The Glorious Cause Read Free Page A

France.
    With the threat shifting toward New York, Greene marches out of Boston in April 1776. When he arrives at his new post, he is promoted to major general and assumes command of the troops on Long Island. He observes the British ships sailing into New York Harbor, but is taken ill and can only observe from the misery of a sickbed as Washington confronts the growing threat of full-scale war.
    B ENJAMIN F RANKLIN
    Born 1706, in Boston, to a modest working-class family. As a teen he demonstrates a flair for the printing trade, apprentices for his brother in a family business. He runs away to Philadelphia, pursues the trade with anyone who will employ him and, within a few years, rises from the most menial of positions to control of his own business.
    In 1730, he marries Deborah Read, who provides him with two children, only one of whom, Sally, will survive to adulthood. He also has an illegitimate son, William, whom he neither hides nor excuses.
    As a young adult, he discovers a talent for the written word and proceeds to become the most famed social commentator and satirist of his day. Through his numerous articles, and the publication of his magazine, Poor Richard’s Almanack, Franklin becomes famous and quite wealthy.
    He is recognized as Philadelphia’s most illustrious citizen and founds a lengthy list of community organizations aimed at both mind and body, as well as the public safety. He founds the colony’s first fire department, library, and an academy that will become the University of Pennsylvania.
    Not content merely to write, he expands his interests into science and involves himself in some of the most radical experiments of his day, involving electricity and magnetism, fluid mechanics and meteorology, among many other fields.
    He serves the British crown as postmaster general of the colonies and travels frequently to England. In the mid-1760s, he makes a journey that will take him away from Philadelphia for more than ten years, during which time his wife dies.
    As his stature increases, he travels throughout Europe, entertains and impresses the monarchies and intellectual elite of several nations. He is the most famous American in England and serves as the legislative representative to the royal government from four different colonies, which quickly draws him into the escalating controversies. His love of England blinds him to the seriousness of colonial protest, but as protest escalates into violence, he witnesses firsthand the blithe dismissal of all things American and the base corruption behind much of British policy. Finally understanding that colonists are in fact second-class citizens, Franklin begins to work to ease tensions. But instead he experiences what he feels is a fatal arrogance on the part of the British. When he is targeted personally, his love affair with England comes to an end, and in early 1775, he returns to Philadelphia.
    His son William has become the royal governor of New Jersey and remains fiercely loyal to the king. It is a stance Franklin cannot tolerate, and the two men permanently sever their relationship.
    As a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, Franklin does not engage in the debates, but serves as a quiet sage, and ultimately has considerable influence in bringing about the approval of the Declaration of Independence. Along with John Adams, Franklin assists Thomas Jefferson in the document’s creation.
    He serves on a committee that opens the first contact with Britain’s traditional enemy, France, seeking to form an alliance that can provide the colonies with the means of defending themselves, as well as opening up fresh lines of trade and commerce closed by the British. The diplomatic efforts are discreet and dangerous. Once King George declares the colonies to be in rebellion, any nation that makes contact with the American congress is trespassing into British affairs and risks a war of its own. But the French see an opportunity to gain power through an