Schiff - A great improvisation : Franklin, France, and the birth of America

Adams, John (17351826) Brilliant Massachusetts writer, orator, lawyer, statesman; austere, thin-skinned, fretful. Named to replace Deane as American commissioner to France, 1777. Recalled, 1779; returned to France months later. Assigned to secure a loan from the Netherlands, 1780; with Jay and Franklin, negotiated peace of 1783. Trailed through Paris a reputation for vanity and gracelessness.

Aranda, Pedro Pablo Abarca De Bolea, Conde De (17181783) Spanish ambassador to France, out of favor with his own court. Set the gold standard for opulent living among the diplomatic corps.

Bache, Benjamin Franklin (17691798) Known as Benny. Eldest child of Franklins daughter, Sally Bache, and her husband, Richard. Accompanied Franklin to France. To Geneva for school, 1779. Apprentice printer in Paris, 17841785.

Bache, Sally Franklin (17431808) Franklins only daughter. Every bit the unflappable excellent female patriot that one French officer applauded; collected funds and sewed shirts for American troops. Benevolent, capable, and dutiful in the extreme. Married Richard Bache, 1767. Mother of eight.

Bancroft, Edward (17451821) Unofficial secretary to Franklin and the commission, 17761783. Native of Westfield, Massachusetts; physician, scientist, novelist, inventor. Highly congenial and gregarious, more so with a bottle of Burgundy. An impressive gourmand.

Beaumarchais, Pierre-Augustin Caron De (17321799) Incandescent, irrepressible secret agent, journalist, playwright, arms contractor. Initial conduit of military supplies from French government. Proclaimed himself the agent, apostle, and martyr of the American cause; acted all three parts to perfection. Intimate of Maurepas.

Brillon De Jouy, Anne-Louise Boivin Dhardancourt (17441824) Franklins fluttery, porcelain-skinned neighbor, pianist, and composer. Wife of Jacques Brillon, mother of Cungonde and Aldegonde.

Cabanis, Pierre-Jean-Georges (17571808) Medical student and poet, houseguest of and secretary to Madame Helvtius.

Carmichael, William (d. 1795) Widowed and wealthy Maryland native, self-appointed secretary to American commission. Member of Continental Congress, 17781779; accompanied Jay to Spain in 1780 as secretary. Swaggering and conniving; trusted least by those who knew him best. Even Mrs. Jay marveled over the cloven foot.

Chaumont, Jacques-Donatien Le Ray De (17251803) Splendidly successful entrepreneur, Franklins landlord and closest advisor. Principal private supplier of American aid. Advanced funds for dEstaings 1778 campaign; secured ships for Joness 1779 expedition. Closely tied to Vergennes and Sartine.

Cry, Anne-Emmanuel-Ferdinand-Franois, Duc De (17181784) Decorated general and fortifications expert; named marshal of France in 1783. Dabbled in natural history, exploration, astronomy. Public-spirited and pious; confidant of Maurepas.

Deane, Silas (17371789) Son of a Connecticut blacksmith, Yale class of 1758. Dispatched by Congress to enlist French aid, 1776. Appointed with Franklin and Lee as American commissioner to negotiate a treaty, September 1776; recalled 1778. Returned to Europe in a private capacity, 1780. Combative, opportunistic lawyer, self-righteous and self-dramatizing. Childhood tutor to Bancroft.

Dubourg, Jacques Barbeu-(17091779) Kindhearted and excitable physician and writer, translator and publisher of Franklins works in 1773. First contact for American emissaries in 1776. So vocal an America advocate that the abb Morellet finally inquired what colony precisely Dubourg hailed from.

Edwards, Edward (17451821) Ingenious British spy, responsible on Tuesday evenings for secreting dispatches out of Franklins house and to the Tuileries, to be sunk into the ground. Unconditionally trusted by the Americans; less trusted by his British employers, known to intercept his personal correspondence.

Estaing, Charles-Henri, Comte D (17291794) Franklins across-the-lane neighbor and prominent admiral, commander of French squadron sent to America in 1778. Unpopular for having abandoned siege at Newport, 1778. Captured St. Vincent and Grenada; wounded at Savannah, 1779. Returned to Passy on crutches, December 1779.

Franklin, William (c. 17301813) Son of Franklin and an unknown mother, raised by Franklins wife, Deborah. After 1763, royal governor of New Jersey. Arrested and imprisoned, 1776; exchanged 1778. Loyalist leader in London.

Franklin, William Temple (17601823) Known as Temple, son of William Franklin and an unknown mother. Private secretary to Franklin during the French mission; returned to America in 1785. A poised, long-lashed, French-speaking version of his grandfather, who loved him better than anything in the world.

Grard, Conrad-Alexandre (17291790) Bilingual lawyer and diplomat, trusted undersecretary to Vergennes. Assisted in negotiations for and signed the French-American Treaty of Alliance, 1778. First foreign minister to the United States, 17781779. Brother of Joseph-Mathias Grard de Rayneval, also a Vergennes aide.

Grand, Rodolphe-Ferdinand (17261794) In conjunction with his Amsterdam-based brother, Georges, Americas banker and financial agent. Longtime collaborator of Vergennes. Franklins next-door neighbor.

Helvtius, Anne-Catherine De Ligniville DAutricourt (17191800) Connoisseur of the arts, patron of the sciences, center of Franklins social life in Passy. Blowsy, still-beautiful widow of Claude-Adrien Helvtius, Farmer General and philosopher. Franklins most intimate link to the original Enlightenment cast, Diderot, dAlembert, Condorcet, Turgot.

Hewson, Mary Stevenson (17341795) Known as Polly. Daughter of Franklins London admirer and landlady, Margaret Stevenson. Walked down the aisle by Franklin in 1770; mother of three children; widowed in 1774. Angular-faced, well-read, unaffected.

Izard, Ralph (17421804) Born Charleston, South Carolina, to a wealthy family of rice planters. Appointed American commissioner to Tuscany, 1777; never left Paris. Recalled 1779; served in Congress, 17821783. Athletic, smart, aristocratic, father of fourteen.

Jay, John (17451829) Straight-spined New York lawyer. President of Continental Congress, 17781779; minister plenipotentiary to Spain, 17791782, though never received there; peace commissioner with Adams and Franklin, 17821783. Secretary for foreign affairs, 17841790.

Jefferson, Thomas (17431826) Virginia statesman, author of Declaration of Independence. Appointed envoy to France, September 1776 (but declined), appointed peace commissioner to France, August 1781 (but declined), appointed peace commissioner November 1782 (accepted, but turned back as peace was already concluded). Arrived in France in 1785, to succeed Franklin as minister plenipotentiary.

Jones, John Paul (17471792) American naval captain. Given command of the Bonhomme Richard in 1779; defeated the British at Flamborough Head. Returned to America on the Alliance , 1781.

Lafayette, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roche-Gilbert Du Motier, Marquis De (17571834) Against Louis XVIs orders, sailed to America as a French captain, 1777; returned 1778, as an American major general. Urged an invasion of Britain; lobbied for funds at Versailles; encouraged Rochambeaus dispatch; adopted Washington as his father. Led a New England battalion at Yorktown, 1781. Promoted to marshal, 1782.