SILAS DEANE

Groton, Connecticut
December 24, 1737−September 23, 1789
Framed Framer

Silas Deane was just the man the Americans needed to convince the French to support their cause. He was a wealthy lawyer, merchant, and politician whose diplomatic skills were supposed to complement those of his fellow ambassadors, Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee, although it did not turn out that way. But he was also willing to use the war as an opportunity to make a profit for himself, which didn’t always sit well with some patriots—and led to questions in Congress about his integrity and judgment. Deane, a member of the Connecticut Colonial Assembly (1772–74) and the Continental Congress from 1774−76, persuaded a few European military officers to enlist in the Continental armed forces to fight against the British. Some of the European officers were more interested in personal glory than the American cause. For his efforts, Deane was recalled under a cloud of suspicion, exiled from his home country, and possibly murdered.

From Connecticut to France

Silas Deane was solidifying his reputation in Connecticut as a man to be trusted in the days leading up to the American Revolution based on his integrity as a businessman and representative in the colony’s General Assembly. When the call went out for delegates to the First Continental Congress in 1774, Deane was among those chosen, and he was reappointed in 1775.

Deane was optimistic that the Congress could find a way to get the colonies out from under British rule. He was even more convinced after he arrived in the thriving city of Philadelphia, the largest city in the colonies at the time, and met the other delegates of distinction. Congressional leaders were so impressed with his abilities that they sent him to France to seek French support for American independence.

Deane joined Franklin and Lee in Paris to negotiate an alliance with France. The United States and France signed two separate treaties on February 6, 1778: the Treaty of Alliance, and a Treaty of Amity and Commerce that promoted trade and commercial ties between the two countries. According to the terms of the Treaty of Alliance, both countries agreed not to negotiate a separate peace with Great Britain. More importantly, American independence would be a condition of any future peace agreement.

REVOLUTIONARY REVELATIONS

Silas Deane and his brother Simeon operated a successful privateering business during the war. They, like so many other merchant-patriots, were adept at converting patriotism into profits in the interest of “helping their country.”

“Jealous-Lee”

The arms and supplies France sent to the Continental Army played a major role in its surprising victory over British troops at Saratoga, New York, in September and October 1777. Historians suggest that the victory was the turning point in the war. It elevated the Continental Army’s morale and removed the aura of invincibility many Americans thought surrounded their British foe.

But Arthur Lee grew jealous of Silas Deane’s success in Paris and accused Deane that year of embezzling some of the funds intended to pay for such arms. Lee suspected Franklin had done the same thing, which Franklin denied.

Congress recalled Deane to investigate his alleged questionable conduct. On November 27, 1777, it appointed John Adams to replace Deane in Paris.

Deane delayed his return to the colonies until the treaties were signed. Then he returned in a triumphant manner aboard a French warship to defend himself. It was not surprising that Deane made a few business deals of his own in Paris. After all, he arrived there in July 1776 ostensibly as a businessman. The Committee of Secret Correspondence had told him, “On your arrival in France, you will for some time be engaged in the business of providing goods for the Indian trade. This will give good countenance to your appearing in the character of a merchant, which we wish you continually to retain among the French, in general, it being probable that the court of France may not like it should be known publicly that any agent from the Colonies is in that country.”

Nothing More Than Shoddy Bookkeeping

Perhaps Deane created some of his troubles. Several of the European officers he recruited comported themselves badly during the war. Irish General Thomas Conway became involved in a cabal to overthrow General George Washington, and Comte de Broglie, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Baron de Kalb hatched a scheme to install Lafayette as the commander in chief of the American army. Critics viewed Deane’s involvement with such officers as a reflection on his inability to assess officers’ ethics and leadership skills. And there was no doubt Deane and some silent partners were making lucrative business deals on the side. There were no direct connections between and among the various charges and suspicions about Deane’s conduct in Paris, but Congress was determined to investigate Lee’s allegations.

The long, bitter hearings regarding Deane’s conduct were messy. France refused to furnish copies of receipts and other documents, claiming that to do so would demonstrate that they had been involved in diplomatic negotiations with a noncountry prior to signing treaties with it. That would embarrass the French.

Deane went on the offensive. He demanded that Congress break off diplomatic relations with France and questioned the integrity of members of Congress who disagreed with him.

Deane returned to Paris in 1781 to find copies of documents such as receipts and journal entries that would prove his innocence. But, Congress was in no hurry to review the accounts he prepared. His cause was lost. Worse, his American colleagues were reluctant to let him return to the colonies because they thought he was a traitor to their cause.

A Man Without a Country

Deane stayed in Europe for a few years, first in the Netherlands and then England, where he lived in poverty. He published a defense of his actions in An Address to the Free and Independent Citizens of the United States of North America, which was published in Hartford, Connecticut, and London in 1784. He planned a return to the United States in 1789 to establish his innocence and reclaim his wealth, but he became mysteriously ill before his ship sailed for home. There was some speculation that he had been poisoned deliberately by a British spy. He died on September 23, 1789.

Congress never found Deane guilty of anything. His family did not believe he was. His granddaughter Philura and her husband pressed Congress to review his case. It did—and exonerated him.

Deane was one of the most ill-fated of the founders of the United States. At least he has a highway, a school, and a library named after him in Wethersfield, Connecticut. Someone believed in him—albeit many years after he died in disgrace.

FEDERAL FACTS

Silas Deane’s family received $37,000 in 1841 after Congress determined that a former audit was “ex parte (from a one-sided or strongly biased point of view), erroneous, and a gross injustice to Silas Deane.”