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MAN AS BENJAMIN FRANKLIN:
Being now in my last Act,
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I begin to cast about
for something fit to end with.
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00:00:15,516 --> 00:00:19,562
Or if mine be more properly
compar'd to an Epigram,
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I am very
desirous of concluding
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00:00:22,231 --> 00:00:24,066
with a bright Point.
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Benjamin Franklin.
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SCHIFF: The thing
about Franklin is,
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whatever you say about him,
on the one hand,
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you can always say
the opposite, as well.
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00:00:32,366 --> 00:00:35,036
I mean, this is a man who is
very much pro-temperance
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00:00:35,202 --> 00:00:37,371
and he writes
bawdy drinking songs.
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He founds a fire company,
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00:00:39,081 --> 00:00:41,042
and he founds a fire
insurance company.
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He does play all sides.
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But during those British
years, he very much plays
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the British gentleman.
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He has a--a crest on the
door of his carriage.
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And, yet, by the time he
becomes an American rebel,
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so to speak, he is
entirely an American.
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NARRATOR: In January of 1775,
Benjamin Franklin turned 69.
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He had already achieved
extraordinary success
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as a printer and publisher
in his adopted hometown
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of Philadelphia, where
a library, a college,
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and countless
civic improvements
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testified to his belief
that his highest calling
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lay not in making money,
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but in improving
the lives of everyday people.
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[THUNDER]
And his revolutionary
breakthroughs
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in unraveling
the mysteries of electricity
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had made him the most famous
American in the world.
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ELLIS: He is every man,
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but he's a very
extraordinary every man.
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He was a Nobel Prize-winning
caliber scientist,
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probably the great--greatest
prose stylist of his generation,
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and he's probably
the greatest diplomat
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in American history.
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NARRATOR: Franklin had been in
England for the last decade,
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trying desperately to bridge
the growing gulf
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between Parliament
and the American colonies.
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Only a year earlier,
the future he had envisioned
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for himself and his family
seemed bright and tethered
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inextricably to
the British Empire.
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Now that dream was in ruins.
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During his long absence
from home,
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he had missed his wife
Deborah's death and funeral.
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In London, in a government
chamber called the Cockpit,
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he had been
publicly humiliated,
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accused of inciting the colonial
crisis he had, in fact,
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worked so hard to prevent.
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And as that crisis
intensified, his son William,
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now the royal governor
of New Jersey,
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seemed to be choosing
the wrong side.
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SKEMP: The longer William
stayed in New Jersey,
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the more corrupt
and rebellious and selfish
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the colonies started to
look to him
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and the more wonderful and
inspiring the Crown looked.
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I think that the longer that
Benjamin Franklin stayed
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in England, the more he
idealized the colonies and saw
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the corruption and venality
around him in England.
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And so, they began
to see things
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kind of as a mirror
image of one another.
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NARRATOR: For years,
Franklin had reveled
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in the intellectual
life of Britain.
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But increasingly, he dwelled
more on the differences
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between the Old World
and the New,
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rather than what they
shared in common.
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MAN AS FRANKLIN:
In America,
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People do not enquire,
concerning a stranger,
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"What is he?"
but "What can he do?"
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[TAPPING]
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The people have a saying,
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that God Almighty is himself
a mechanic,
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the greatest
in the universe;
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and he is respected more
for the variety, ingenuity,
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and utility
of his handiworks
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than for the antiquity
of his family.
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NARRATOR: "Life," he once said,
"is like chess."
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And in the turbulent years
ahead, as his country and his
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family would be challenged as
never before, Benjamin Franklin
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would need every skill
the game had taught him.
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MAN AS FRANKLIN:
The game of chess
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is not merely
an idle amusement.
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By playing at chess,
we may learn, Foresight,
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Circumspection,
Caution.
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The habit of not being
discouraged by present
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bad appearances in the state
of our affairs,
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the habit of hoping for
a favorable change,
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and that
of persevering.
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He's different from
the other Founders,
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from a Washington,
from a Jefferson.
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He's older.
And so he brought a past,
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a past in which he created
himself as a man.
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He brought his wisdom,
his experience,
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his travel abroad to make,
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I think, a much more
cosmopolitan and urbane
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understanding of what
America could be.
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BRANDS: Franklin was born an
Englishman, like everybody else
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in the American Colonies
of his generation.
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He died an American.
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He is made to realize that he
will never be allowed to be
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sort of a--a fully recognized,
respected Briton.
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And, for that reason,
he decides he has to
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become an American.
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MAN AS WILLIAM FRANKLIN:
Dear Father,
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00:06:02,488 --> 00:06:04,573
The Measure of Sending
Troops to Boston
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is putting a Stop
to the Riots.
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The same Spirit however,
still prevails
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in the Colonies, and nothing
can make them acknowledge
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the Right of the Parliament
to tax them.
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Your dutiful son,
William.
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[SHOUTING,
GLASS BREAKING]
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NARRATOR: The repercussions of
the Boston Tea Party
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had created a tinderbox
in the American colonies.
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King George III ordered
a crackdown
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on the American upstarts.
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"The New England governments
are in a state of rebellion,"
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he declared.
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"Blows must decide whether
they are to be subject
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to this country
or independent."
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Parliament quickly passed
a flurry of new laws.
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Until the East India Company was
compensated for its lost tea,
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Boston Harbor
was to be closed.
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[SHOUTING, GLASS BREAKING]
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Massachusetts was placed
under martial law,
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the colonial charter
was suspended,
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the elected assembly outlawed,
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and most public meetings
banned.
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00:07:09,304 --> 00:07:12,141
Communities were required
to provide quarters
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for British troops.
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00:07:14,685 --> 00:07:19,273
Americans called the new
laws the Intolerable Acts.
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Protests sprang up
in every colony.
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Committees of correspondence
were established.
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They urged colonists "not to
purchase any goods which shall
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be imported from
Great Britain."
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Each colony was asked
to send delegates
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to a Continental Congress
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that could propose
a united response.
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In New Jersey, Governor
William Franklin wrote to his
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superiors in London.
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MAN AS WILLIAM FRANKLIN:
My Lord,
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His Majesty
may be assured that I shall
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omit nothing in my Power to
keep this Province quiet,
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no Attachments or Connexions
shall ever make me swerve
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from the Duty of my Station.
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Your Lordship's most obedient
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and humble Servant.
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NARRATOR: For more than
a decade, William Franklin
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had managed better
than other colonial governors
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to work with his assembly
and steer it toward a more
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moderate course.
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"The most despotic and worst
of all Tyrannies," he told them,
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is "the Tyranny of the Mob,
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"which must at length
involve us all
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in one common ruin."
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William wrote to his father
in London suggesting that
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the necessary first step was for
Boston to "do justice" and pay
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for the tons of tea that
had been destroyed.
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MAN AS FRANKLIN: Dear Son,
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As to "doing Justice,"
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that should have been
thought of by Parliament
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before they demanded it
of the Bostonians.
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They have extorted many
Thousand Pounds from America
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unconstitutionally
and with an armed Force.
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Of this Money, they ought
to make Restitution.
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But you, who are a thorough
Courtier, see everything
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with Government Eyes.
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NARRATOR:
The Franklins were coming to
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different conclusions about
which side was to blame,
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but both men still hoped that
a complete split between
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Britain and her colonies
might be avoided.
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The British government
was never a monolith.
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There were always dissenters,
sympathizers with America,
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people who thought that
Americans were justified
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in their opposition.
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There were people, well-placed
within the British Government,
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who believed, with Franklin,
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that the future of the
British Empire could be great
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and could be bright if
the British government
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recognized that America could be
this second pillar
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of a transatlantic empire.
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NARRATOR: Working
behind the scenes,
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because his
public image in England
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was now so badly tarnished,
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Franklin and sympathetic
members of Parliament
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struggled to find
some compromise
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that could avert a war.
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But nothing came of it.
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BROWN: Franklin knows exactly
what's going on.
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And what's going on
leads him to despair.
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I'm not sure there were many
who were more disappointed
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by the separation
than Franklin.
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In part, because I think
he really thought it
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was avoidable.
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MAN AS WILLIAM FRANKLIN:
Gentlemen,
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You have now two roads--
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one evidently leading to peace,
happiness, and a restoration
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of the public tranquility--
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00:10:40,349 --> 00:10:43,060
the other inevitably
conducting you
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to anarchy, misery,
and all the horrors
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of a civil war.
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NARRATOR: In New Jersey,
William had refused to
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convene the colonial assembly
in order to prevent them from
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00:10:58,408 --> 00:11:01,912
sending delegates to
the Continental Congress.
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00:11:02,079 --> 00:11:05,624
They chose representatives
anyway.
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00:11:05,791 --> 00:11:08,502
When the Congress met
in Philadelphia
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00:11:08,669 --> 00:11:12,464
in the fall of 1774,
it had asserted that only
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elected colonial legislatures
had the right of taxation
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00:11:16,927 --> 00:11:18,512
within their borders.
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00:11:18,679 --> 00:11:21,181
It banned all imports
from Britain
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until the Intolerable
Acts were repealed
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and set a deadline
for Parliament to do it.
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00:11:28,105 --> 00:11:32,317
Otherwise, American exports
to England would cease
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00:11:32,484 --> 00:11:37,197
and a Second Continental
Congress would convene in 1775
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to consider further steps.
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If only his father had been
there, William wrote, he might
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have been able to steer the
Congress toward something
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00:11:47,165 --> 00:11:49,292
less confrontational.
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MAN AS WILLIAM FRANKLIN: However
mad you may think the Measures
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00:11:53,296 --> 00:11:56,550
of the Ministry are, yet I
trust you have Candor enough
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00:11:56,717 --> 00:12:00,387
to acknowledge that we are no
ways behind hand with them
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00:12:00,554 --> 00:12:04,474
in Instances of Madness
on this Side of the Water.
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00:12:07,102 --> 00:12:09,187
NARRATOR:
Benjamin Franklin now believed
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00:12:09,354 --> 00:12:13,400
any chances of averting war
were unlikely; but he was
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growing more and more worried
that he and William
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00:12:16,820 --> 00:12:20,115
were ending up
on opposing sides.
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00:12:20,282 --> 00:12:23,034
He was ready to head for home.
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00:12:23,201 --> 00:12:26,288
If he couldn't keep the
colonies and England together,
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00:12:26,455 --> 00:12:30,459
at least he might be
able to keep his son.
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00:12:30,625 --> 00:12:32,085
[SEAGULLS CRYING]
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On March 21, 1775,
Franklin finally set sail
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for Philadelphia.
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00:12:38,967 --> 00:12:43,221
With him was William's own son,
Temple, who had been born
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out of wedlock 15 years
earlier in England
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00:12:47,017 --> 00:12:51,021
and discreetly given over
to a foster family.
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00:12:51,188 --> 00:12:54,399
In London, Benjamin had
decided to take custody
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00:12:54,566 --> 00:12:57,277
of the boy and enrolled him
in school
237
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but did not tell him
he was his grandfather.
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00:13:00,947 --> 00:13:05,035
Now, he was bringing Temple to
America, where he would meet
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00:13:05,202 --> 00:13:08,121
the father he had never known.
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00:13:08,288 --> 00:13:12,542
ISAACSON: When Benjamin Franklin
sails home in 1775,
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00:13:12,709 --> 00:13:14,878
he's estranged
from William.
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00:13:15,045 --> 00:13:16,880
His wife Deborah has died.
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00:13:17,047 --> 00:13:20,592
He feels this enormous
sense of failure.
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00:13:20,759 --> 00:13:24,513
His whole mission had been
to try to hold the Colonies
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00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:26,181
and Britain together.
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00:13:26,348 --> 00:13:27,974
And that has failed.
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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
& destroy the French Fleet,
Land their Army & 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
& 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
& 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
♪
155076
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