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Franklin proved himself to be a crafty diplomat. By the end of 1777, after the great American victory at [[Battle of Saratoga|Saratoga]], the French became confident the Americans were strong enough to prevail. The French favored an alliance with the Americans, but their ally Spain was opposed, fearing that anti-imperial republicanism might emerge ion Spain's many colonies. Franklin played on the traditional hatred between the British and the French, using the press to get his messages across. On February 5, 1778 he officially signed a treaty of alliance with France with the stipulation that the U.S. must have France's approval to negotiate peace with Britain. The American revolution was now a world war, and as the Netherlands and Spain joined France, and the rest remained neutral, Britain was outnumbered on land and sea and had little hope of defeating the Allies. French aid proved to be critical to the Americans success, most notably in October 1781 at [[Siege of Yorktown|Yorktown]] in which the victory at sea of the French fleet over the British fleet, and the 15,000 French ground troops forced the British to surrender. The Revolutionary war was now won, but negotiations dragged on until 1783.
Franklin proved himself to be a crafty diplomat. By the end of 1777, after the great American victory at [[Battle of Saratoga|Saratoga]], the French became confident the Americans were strong enough to prevail. The French favored an alliance with the Americans, but their ally Spain was opposed, fearing that anti-imperial republicanism might emerge ion Spain's many colonies. Franklin played on the traditional hatred between the British and the French, using the press to get his messages across. On February 5, 1778 he officially signed a treaty of alliance with France with the stipulation that the U.S. must have France's approval to negotiate peace with Britain. The American revolution was now a world war, and as the Netherlands and Spain joined France, and the rest remained neutral, Britain was outnumbered on land and sea and had little hope of defeating the Allies. French aid proved to be critical to the Americans success, most notably in October 1781 at [[Siege of Yorktown|Yorktown]] in which the victory at sea of the French fleet over the British fleet, and the 15,000 French ground troops forced the British to surrender. The Revolutionary war was now won, but negotiations dragged on until 1783.
===Disinherits his son===
In 1789 Franklin disinherited his only living son, William, who had been Franklin's close personal friend and, beginning in the 1750s, his political protégé. Franklin used his contacts in London to have William named royal governor of New Jersey, a lurative and highly prestigious position. In 1774, when Franklin was fired as head of the American postal system and publicly humiliated at Whitehall, he believed his son would resign as governor to protest his father's treatment. When William failed to do this and even admonished his father to accept his fate and take a comfortable retirement, an irreparable breach was created between father and son, a rift widened by the son's loyalty to the British crown during the Revolutionary War. Although William attempted to reestablish a father-son relationship, Benjamin refused and could never forgive his son for the public nature of the humiliation he felt William had caused him.<ref>Sheila L. Skemp, "Benjamin Franklin, Patriot, and William Franklin, Loyalist." ''Pennsylvania History'' 1998 65(1): 35-45. </ref>
==Constitutional Convention==
==Constitutional Convention==