For eight years more, while America was busy opposing the tax on tea, Franklin was in England trying to get Parliament and the king to give the Americans better treatment. But it was all in vain. He often talked with William Pitt, the great friend of America, who introduced into Parliament a plan for making friends between the two countries. But the plan was defeated.
Hastens home
Franklin saw that war would come, and hastened back to his beloved America, where he arrived just after the battle at Lexington and Concord (1775).
Franklin plans union
Pennsylvania sent him to the Congress of 1775, which, sitting in Philadelphia, made George Washington general of the Continental army. Franklin saw that if the thirteen scattered colonies were to defeat Great Britain they must unite. So he introduced into Congress a plan of union, but the other members were not ready for it.
Helps write the Declaration of Independence
Franklin was one of five men who were named by Congress to write the Declaration of Independence (1776).
Franklin in France
Soon after, Congress sent him to France to influence the king and the people of that country to aid America in winning independence. The French hated the English, but admired Benjamin Franklin. The king gave money secretly, and many French officers came to serve in the American army.
France sends aid