A month earlier, Washington's army 1255 01:09:48,059 --> 01:09:52,439 of 9,000 Americans and nearly as many French troops 1256 01:09:52,606 --> 01:09:56,109 had trapped British General Cornwallis at Yorktown 1257 01:09:56,276 --> 01:09:58,153 on the Virginia Peninsula. 1258 01:09:58,320 --> 01:10:01,990 The French fleet offshore had cut off any chance of his 1259 01:10:02,157 --> 01:10:05,744 being resupplied or reinforced. 1260 01:10:05,911 --> 01:10:09,664 After 9 days of heavy bombardment, Cornwallis 1261 01:10:09,831 --> 01:10:16,379 surrendered his 8,000 troops on October 19, 1781. 1262 01:10:16,546 --> 01:10:20,467 Lafayette, a division commander of American forces, 1263 01:10:20,634 --> 01:10:23,762 was at Washington's side. 1264 01:10:23,929 --> 01:10:27,015 ISAACSON: If France had not supplied the ships, 1265 01:10:27,182 --> 01:10:29,267 if Lafayette hadn't come over, 1266 01:10:29,434 --> 01:10:32,771 if Vergennes and others hadn't done what they did, 1267 01:10:32,938 --> 01:10:36,191 if we hadn't had the French Navy helping by 1268 01:10:36,358 --> 01:10:40,362 the time we got to Yorktown, I do not think that 1269 01:10:40,528 --> 01:10:44,366 the American Colonies would have won the Revolution. 1270 01:10:44,532 --> 01:10:47,994 I think Benjamin Franklin, by sealing the alliance 1271 01:10:48,161 --> 01:10:52,666 with France, did as much to win the Revolution as anybody 1272 01:10:52,832 --> 01:10:55,377 with the possible exception of George Washington. 1273 01:10:55,543 --> 01:10:57,045 ["YANKEE DOODLE" PLAYING] 1274 01:10:57,212 --> 01:11:00,257 NARRATOR: The Americans had won a great victory, 1275 01:11:00,423 --> 01:11:04,594 but the British still had 26,000 troops in North America, 1276 01:11:04,761 --> 01:11:07,806 and the war with England was not over. 1277 01:11:07,973 --> 01:11:10,850 Neither were Franklin's duties. 1278 01:11:11,017 --> 01:11:15,772 Congress refused to accept his resignation and instead gave him 1279 01:11:15,939 --> 01:11:17,691 an additional mission. 1280 01:11:17,857 --> 01:11:20,568 He was now part of a delegation to begin peace 1281 01:11:20,735 --> 01:11:24,030 negotiations with England. 1282 01:11:24,197 --> 01:11:28,743 Franklin drew up a list of 4 non-negotiable demands 1283 01:11:28,910 --> 01:11:32,205 during informal talks with the British and rebuffed their 1284 01:11:32,372 --> 01:11:35,208 suggestions that the Americans cut the French 1285 01:11:35,375 --> 01:11:38,461 out of the deliberations. 1286 01:11:38,628 --> 01:11:42,799 To complicate things, when two other American negotiators 1287 01:11:42,966 --> 01:11:45,844 arrived in Paris, they had their own opinions 1288 01:11:46,011 --> 01:11:48,054 on the best way forward. 1289 01:11:48,221 --> 01:11:52,809 One was John Jay, a brilliant New York lawyer. 1290 01:11:52,976 --> 01:11:56,896 The other was John Adams. 1291 01:11:57,063 --> 01:11:58,565 MAN AS ADAMS: That I have no friendship 1292 01:11:58,732 --> 01:12:00,775 for Franklin, I avow. 1293 01:12:00,942 --> 01:12:03,820 That I am incapable of having any with a man of his moral 1294 01:12:03,987 --> 01:12:06,573 sentiments, I avow. 1295 01:12:06,740 --> 01:12:09,284 His whole Life has been one continued Insult 1296 01:12:09,451 --> 01:12:11,870 to good Manners and to Decency. 1297 01:12:12,037 --> 01:12:14,456 I can have no Dependence on his Word. 1298 01:12:14,622 --> 01:12:18,335 I never know when he speaks the Truth, and when not. 1299 01:12:18,501 --> 01:12:21,629 I wish with all my Soul he was out of public Service, 1300 01:12:21,796 --> 01:12:24,716 and in Retirement, repenting of his past Life, 1301 01:12:24,883 --> 01:12:29,512 and preparing, as he ought to be, for another World. 1302 01:12:29,679 --> 01:12:32,057 ELLIS: Franklin was the kind of man put on Earth 1303 01:12:32,223 --> 01:12:35,352 to drive a man like Adams absolutely crazy. 1304 01:12:35,518 --> 01:12:37,812 Franklin, himself, writes back to the Congress during 1305 01:12:37,979 --> 01:12:40,357 the time they're both Ministers in France and says, 1306 01:12:40,523 --> 01:12:43,401 "John Adams is an honest man; sometimes, a great one. 1307 01:12:43,568 --> 01:12:46,321 "But, in some ways and some things, absolutely out 1308 01:12:46,488 --> 01:12:48,114 of his senses." 1309 01:12:48,281 --> 01:12:50,241 NARRATOR: Despite their differences, the Americans 1310 01:12:50,408 --> 01:12:52,160 settled down to work. 1311 01:12:52,327 --> 01:12:53,912 John Jay agreed with Adams, 1312 01:12:54,079 --> 01:12:56,915 that they should not consult with Vergennes, 1313 01:12:57,082 --> 01:13:00,418 even though the alliance with France required it. 1314 01:13:00,585 --> 01:13:05,465 For the sake of unanimity, Franklin reluctantly consented. 1315 01:13:05,632 --> 01:13:10,387 By November of 1782, more than a year after Yorktown, 1316 01:13:10,553 --> 01:13:14,557 a preliminary agreement seemed within reach. 1317 01:13:14,724 --> 01:13:18,144 England would recognize American independence, 1318 01:13:18,311 --> 01:13:21,022 remove its troops from the United States, 1319 01:13:21,189 --> 01:13:24,692 allow American fishing rights off the coast of Newfoundland, 1320 01:13:24,859 --> 01:13:29,155 and relinquish any claims south of the Great Lakes. 1321 01:13:29,322 --> 01:13:31,282 But there was a sticking point. 1322 01:13:31,449 --> 01:13:34,494 The British wanted a provision that would compensate 1323 01:13:34,661 --> 01:13:38,164 American Loyalists for their losses during the war. 1324 01:13:38,331 --> 01:13:41,209 Adams and Jay wavered on the issue. 1325 01:13:41,376 --> 01:13:44,504 Franklin wouldn't budge. 1326 01:13:44,671 --> 01:13:46,214 JENKINSON: And Franklin got angry. 1327 01:13:46,381 --> 01:13:47,757 He didn't very often get angry, and he said, 1328 01:13:47,924 --> 01:13:50,969 "Wait a minute. You ruined our crops. 1329 01:13:51,136 --> 01:13:53,388 "You burned our cities. 1330 01:13:53,555 --> 01:13:56,057 "You took our citizens across the Atlantic 1331 01:13:56,224 --> 01:13:57,851 "and tortured them. 1332 01:13:58,017 --> 01:14:01,104 "You engaged in state terror against the citizens 1333 01:14:01,271 --> 01:14:03,189 "of the United States. 1334 01:14:03,356 --> 01:14:05,900 "Don't talk to me about recompensing Loyalists unless 1335 01:14:06,067 --> 01:14:09,487 "you want to pay for Norfolk and all the cities you burned 1336 01:14:09,654 --> 01:14:11,489 "and trashed, and the houses that you ruined, and the lives 1337 01:14:11,656 --> 01:14:13,324 that you shattered." 1338 01:14:13,491 --> 01:14:16,119 NARRATOR: Even Adams was struck by Franklin's vehemence 1339 01:14:16,286 --> 01:14:18,037 on the issue. 1340 01:14:18,204 --> 01:14:21,833 His fury came in part from reports of his son William's 1341 01:14:22,000 --> 01:14:24,752 conduct back in the United States. 1342 01:14:24,919 --> 01:14:28,506 Intent on keeping the war going, despite the British 1343 01:14:28,673 --> 01:14:32,719 defeat at Yorktown, William's group of guerrilla marauders 1344 01:14:32,886 --> 01:14:35,096 had pressed forward with their raids. 1345 01:14:35,263 --> 01:14:39,392 In one notorious incident, they hanged a Patriot leader 1346 01:14:39,559 --> 01:14:42,145 in the midst of what was supposed to be a peaceful 1347 01:14:42,312 --> 01:14:44,272 exchange of prisoners. 1348 01:14:44,439 --> 01:14:47,984 It was an outrage that threatened to mushroom into 1349 01:14:48,151 --> 01:14:51,529 an international crisis, complicating Franklin's 1350 01:14:51,696 --> 01:14:55,450 diplomacy in Paris at precisely the wrong time. 1351 01:14:57,660 --> 01:15:01,289 At the end of 1782, a preliminary agreement 1352 01:15:01,456 --> 01:15:04,792 of peace was signed and sent to London and Philadelphia 1353 01:15:04,959 --> 01:15:06,836 for approval. 1354 01:15:07,003 --> 01:15:10,715 It did not require reparations to Americans who had remained 1355 01:15:10,882 --> 01:15:12,592 loyal to England. 1356 01:15:12,759 --> 01:15:16,471 And France, which had given so much to the new nation, 1357 01:15:16,638 --> 01:15:19,474 had been excluded altogether. 1358 01:15:19,641 --> 01:15:23,228 Franklin was assigned the task of smoothing things over 1359 01:15:23,394 --> 01:15:25,146 with Vergennes. 1360 01:15:25,313 --> 01:15:27,273 JENKINSON: Franklin writes one of the greatest letters 1361 01:15:27,440 --> 01:15:29,025 he ever wrote to Vergennes, 1362 01:15:29,192 --> 01:15:31,778 apologizing for this in a beautiful way and-- 1363 01:15:31,945 --> 01:15:34,405 and really disarming the-- what could have been a huge 1364 01:15:34,572 --> 01:15:37,992 international crisis, that we had not fulfilled our promise 1365 01:15:38,159 --> 01:15:40,703 to work out the diplomatic aspects of the end of the war 1366 01:15:40,870 --> 01:15:43,331 with France and not separately. 1367 01:15:43,498 --> 01:15:46,334 But he also, in that same letter of apology to Vergennes, 1368 01:15:46,501 --> 01:15:48,503 this masterpiece, said, "And, by the way, 1369 01:15:48,670 --> 01:15:52,215 we need some more money, too," and he got it! 1370 01:15:52,382 --> 01:15:56,219 NARRATOR: Finally, on September 3, 1783, 1371 01:15:56,386 --> 01:15:59,138 the Treaty of Paris was signed. 1372 01:15:59,305 --> 01:16:02,725 England officially recognized its former colonies 1373 01:16:02,892 --> 01:16:05,311 as the United States of America. 1374 01:16:05,478 --> 01:16:08,690 The Revolutionary War was over. 1375 01:16:10,149 --> 01:16:12,860 Members of the British delegation refused to pose 1376 01:16:13,027 --> 01:16:15,697 for the portrait meant to commemorate the moment. 1377 01:16:15,863 --> 01:16:19,325 In the unfinished painting, Franklin sits in the middle, 1378 01:16:19,492 --> 01:16:22,704 with his grandson Temple, the delegation's secretary, 1379 01:16:22,870 --> 01:16:24,914 sitting to his left. 1380 01:16:25,081 --> 01:16:28,876 On Franklin's right sits John Adams, already worried 1381 01:16:29,043 --> 01:16:33,047 about how history would remember the Revolution. 1382 01:16:33,214 --> 01:16:35,466 MAN AS ADAMS: The history of our revolution will be 1383 01:16:35,633 --> 01:16:39,554 one continued lie from one end to the other. 1384 01:16:39,721 --> 01:16:42,640 And the essence of the whole will be that Dr. Franklin's 1385 01:16:42,807 --> 01:16:46,227 electrical rod smote the Earth, and out sprang 1386 01:16:46,394 --> 01:16:48,313 General Washington. 1387 01:16:48,479 --> 01:16:52,609 That Franklin electrified him with his rod and thence forward 1388 01:16:52,775 --> 01:16:55,903 these two conducted all the policy, negotiations, 1389 01:16:56,070 --> 01:16:58,781 legislation and war. 1390 01:17:04,120 --> 01:17:06,289 ELLIS: The Treaty of 1783 is one of the most 1391 01:17:06,456 --> 01:17:09,500 lopsided treaties in American diplomatic history. 1392 01:17:09,667 --> 01:17:13,129 It's a total victory for the United States. 1393 01:17:13,296 --> 01:17:15,923 Its independence is recognized by France and the rest 1394 01:17:16,090 --> 01:17:17,800 of Europe and England. 1395 01:17:17,967 --> 01:17:20,511 And we get a third of a continent, everything from the 1396 01:17:20,678 --> 01:17:22,722 Mississippi to the Atlantic, and from the Canadian border 1397 01:17:22,889 --> 01:17:24,599 to Florida. 1398 01:17:24,766 --> 01:17:27,518 We now become a nation larger than France, England, 1399 01:17:27,685 --> 01:17:29,520 and Spain put together. 1400 01:17:29,687 --> 01:17:33,691 There is a consensus, at the end, uh, among the negotiators, 1401 01:17:33,858 --> 01:17:36,486 including the Brits, that we're witnessing 1402 01:17:36,653 --> 01:17:38,696 the creation of an American empire. 1403 01:17:38,863 --> 01:17:41,157 [CHEERING] 1404 01:17:41,324 --> 01:17:43,618 COHN: By the end of the war, France's coffers were 1405 01:17:43,785 --> 01:17:46,204 more or less depleted. 1406 01:17:46,371 --> 01:17:50,583 France had the satisfaction in triumphing over their 1407 01:17:50,750 --> 01:17:52,960 arch enemy Great Britain, 1408 01:17:53,127 --> 01:17:58,049 but they hadn't counted on bankrupting, uh, their own 1409 01:17:58,216 --> 01:18:00,343 country in the process. 1410 01:18:00,510 --> 01:18:05,139 So, Franklin extracted, in a way, the lifeblood 1411 01:18:05,306 --> 01:18:11,562 out of the royal coffers and he gave in return something 1412 01:18:11,729 --> 01:18:14,357 that the monarchy was not counting on. 1413 01:18:14,524 --> 01:18:16,818 ["LE MARSEILLAISE" PLAYING] 1414 01:18:16,984 --> 01:18:20,988 He lit a fire, not only in France, 1415 01:18:21,155 --> 01:18:26,035 but in all of Europe, promoting the democratic ideals 1416 01:18:26,202 --> 01:18:29,163 that the United States stood for. 1417 01:18:29,330 --> 01:18:34,502 To put down tyranny was something that all 1418 01:18:34,669 --> 01:18:37,130 the peasants could understand. 1419 01:18:41,926 --> 01:18:46,180 NARRATOR: For Native Americans, the treaty was devastating. 1420 01:18:46,347 --> 01:18:49,851 Many Nations had decided that they would be better off by 1421 01:18:50,017 --> 01:18:53,563 allying with the British, not the colonists, who for nearly 1422 01:18:53,730 --> 01:18:58,151 2 centuries had been encroaching on their lands. 1423 01:18:58,317 --> 01:19:00,862 Now the United States was claiming 1424 01:19:01,028 --> 01:19:03,239 an even vaster territory, 1425 01:19:03,406 --> 01:19:06,868 and as its white citizens pushed farther west, 1426 01:19:07,034 --> 01:19:10,788 more and more Native people would be dispossessed, 1427 01:19:10,955 --> 01:19:15,835 regardless of whose side they had taken during the war. 1428 01:19:18,838 --> 01:19:22,967 [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] 1429 01:19:23,134 --> 01:19:27,722 In the summer and fall of 1783, huge balloons suddenly 1430 01:19:27,889 --> 01:19:31,142 appeared in the skies over Paris. 1431 01:19:31,309 --> 01:19:34,103 Hundreds of thousands of people turned out to see 1432 01:19:34,270 --> 01:19:38,065 human beings flying for the first time. 1433 01:19:38,232 --> 01:19:41,319 And Franklin is watching this, with his usual spirit of, 1434 01:19:41,486 --> 01:19:43,863 you know, what does this portend and what are 1435 01:19:44,030 --> 01:19:48,951 the applications for war, for travel, for recreation. 1436 01:19:49,118 --> 01:19:52,246 And a man that was standing next to him, uh, watched all 1437 01:19:52,413 --> 01:19:57,752 this and said, "Interesting, but what's the use of it?" 1438 01:19:57,919 --> 01:20:00,630 And Franklin turned to him and said, 1439 01:20:00,797 --> 01:20:03,341 "What's the use of a newborn baby?" 1440 01:20:04,801 --> 01:20:08,471 NARRATOR: In early 1785, another balloon crossed 1441 01:20:08,638 --> 01:20:11,307 the English Channel and landed in France. 1442 01:20:11,474 --> 01:20:15,311 It carried the world's first airmail letter addressed to 1443 01:20:15,478 --> 01:20:19,232 Temple Franklin at Passy. 1444 01:20:19,398 --> 01:20:23,152 It came from his father, William, who was now in London. 1445 01:20:23,319 --> 01:20:26,364 He had reestablished his relationship with Temple 1446 01:20:26,531 --> 01:20:30,493 and was hoping to do the same with his father. 1447 01:20:30,660 --> 01:20:33,412 MAN AS WILLIAM FRANKLIN: Dear and Honored Father, 1448 01:20:33,579 --> 01:20:35,373 Ever since the termination 1449 01:20:35,540 --> 01:20:39,126 of the unhappy contest between Great Britain and America, 1450 01:20:39,293 --> 01:20:42,004 I have been anxious to write to you, 1451 01:20:42,171 --> 01:20:45,132 and to endeavor to revive that affectionate connection 1452 01:20:45,299 --> 01:20:47,844 which till the commencement of the late troubles 1453 01:20:48,010 --> 01:20:52,515 had been the pride and happiness of my life. 1454 01:20:53,724 --> 01:20:57,728 MAN AS FRANKLIN: Dear Son, I received your letter. 1455 01:20:57,895 --> 01:21:01,607 Nothing has ever hurt me so much and affected me with such 1456 01:21:01,774 --> 01:21:06,988 keen sensations as to find myself deserted in my old age 1457 01:21:07,154 --> 01:21:12,118 by my only son; and not only deserted, but to find him 1458 01:21:12,285 --> 01:21:14,871 taking up arms against me. 1459 01:21:15,037 --> 01:21:19,375 There are natural duties which precede political ones, 1460 01:21:19,542 --> 01:21:23,504 and cannot be extinguished by them. 1461 01:21:23,671 --> 01:21:27,550 You may confide to your son the family affairs you wished 1462 01:21:27,717 --> 01:21:30,011 to confer upon with me. 1463 01:21:30,177 --> 01:21:33,931 I shall hear from you by him. 1464 01:21:34,098 --> 01:21:35,892 BRANDS: Benjamin Franklin was estranged from 1465 01:21:36,058 --> 01:21:39,478 many of his British associates and friends during the war. 1466 01:21:39,645 --> 01:21:42,857 But after the war, he was able to repair all those 1467 01:21:43,024 --> 01:21:46,319 relationships, except with William. 1468 01:21:46,485 --> 01:21:49,488 And I'm not sure I can say exactly why. 1469 01:21:49,655 --> 01:21:53,618 William is willing to make up, but Benjamin is not. 1470 01:21:53,784 --> 01:21:56,787 And I just sort of imagine that William is--is holding out 1471 01:21:56,954 --> 01:22:00,041 his hand to his father and his father just won't take it. 1472 01:22:00,207 --> 01:22:02,293 I guess the hurt went too deep. 1473 01:22:04,420 --> 01:22:08,257 NARRATOR: By May of 1785, Thomas Jefferson had arrived 1474 01:22:08,424 --> 01:22:12,053 as the new ambassador to France, and Franklin learned 1475 01:22:12,219 --> 01:22:16,349 that Congress had finally accepted his resignation. 1476 01:22:16,515 --> 01:22:20,269 By July, with his grandsons Temple and Benny, 1477 01:22:20,436 --> 01:22:23,022 he was ready to leave. 1478 01:22:23,189 --> 01:22:27,193 They crossed the Channel and lingered for several days 1479 01:22:27,360 --> 01:22:30,571 in the port at Southampton, where Franklin visited 1480 01:22:30,738 --> 01:22:34,617 with some of his oldest English friends. 1481 01:22:34,784 --> 01:22:37,536 Then William arrived. 1482 01:22:37,703 --> 01:22:42,041 He and his father had not seen each other in a decade. 1483 01:22:44,919 --> 01:22:48,839 Whatever expectations William held for the reunion, 1484 01:22:49,006 --> 01:22:52,593 his father treated it as a business negotiation. 1485 01:22:52,760 --> 01:22:55,554 He insisted that the deeds to William's properties 1486 01:22:55,721 --> 01:22:59,141 in America be turned over to Temple. 1487 01:22:59,308 --> 01:23:03,938 Franklin also made clear that Temple, William's own son, 1488 01:23:04,105 --> 01:23:08,275 would be returning to the United States with him. 1489 01:23:08,442 --> 01:23:11,195 Legal documents were drawn up. 1490 01:23:11,362 --> 01:23:14,949 William signed them all. 1491 01:23:15,116 --> 01:23:18,077 They would never see each other again. 1492 01:23:23,082 --> 01:23:26,961 On July 27, Franklin's ship set sail 1493 01:23:27,128 --> 01:23:30,381 for his 8th crossing of the Atlantic. 1494 01:23:30,548 --> 01:23:34,093 On board, he soon immersed himself in the most sustained 1495 01:23:34,260 --> 01:23:37,930 scientific work since his experiments with electricity 1496 01:23:38,097 --> 01:23:41,559 back in 1752. 1497 01:23:41,726 --> 01:23:45,521 Most of his time was focused on observations and theories 1498 01:23:45,688 --> 01:23:50,276 about the ocean and ships-- from more efficient designs 1499 01:23:50,443 --> 01:23:53,988 for hulls and sails, to thoughts on the outrigger boats 1500 01:23:54,155 --> 01:23:58,784 of Pacific Islanders and the canoes of Native Americans, 1501 01:23:58,951 --> 01:24:03,122 from proposals for better anchors to a better soup bowl 1502 01:24:03,289 --> 01:24:07,585 that would be less likely to spill when the ship tilted. 1503 01:24:07,752 --> 01:24:09,420 And with Temple and Benny's help, 1504 01:24:09,587 --> 01:24:13,215 he continued gathering details about the Gulf Stream- 1505 01:24:13,382 --> 01:24:15,926 taking the temperature of the air and water 1506 01:24:16,093 --> 01:24:20,264 3 times a day for more than 40 days. 1507 01:24:20,431 --> 01:24:22,224 [BELL RINGS] 1508 01:24:22,391 --> 01:24:26,312 Finally, his ship docked at the wharf in Philadelphia, 1509 01:24:26,479 --> 01:24:31,025 62 years after his first arrival as a teenage runaway. 1510 01:24:31,192 --> 01:24:33,861 [CANNON FIRE, CHEERING] 1511 01:24:34,028 --> 01:24:37,364 Back then, no one had heard of him. 1512 01:24:37,531 --> 01:24:41,077 This time, he was greeted by booming cannons, 1513 01:24:41,243 --> 01:24:42,828 ringing church bells, 1514 01:24:42,995 --> 01:24:46,832 and the cheers of his fellow Americans. 1515 01:24:46,999 --> 01:24:49,460 SCHIFF: He's been away for 8 1/2 years. 1516 01:24:49,627 --> 01:24:51,420 He's about to see a country that he's created. 1517 01:24:51,587 --> 01:24:53,172 It didn't exist when he'd left. 1518 01:24:53,339 --> 01:24:56,801 It's a really, um, rather extraordinary return. 1519 01:24:56,967 --> 01:24:59,595 He's greeted at the pier in Philadelphia by crowds 1520 01:24:59,762 --> 01:25:01,555 and acclamations. 1521 01:25:01,722 --> 01:25:04,558 NARRATOR: The crowd carried him to his Market Street home, 1522 01:25:04,725 --> 01:25:07,228 where his daughter Sally introduced him to 1523 01:25:07,394 --> 01:25:12,274 4 new grandchildren who had been born while he was away. 1524 01:25:14,360 --> 01:25:17,696 MAN AS FRANKLIN: I am now in the Bosom of my Family, 1525 01:25:17,863 --> 01:25:20,950 and find four new little Prattlers, 1526 01:25:21,117 --> 01:25:22,743 who cling about the Knees 1527 01:25:22,910 --> 01:25:28,082 of their Grand Papa, and afford me great Pleasure. 1528 01:25:37,133 --> 01:25:40,219 NARRATOR: In May of 1787, delegates from 1529 01:25:40,386 --> 01:25:43,764 all the former colonies began converging again 1530 01:25:43,931 --> 01:25:45,975 on Philadelphia. 1531 01:25:46,142 --> 01:25:49,311 The Articles of Confederation that had been drawn up after 1532 01:25:49,478 --> 01:25:52,648 the Declaration of Independence had proved inadequate 1533 01:25:52,815 --> 01:25:56,318 for the new nation during the Revolution. 1534 01:25:56,485 --> 01:25:58,487 ISAACSON: When the Constitutional Convention 1535 01:25:58,654 --> 01:25:59,947 is called, 1536 01:26:00,114 --> 01:26:01,866 it's really a last chance for America 1537 01:26:02,032 --> 01:26:03,742 to get its act together. 1538 01:26:03,909 --> 01:26:06,996 The Articles of Confederation really did not do what 1539 01:26:07,163 --> 01:26:08,664 Franklin had asked for, 1540 01:26:08,831 --> 01:26:13,127 which is unite the Colonies into one nation. 1541 01:26:13,294 --> 01:26:15,754 NARRATOR: When George Washington arrived 1542 01:26:15,921 --> 01:26:18,799 in Philadelphia, his first stop was to pay 1543 01:26:18,966 --> 01:26:21,302 Franklin a visit. 1544 01:26:21,468 --> 01:26:24,305 MAN: At the Constitutional Convention, 1545 01:26:24,471 --> 01:26:27,933 he was one of the two great figures. 1546 01:26:28,100 --> 01:26:29,727 There was George Washington and there was 1547 01:26:29,894 --> 01:26:34,356 Benjamin Franklin, and nobody else came third. 1548 01:26:34,523 --> 01:26:36,859 ELLIS: Up until the end of the War, 1549 01:26:37,026 --> 01:26:39,403 if you were trying to rate American leaders, 1550 01:26:39,570 --> 01:26:41,572 Washington would be behind him 1551 01:26:41,739 --> 01:26:43,908 and Franklin would be at the head. 1552 01:26:44,074 --> 01:26:45,910 Franklin's the great man. 1553 01:26:46,076 --> 01:26:49,538 By the end of the War, Washington has gone ahead, 1554 01:26:49,705 --> 01:26:53,500 and in his will, Franklin says, "I leave him my crab-tree 1555 01:26:53,667 --> 01:26:57,046 walking stick for his stroll towards destiny." 1556 01:26:57,213 --> 01:27:01,175 NARRATOR: On May 25, 1787, when the convention 1557 01:27:01,342 --> 01:27:05,679 gathered for its first day, Washington was unanimously 1558 01:27:05,846 --> 01:27:08,140 elected to preside. 1559 01:27:08,307 --> 01:27:11,936 ISAACSON: Benjamin Franklin's health is starting to fade. 1560 01:27:12,102 --> 01:27:14,563 Prisoners from the Walnut Street Jail, they have to 1561 01:27:14,730 --> 01:27:17,233 carry him from his home on Market Street 1562 01:27:17,399 --> 01:27:18,901 for the 2 or 3 blocks 1563 01:27:19,068 --> 01:27:22,488 to get to what is now called Independence Hall. 1564 01:27:22,655 --> 01:27:26,533 NARRATOR: Franklin was 81, nearly crippled by gout 1565 01:27:26,700 --> 01:27:28,410 and kidney stones. 1566 01:27:28,577 --> 01:27:32,873 Still, he would attend every session but one. 1567 01:27:34,458 --> 01:27:38,295 From the start, it was clear that the 55 delegates did not 1568 01:27:38,462 --> 01:27:40,547 agree on the details of how to fix 1569 01:27:40,714 --> 01:27:43,092 the Articles of Confederation. 1570 01:27:43,259 --> 01:27:47,513 Franklin favored a single-body Congress and a 3-member 1571 01:27:47,680 --> 01:27:51,100 executive council instead of a president. 1572 01:27:51,267 --> 01:27:54,770 Virginians proposed 2 legislative bodies-- 1573 01:27:54,937 --> 01:27:56,397 a House of Representatives 1574 01:27:56,563 --> 01:27:59,441 that would select the members of an upper body 1575 01:27:59,608 --> 01:28:01,110 to be called the Senate 1576 01:28:01,277 --> 01:28:04,822 and also name the president and judiciary. 1577 01:28:04,989 --> 01:28:08,409 Alexander Hamilton of New York thought the president should 1578 01:28:08,575 --> 01:28:11,495 be elected--for life. 1579 01:28:11,662 --> 01:28:15,374 Fierce debates on all the issues raged for days 1580 01:28:15,541 --> 01:28:18,460 during a sweltering Philadelphia summer. 1581 01:28:21,088 --> 01:28:22,423 MAN AS FRANKLIN: We must not expect 1582 01:28:22,589 --> 01:28:24,883 that a new government may be formed, 1583 01:28:25,050 --> 01:28:29,054 as a game of chess may be played, by a skillful hand, 1584 01:28:29,221 --> 01:28:31,640 without a fault. 1585 01:28:31,807 --> 01:28:35,978 We are making experiments in politics. 1586 01:28:36,145 --> 01:28:40,065 The players of our game are so many, their ideas 1587 01:28:40,232 --> 01:28:43,360 so different, their prejudices so strong 1588 01:28:43,527 --> 01:28:45,195 and so various, 1589 01:28:45,362 --> 01:28:49,575 that not a move can be made that is not contested. 1590 01:28:53,162 --> 01:28:55,956 NARRATOR: The convention adopted many provisions 1591 01:28:56,123 --> 01:28:58,876 that Franklin did not initially support-- 1592 01:28:59,043 --> 01:29:04,340 a 2-body legislature, a single executive who could veto laws-- 1593 01:29:04,506 --> 01:29:08,427 and others that he did-- a 4-year presidential term, 1594 01:29:08,594 --> 01:29:11,430 the legislature's power of impeachment, 1595 01:29:11,597 --> 01:29:14,850 and no requirement of property ownership for voting 1596 01:29:15,017 --> 01:29:17,394 or holding office. 1597 01:29:17,561 --> 01:29:20,481 One of the thorniest issues was how Congress 1598 01:29:20,647 --> 01:29:22,316 would be apportioned. 1599 01:29:22,483 --> 01:29:25,819 Under the Articles of Confederation, each state had 1600 01:29:25,986 --> 01:29:29,948 an equal vote, and delegates from smaller states demanded 1601 01:29:30,115 --> 01:29:32,076 that it stay that way. 1602 01:29:32,242 --> 01:29:35,954 Larger states, which would be contributing more in taxes, 1603 01:29:36,121 --> 01:29:39,625 wanted Congress to be based on population. 1604 01:29:39,792 --> 01:29:42,628 Franklin was placed on a committee to find 1605 01:29:42,795 --> 01:29:45,005 a workable compromise. 1606 01:29:45,172 --> 01:29:49,009 ISAACSON: And, finally, Franklin gets up and he says, 1607 01:29:49,176 --> 01:29:51,678 "When we were young tradesmen here in Philadelphia, 1608 01:29:51,845 --> 01:29:54,807 "we had a joint of wood that didn't quite fit, 1609 01:29:54,973 --> 01:29:57,393 "we'd take a little from one side and shave from the other 1610 01:29:57,559 --> 01:30:00,729 until we had a joint that would hold together for centuries." 1611 01:30:00,896 --> 01:30:04,608 And his point was that compromises may not make 1612 01:30:04,775 --> 01:30:08,070 great heroes, but they do make great democracies. 1613 01:30:08,237 --> 01:30:11,240 NARRATOR: As the impasse over apportionment threatened to 1614 01:30:11,407 --> 01:30:14,368 derail the convention, Franklin began inviting 1615 01:30:14,535 --> 01:30:17,413 important delegates to his home, where they could 1616 01:30:17,579 --> 01:30:20,499 socialize in the late afternoon, under the branches 1617 01:30:20,666 --> 01:30:26,505 of his mulberry tree, and try to find common ground. 1618 01:30:26,672 --> 01:30:29,466 ISAACSON: They discuss science, they discuss the things 1619 01:30:29,633 --> 01:30:32,261 they're talking about that they have to compromise on. 1620 01:30:32,428 --> 01:30:35,806 And he helps cool the passions of that hot summer 1621 01:30:35,973 --> 01:30:38,559 under the shade of his mulberry tree. 1622 01:30:41,437 --> 01:30:44,690 NARRATOR: In the end, a compromise was reached. 1623 01:30:44,857 --> 01:30:48,777 Each state would have the same number of senators, 2, 1624 01:30:48,944 --> 01:30:51,613 chosen by their legislatures. 1625 01:30:51,780 --> 01:30:54,533 The members of the House of Representatives would be 1626 01:30:54,700 --> 01:30:59,371 elected by voters, white men only, and each state's share 1627 01:30:59,538 --> 01:31:02,958 would be based on its population. 1628 01:31:03,125 --> 01:31:06,545 To mollify the southern states, their populations 1629 01:31:06,712 --> 01:31:10,340 would include their number of enslaved people, 1630 01:31:10,507 --> 01:31:13,385 but each of those human beings would be counted 1631 01:31:13,552 --> 01:31:17,139 as only three-fifths of a person. 1632 01:31:17,306 --> 01:31:19,308 ELLIS: They can't talk about slavery directly, and the word 1633 01:31:19,475 --> 01:31:24,146 "slavery" is never mentioned in the document itself. 1634 01:31:24,313 --> 01:31:29,276 The difficult fact to accept is that the Union is only 1635 01:31:29,443 --> 01:31:32,237 possible if it includes the South. 1636 01:31:32,404 --> 01:31:36,033 And the states south of the Chesapeake are committed 1637 01:31:36,200 --> 01:31:39,661 to slavery, especially Virginia and South Carolina. 1638 01:31:39,828 --> 01:31:45,042 If you did the moral thing in the summer of 1787 and took 1639 01:31:45,209 --> 01:31:48,837 a clear stand and insisted on it, the Constitution would 1640 01:31:49,004 --> 01:31:50,631 have never passed. 1641 01:31:52,174 --> 01:31:54,718 CHAPLIN: It was a tragic compromise, obviously, for many 1642 01:31:54,885 --> 01:31:57,304 populations in the United States who had no party 1643 01:31:57,471 --> 01:31:59,056 to this agreement. 1644 01:31:59,223 --> 01:32:00,724 They had never agreed that they would be represented 1645 01:32:00,891 --> 01:32:02,559 in this way. 1646 01:32:02,726 --> 01:32:05,479 And, so, the compromise looks especially compromised 1647 01:32:05,646 --> 01:32:07,231 in those terms. 1648 01:32:07,397 --> 01:32:12,361 This is America's original sin, and they know it. 1649 01:32:12,528 --> 01:32:16,240 Nobody in the Convention or at that moment 1650 01:32:16,406 --> 01:32:20,160 talks about slavery as anything other than a necessary evil. 1651 01:32:20,327 --> 01:32:22,496 The original sin of slavery 1652 01:32:22,663 --> 01:32:27,960 was more than just simply compromising. 1653 01:32:28,126 --> 01:32:30,712 The original sin of slavery began, at least 1654 01:32:30,879 --> 01:32:34,258 for these colonists, years before. 1655 01:32:35,717 --> 01:32:40,806 For Franklin, unity and compromise was the only thing 1656 01:32:40,973 --> 01:32:44,142 that could make this new nation move forward. 1657 01:32:44,309 --> 01:32:47,980 Without it, it would be a failed journey. 1658 01:32:48,146 --> 01:32:51,942 American democracy would not develop without it. 1659 01:32:52,109 --> 01:32:56,405 And for that reason, Franklin, as well as others, 1660 01:32:56,572 --> 01:32:59,783 sidestepped the issue of slavery. 1661 01:32:59,950 --> 01:33:04,955 NARRATOR: On September 17, 1787, the delegates gathered 1662 01:33:05,122 --> 01:33:08,250 to vote on the proposed Constitution. 1663 01:33:08,417 --> 01:33:13,088 Benjamin Franklin made the motion for its adoption. 1664 01:33:13,255 --> 01:33:15,382 MAN AS FRANKLIN: I agree to this Constitution 1665 01:33:15,549 --> 01:33:18,385 with all its faults, if they are such, 1666 01:33:18,552 --> 01:33:23,015 because I think a general government necessary for us. 1667 01:33:23,181 --> 01:33:26,602 I doubt, too, whether any other convention we can obtain 1668 01:33:26,768 --> 01:33:29,980 may be able to make a better Constitution. 1669 01:33:30,147 --> 01:33:32,899 For, when you assemble a number of men, to have 1670 01:33:33,066 --> 01:33:36,320 the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably 1671 01:33:36,486 --> 01:33:39,615 assemble with those men all their prejudices, 1672 01:33:39,781 --> 01:33:42,117 their passions, their errors of opinion, 1673 01:33:42,284 --> 01:33:45,412 their local interests, and their selfish views. 1674 01:33:45,579 --> 01:33:48,582 From such an assembly can a perfect production 1675 01:33:48,749 --> 01:33:51,418 be expected? 1676 01:33:51,585 --> 01:33:55,297 It therefore astonishes me, sir, to find this system 1677 01:33:55,464 --> 01:33:59,509 approaching so near to perfection as it does; 1678 01:33:59,676 --> 01:34:03,221 and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting 1679 01:34:03,388 --> 01:34:06,850 with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded, 1680 01:34:07,017 --> 01:34:10,979 like those of the builders of Babel, and that our States are 1681 01:34:11,146 --> 01:34:14,024 on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter 1682 01:34:14,191 --> 01:34:17,444 for the purpose of cutting one another's throats. 1683 01:34:17,611 --> 01:34:22,574 Thus I consent, sir, to this Constitution because I expect 1684 01:34:22,741 --> 01:34:26,662 no better, and because I am not sure that it is 1685 01:34:26,828 --> 01:34:29,706 not the best. 1686 01:34:34,169 --> 01:34:37,923 NARRATOR: Franklin's motion was approved. 1687 01:34:38,090 --> 01:34:42,052 One by one, the delegates signed the new Constitution, 1688 01:34:42,219 --> 01:34:45,722 so it could be sent to the states for ratification. 1689 01:34:45,889 --> 01:34:47,683 SKEMP: He signed it. 1690 01:34:47,849 --> 01:34:53,647 And I think he was relieved that it brought Americans together. 1691 01:34:53,814 --> 01:34:56,024 And that was something that he had wanted ever since 1692 01:34:56,191 --> 01:34:57,984 the Albany Conference. 1693 01:34:58,151 --> 01:35:03,073 He had wanted Americans to be a part of one grand whole. 1694 01:35:03,240 --> 01:35:04,658 This might not be the best, 1695 01:35:04,825 --> 01:35:06,243 but it was the best that you could get, 1696 01:35:06,410 --> 01:35:07,994 and he recognized that. 1697 01:35:08,161 --> 01:35:11,248 The Constitution is the framework for an ongoing 1698 01:35:11,415 --> 01:35:13,583 argument about who we are as a people 1699 01:35:13,750 --> 01:35:15,460 and where power resides. 1700 01:35:15,627 --> 01:35:18,505 And it's presumed that each generation will be engaged 1701 01:35:18,672 --> 01:35:21,007 in an argument and take it in new directions. 1702 01:35:21,174 --> 01:35:23,468 What do we mean by, "We the people"? 1703 01:35:23,635 --> 01:35:25,137 And certainly, we mean a lot more people now 1704 01:35:25,303 --> 01:35:27,389 than we did then. 1705 01:35:27,556 --> 01:35:29,266 NARRATOR: With the work done, 1706 01:35:29,433 --> 01:35:32,769 the doors to Independence Hall were thrown open. 1707 01:35:32,936 --> 01:35:35,188 Franklin was approached by one of the city's 1708 01:35:35,355 --> 01:35:39,151 most prominent citizens, Elizabeth Willing Powel, 1709 01:35:39,317 --> 01:35:42,112 whose own rights had not been considered. 1710 01:35:42,279 --> 01:35:45,991 She asked him, "Well, Doctor, what have we got, 1711 01:35:46,158 --> 01:35:49,369 a republic or a monarchy?" 1712 01:35:49,536 --> 01:35:53,832 "A republic," he answered, "if you can keep it." 1713 01:35:53,999 --> 01:35:57,252 JENKINSON: "A republic, if you can keep it," 1714 01:35:57,419 --> 01:35:59,087 which turns out to be 1715 01:35:59,254 --> 01:36:01,798 maybe the most prophetic sentence of all. 1716 01:36:01,965 --> 01:36:03,633 Everyone who cares about this country 1717 01:36:03,800 --> 01:36:05,886 has to ask that question every day. 1718 01:36:06,052 --> 01:36:09,806 "A republic, if you can keep it." 1719 01:36:12,642 --> 01:36:15,145 MAN AS FRANKLIN: Hitherto, this long life 1720 01:36:15,312 --> 01:36:17,522 has been tolerably happy, 1721 01:36:17,689 --> 01:36:21,234 so that if I were allowed to live it over again, I should 1722 01:36:21,401 --> 01:36:25,405 make no objection, only wishing for leave to do what 1723 01:36:25,572 --> 01:36:30,285 authors do in a second edition OF THEIR WORKS: correct some 1724 01:36:30,452 --> 01:36:32,537 of my Errata. 1725 01:36:40,378 --> 01:36:43,507 NARRATOR: By early 1790, the Constitution 1726 01:36:43,673 --> 01:36:48,053 had been ratified, and Franklin was now 84 years old. 1727 01:36:48,220 --> 01:36:52,140 His kidney stones put him in such pain, he took regular 1728 01:36:52,307 --> 01:36:55,018 doses of laudanum, a tincture of opium, 1729 01:36:55,185 --> 01:36:57,103 to get through the day. 1730 01:36:57,270 --> 01:37:00,398 "I should have died 2 years ago," he wrote to Washington, 1731 01:37:00,565 --> 01:37:03,401 who had been elected as the nation's first president, 1732 01:37:03,568 --> 01:37:05,946 "but I am pleased that I have lived them, 1733 01:37:06,112 --> 01:37:10,826 since they have brought me to see our present Situation." 1734 01:37:10,992 --> 01:37:13,078 MAN AS FRANKLIN: Our grand machine has at length 1735 01:37:13,245 --> 01:37:14,913 begun to work. 1736 01:37:15,080 --> 01:37:19,125 I pray God to bless and guide its operations. 1737 01:37:19,292 --> 01:37:23,463 If any form of government is capable of making a nation happy 1738 01:37:23,630 --> 01:37:27,968 ours I think bids fair for producing that effect. 1739 01:37:28,134 --> 01:37:31,471 But after all, much depends upon the people 1740 01:37:31,638 --> 01:37:33,974 who are to be governed. 1741 01:37:34,140 --> 01:37:38,144 Our new Constitution is now established, everything seems 1742 01:37:38,311 --> 01:37:42,858 to promise it will be durable; but, in this world, nothing is 1743 01:37:43,024 --> 01:37:47,028 certain except death and taxes. 1744 01:37:49,656 --> 01:37:52,367 NARRATOR: As an Enlightenment scientist and inventor, 1745 01:37:52,534 --> 01:37:56,246 he considered America's new democracy an experiment. 1746 01:37:56,413 --> 01:37:58,832 It should be tested and tinkered with, 1747 01:37:58,999 --> 01:38:01,501 if improvements were needed. 1748 01:38:01,668 --> 01:38:05,005 As a man who had once constructed an elaborate chart 1749 01:38:05,171 --> 01:38:08,049 and checklist to help him better himself, 1750 01:38:08,216 --> 01:38:11,928 he still believed in keeping track of his failings. 1751 01:38:12,095 --> 01:38:15,640 Now Benjamin Franklin felt there was still one more 1752 01:38:15,807 --> 01:38:20,979 public duty to carry out, one more of his life's "errata" 1753 01:38:21,146 --> 01:38:23,064 to correct. 1754 01:38:24,482 --> 01:38:26,276 During his time as a delegate 1755 01:38:26,443 --> 01:38:28,528 to the Constitutional Convention, 1756 01:38:28,695 --> 01:38:31,031 Franklin, a former slave owner, 1757 01:38:31,197 --> 01:38:33,116 had accepted the presidency 1758 01:38:33,283 --> 01:38:36,202 of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting 1759 01:38:36,369 --> 01:38:38,163 the Abolition of Slavery, 1760 01:38:38,330 --> 01:38:41,333 a Quaker group in Philadelphia. 1761 01:38:41,499 --> 01:38:45,337 He had considered introducing a statement of principle 1762 01:38:45,503 --> 01:38:46,880 into the Constitution, 1763 01:38:47,047 --> 01:38:50,050 condemning slavery and the slave trade, 1764 01:38:50,216 --> 01:38:53,887 but several delegates had persuaded him to drop it. 1765 01:38:54,054 --> 01:38:58,433 The question of anti-slavery, pro-slavery, was not 1766 01:38:58,600 --> 01:39:02,270 an important issue for the vast majority of people 1767 01:39:02,437 --> 01:39:05,482 who wrote or thought about or argued about 1768 01:39:05,649 --> 01:39:07,359 the American Revolution. 1769 01:39:07,525 --> 01:39:12,072 On the other hand, given the fact that it is the daily 1770 01:39:12,238 --> 01:39:17,118 reality for enslaved men and women, in some ways, that was 1771 01:39:17,285 --> 01:39:20,038 the key question every day. 1772 01:39:20,205 --> 01:39:26,795 The gross hypocrisy in fighting a war for liberty, 1773 01:39:26,962 --> 01:39:31,967 liberty of people, and not including everybody 1774 01:39:32,133 --> 01:39:34,094 was obvious. 1775 01:39:34,260 --> 01:39:38,264 If you're talking about liberty, you're talking about liberty. 1776 01:39:38,431 --> 01:39:41,309 NARRATOR: With the Constitution in place, 1777 01:39:41,476 --> 01:39:46,064 Franklin felt free to address the issue head-on. 1778 01:39:46,231 --> 01:39:47,899 MAN AS FRANKLIN: To the Senate 1779 01:39:48,066 --> 01:39:51,152 and House of Representatives of the United States. 1780 01:39:51,319 --> 01:39:53,363 From a persuasion that equal liberty 1781 01:39:53,530 --> 01:39:55,782 is still the Birthright of all Men, 1782 01:39:55,949 --> 01:40:00,161 we earnestly entreat your serious attention to the subject 1783 01:40:00,328 --> 01:40:03,915 of Slavery; that you will be pleased to countenance 1784 01:40:04,082 --> 01:40:08,169 the Restoration of liberty to those unhappy Men, who alone 1785 01:40:08,336 --> 01:40:10,255 in this land of Freedom 1786 01:40:10,422 --> 01:40:13,717 are degraded into perpetual Bondage, 1787 01:40:13,883 --> 01:40:18,346 that you will devise means for removing this Inconsistency 1788 01:40:18,513 --> 01:40:21,307 from the Character of the American People. 1789 01:40:22,892 --> 01:40:25,228 SCHIFF: The first real act of Franklin's life, 1790 01:40:25,395 --> 01:40:26,980 or the first public act, I guess, 1791 01:40:27,147 --> 01:40:28,982 is his running away from home. 1792 01:40:29,149 --> 01:40:32,485 So, here you have a young man in quest of freedom. 1793 01:40:32,652 --> 01:40:35,739 And the last real act of-- the last public act 1794 01:40:35,905 --> 01:40:39,034 of Franklin's life, um, is a treatise against slavery. 1795 01:40:39,200 --> 01:40:43,955 So, the end--the life is largely bookended in a way, um, 1796 01:40:44,122 --> 01:40:47,709 by these two, um, endorsements, in some way, of freedom. 1797 01:40:47,876 --> 01:40:52,005 Benjamin Franklin evolved as far as his understanding 1798 01:40:52,172 --> 01:40:55,633 of race relations and slavery were concerned. 1799 01:40:55,800 --> 01:40:57,427 He had owned slaves. 1800 01:40:57,594 --> 01:40:59,679 He didn't see anything wrong with it 1801 01:40:59,846 --> 01:41:01,514 until very late in the game. 1802 01:41:01,681 --> 01:41:06,102 But in his last years, he started to change his mind. 1803 01:41:07,604 --> 01:41:11,900 DUNBAR: Philadelphia became a leader in abolition 1804 01:41:12,067 --> 01:41:16,279 and the emancipation of enslaved people of African descent. 1805 01:41:16,446 --> 01:41:21,201 There were laws on the books that began the dismantling 1806 01:41:21,367 --> 01:41:23,369 of slavery. 1807 01:41:23,536 --> 01:41:28,083 It was a train that could not be stopped. 1808 01:41:28,249 --> 01:41:33,797 And, so, we see someone who understands the tide 1809 01:41:33,963 --> 01:41:36,132 of the city, of the state, 1810 01:41:36,299 --> 01:41:40,845 looks at the laws, understands that slavery is going to end, 1811 01:41:41,012 --> 01:41:43,556 at least in Pennsylvania, 1812 01:41:43,723 --> 01:41:46,893 and he got on the right side of that conversation. 1813 01:41:47,060 --> 01:41:49,813 ELLIS: If this were a petition coming from anybody else, 1814 01:41:49,979 --> 01:41:51,898 the Congress would have never even considered it, 1815 01:41:52,065 --> 01:41:53,775 but because of Franklin's signature, 1816 01:41:53,942 --> 01:41:55,819 they're forced to consider it. 1817 01:41:55,985 --> 01:42:00,240 And it's the first outspoken, in public, debate 1818 01:42:00,406 --> 01:42:02,951 in the American history on-- under the new nation 1819 01:42:03,118 --> 01:42:04,911 on slavery. 1820 01:42:05,078 --> 01:42:07,455 NARRATOR: In Congress, the petition was immediately 1821 01:42:07,622 --> 01:42:09,958 attacked by southerners. 1822 01:42:10,125 --> 01:42:13,837 Representative James Jackson of Georgia warned that if 1823 01:42:14,003 --> 01:42:17,173 Congress tried to abolish slavery, it would "light up 1824 01:42:17,340 --> 01:42:20,885 the flame of civil discord" and the southern states 1825 01:42:21,052 --> 01:42:24,764 "will never suffer themselves to be divested of their property 1826 01:42:24,931 --> 01:42:26,724 without a struggle." 1827 01:42:26,891 --> 01:42:31,146 Another congressman claimed that the South's sweltering climate 1828 01:42:31,312 --> 01:42:34,649 prohibited whites from working the soil. 1829 01:42:34,816 --> 01:42:38,153 For that, he said, they needed slaves. 1830 01:42:38,319 --> 01:42:42,407 ISAACSON: And Franklin goes back to a device he had used as 1831 01:42:42,574 --> 01:42:46,369 a teenager, which is to write a parody in the voice 1832 01:42:46,536 --> 01:42:48,329 of somebody else. 1833 01:42:48,496 --> 01:42:53,418 So he writes a sermon that he pretends has been given by 1834 01:42:53,585 --> 01:42:57,172 a Muslim from North Africa about why they have to keep 1835 01:42:57,338 --> 01:43:00,216 white Europeans in slavery. 1836 01:43:00,383 --> 01:43:04,929 And it parodies the entire argument of all those who are 1837 01:43:05,096 --> 01:43:08,850 opposing abolition in the United States. 1838 01:43:09,017 --> 01:43:11,311 NARRATOR: "If we forbear to make slaves 1839 01:43:11,477 --> 01:43:14,939 of the Christians," Franklin's character asks, 1840 01:43:15,106 --> 01:43:21,112 who, in this hot climate, are to cultivate our lands?" 1841 01:43:21,279 --> 01:43:24,073 MAN AS FRANKLIN: And if we set our slaves free, 1842 01:43:24,240 --> 01:43:26,868 what is to be done with them? 1843 01:43:27,035 --> 01:43:30,038 For men accustomed to slavery, will not work 1844 01:43:30,205 --> 01:43:34,834 for a livelihood when not compelled. 1845 01:43:35,001 --> 01:43:40,673 Here they are brought into a land where the sun of Islam 1846 01:43:40,840 --> 01:43:43,468 gives forth its light 1847 01:43:43,635 --> 01:43:46,221 and they have an opportunity of making 1848 01:43:46,387 --> 01:43:51,100 themselves acquainted with the true doctrine, and thereby 1849 01:43:51,267 --> 01:43:55,146 saving their immortal souls. 1850 01:43:56,564 --> 01:43:58,483 JENKINSON: And, so, of course, the reader realizes 1851 01:43:58,650 --> 01:44:01,819 that Franklin is using precisely the same arguments 1852 01:44:01,986 --> 01:44:04,906 of James Jackson of Georgia, which immediately proves to you, 1853 01:44:05,073 --> 01:44:08,660 without question, the absurdity of the arguments. 1854 01:44:08,826 --> 01:44:11,537 This is the genius of Franklin, to--to take something 1855 01:44:11,704 --> 01:44:13,748 and just turn it around, to switch the lens and say, 1856 01:44:13,915 --> 01:44:15,875 "So, how would you like it if it looked like that?" 1857 01:44:16,042 --> 01:44:17,669 [HORSE NICKERS] 1858 01:44:17,835 --> 01:44:21,339 NARRATOR: The House of Representatives voted 29-25 1859 01:44:21,506 --> 01:44:24,425 that "Congress has no authority to interfere" 1860 01:44:24,592 --> 01:44:26,386 on the issue of slavery. 1861 01:44:26,552 --> 01:44:31,808 In the Senate, the petition was tabled without discussion. 1862 01:44:31,975 --> 01:44:34,394 BROWN: What they agree on, more than anything else, 1863 01:44:34,560 --> 01:44:36,646 is we're not talking about this. 1864 01:44:36,813 --> 01:44:39,190 The Federal Government is not talking about this. 1865 01:44:39,357 --> 01:44:41,276 This is not the forum to deal with the national question 1866 01:44:41,442 --> 01:44:43,945 of slavery, because there is no national question. 1867 01:44:44,112 --> 01:44:46,030 It's a state question. 1868 01:44:46,197 --> 01:44:49,617 The question of the future of slavery is really left 1869 01:44:49,784 --> 01:44:51,911 for the individual States to decide. 1870 01:44:52,078 --> 01:44:55,206 That's how we end up with the North-South division. 1871 01:44:55,373 --> 01:44:57,542 BAILYN: I would put it this way. 1872 01:44:57,709 --> 01:45:05,300 Before the Revolution, slavery was never a major public issue. 1873 01:45:05,466 --> 01:45:09,053 There were people who spoke, before the Revolution, 1874 01:45:09,220 --> 01:45:14,350 who spoke against it and gave good reasons to what evil 1875 01:45:14,517 --> 01:45:19,897 it was, but it was not a major public issue. 1876 01:45:20,064 --> 01:45:26,362 After the Revolution, there never was a time when it wasn't. 1877 01:45:34,746 --> 01:45:36,873 MAN AS FRANKLIN: Here is my creed: 1878 01:45:37,040 --> 01:45:41,627 I believe in one God, creator of the universe. 1879 01:45:41,794 --> 01:45:44,714 That he governs it by his providence. 1880 01:45:44,881 --> 01:45:46,674 That he ought to be worshipped. 1881 01:45:46,841 --> 01:45:49,594 That the most acceptable service we render to him 1882 01:45:49,761 --> 01:45:53,181 is doing good to his other children. 1883 01:45:53,348 --> 01:45:57,310 That the soul of man is immortal and will be treated 1884 01:45:57,477 --> 01:46:03,191 with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. 1885 01:46:03,358 --> 01:46:06,736 These I take to be the fundamental principles of all 1886 01:46:06,903 --> 01:46:10,031 sound religion, and I regard them 1887 01:46:10,198 --> 01:46:12,784 in whatever sect I meet with them. 1888 01:46:14,744 --> 01:46:18,373 NARRATOR: Franklin's worsening health kept him housebound. 1889 01:46:18,539 --> 01:46:21,459 "People who live long, who will drink from the cup 1890 01:46:21,626 --> 01:46:24,462 of Life to the very bottom," he wrote a friend, 1891 01:46:24,629 --> 01:46:28,508 "must expect to meet with some of the usual dregs." 1892 01:46:30,176 --> 01:46:34,138 In the spring of 1790, he suffered chest pains 1893 01:46:34,305 --> 01:46:36,849 and a fever that confined him to his bed, 1894 01:46:37,016 --> 01:46:39,227 surrounded by his family. 1895 01:46:39,394 --> 01:46:43,022 He asked his daughter Sally to arrange things so he could 1896 01:46:43,189 --> 01:46:45,066 "die in a decent manner." 1897 01:46:45,233 --> 01:46:50,446 She told him everyone hoped he would live many more years. 1898 01:46:50,613 --> 01:46:53,366 "I hope not," he replied. 1899 01:46:56,285 --> 01:47:02,041 On April 17, 1790, an abscess in his lung burst, 1900 01:47:02,208 --> 01:47:05,461 and he slipped into unconsciousness. 1901 01:47:05,628 --> 01:47:10,258 At 11:00 that night, Benjamin Franklin died. 1902 01:47:10,425 --> 01:47:14,303 He was 84 years old. 1903 01:47:14,470 --> 01:47:16,764 More than 20,000 people, 1904 01:47:16,931 --> 01:47:20,393 the largest crowd Philadelphia had ever seen, 1905 01:47:20,560 --> 01:47:23,438 turned out for his funeral procession. 1906 01:47:23,604 --> 01:47:25,690 Leading it from his house on Market Street 1907 01:47:25,857 --> 01:47:28,609 to the burial ground at Christ Church 1908 01:47:28,776 --> 01:47:33,656 were the clergy of every church of every sect in the city, 1909 01:47:33,823 --> 01:47:36,784 walking arm in arm. 1910 01:47:36,951 --> 01:47:39,370 When he was 22 years old, 1911 01:47:39,537 --> 01:47:42,915 Franklin had composed an epitaph for his grave. 1912 01:47:43,082 --> 01:47:46,085 "The Body of B. Franklin, Printer, 1913 01:47:46,252 --> 01:47:48,588 "Like the Cover of an old Book, 1914 01:47:48,754 --> 01:47:52,508 "Its contents torn out, And Stript of its Lettering 1915 01:47:52,675 --> 01:47:57,096 "and Gilding, "Lies here, Food for Worms. 1916 01:47:57,263 --> 01:48:00,224 "But the Work shall not be wholly lost, 1917 01:48:00,391 --> 01:48:03,978 "For it will, as he believed, appear once more, 1918 01:48:04,145 --> 01:48:06,939 "In a new and more perfect Edition 1919 01:48:07,106 --> 01:48:10,568 Corrected and amended By the Author." 1920 01:48:12,028 --> 01:48:16,574 As he aged, however, the old printer had, of course, 1921 01:48:16,741 --> 01:48:18,743 edited it down. 1922 01:48:18,910 --> 01:48:21,662 The gravestone's epitaph became, 1923 01:48:21,829 --> 01:48:24,540 "BENJAMIN And DEBORAH FRANKLIN." 1924 01:48:27,168 --> 01:48:30,463 He had never completed the autobiography he started 1925 01:48:30,630 --> 01:48:33,841 back in 1771. 1926 01:48:34,008 --> 01:48:38,888 His grandson Temple eventually published the manuscript. 1927 01:48:39,055 --> 01:48:41,807 The book would go through hundreds of editions 1928 01:48:41,974 --> 01:48:44,352 in dozens of languages, 1929 01:48:44,519 --> 01:48:48,523 inspiring generations of ambitious strivers 1930 01:48:48,689 --> 01:48:52,443 wanting to get ahead in life. 1931 01:48:52,610 --> 01:48:54,820 There's nothing dreamy or romantic about Franklin. 1932 01:48:54,987 --> 01:49:00,409 But in that self-improving, marvelously protean way, 1933 01:49:00,576 --> 01:49:03,538 there's something about him that so much becomes what we 1934 01:49:03,704 --> 01:49:06,916 all quest for, what we think of as the sort of, American 1935 01:49:07,083 --> 01:49:08,918 ingenuity, that American feeling that we can 1936 01:49:09,085 --> 01:49:10,711 accomplish anything. 1937 01:49:16,217 --> 01:49:19,470 NARRATOR: In his will, Franklin left most of his wealth 1938 01:49:19,637 --> 01:49:22,265 and possessions to members of his family, 1939 01:49:22,431 --> 01:49:24,976 except to his son William. 1940 01:49:26,769 --> 01:49:30,731 But in memory of his start as a lowly printer's apprentice, 1941 01:49:30,898 --> 01:49:34,860 he created a trust fund, still active today, 1942 01:49:35,027 --> 01:49:38,281 to help young people with ambition and talent 1943 01:49:38,447 --> 01:49:44,870 from his two hometowns of Boston and Philadelphia. 1944 01:49:45,037 --> 01:49:47,123 MAN AS FRANKLIN: I begin to be almost sorry 1945 01:49:47,290 --> 01:49:49,125 I was born so soon, 1946 01:49:49,292 --> 01:49:52,712 since I cannot have the Happiness of knowing what will 1947 01:49:52,878 --> 01:49:55,673 be known 100 Years hence. 1948 01:49:55,840 --> 01:49:59,010 [THUNDER] 1949 01:49:59,176 --> 01:50:02,096 But it is the will of God and Nature that these mortal 1950 01:50:02,263 --> 01:50:05,016 bodies be laid aside. 1951 01:50:05,182 --> 01:50:08,811 Whether I have been doing good or mischief is for time 1952 01:50:08,978 --> 01:50:10,521 to discover. 1953 01:50:10,688 --> 01:50:13,441 I only know that I intended well, 1954 01:50:13,608 --> 01:50:17,570 and I hope all will end well. 1955 01:50:17,737 --> 01:50:19,905 Adieu. 1956 01:50:20,072 --> 01:50:21,574 Benjamin Franklin. 1957 01:50:29,165 --> 01:50:39,164 ♪