Free
After his return from England, Franklin became a Pennsylvania delegate to the Second Continental Congress. This group had a huge job. They had to hold the colonies together. They also had to fight a war against Britain.
Ben knew the only way the colonists could win freedom from Britain was if they got some help. He also knew that the only nation likely to help them was France, Britain’s enemy. Congress asked Franklin to represent them in Paris. Although he was past 70 and a widower, Ben sailed to France.
The American cause was popular in Paris. Volunteers crossed the Atlantic to fight for the colonists. The French government gave the Americans secret loans to buy guns. That was even before Franklin worked out a formal agreement with the French in 1778.
