Download Benjamin Franklin, French Alliance and Yorktown

Compass Life Adult Sunday School
Pastor Pete
May 7, 2017
“Benjamin Franklin, French Alliance and Yorktown”
I. The Battle of Yorktown, Virginia (1781)
General George Washington, commanding a force of 17,000 French and Continental troops, begins the siege
known as the Battle of Yorktown against British General Lord Charles Cornwallis and a contingent of 9,000
British troops at Yorktown. The French fleet commanded by Francois, Count de Grasse, departed St. Domingue
(____________) for the Chesapeake Bay, just as Cornwallis chose Yorktown, at the mouth of the Chesapeake,
as his base. Washington ordered Marquis de Lafayette and an American army of 5,000 troops to block
Cornwallis’ escape from Yorktown by land while the French naval fleet blocked the British escape by sea. By
September 28, Washington had completely ______________ Cornwallis and Yorktown with the combined
forces of Continental and French troops (led by Rochambeau). After __________________ of non-stop
bombardment, both day and night, from cannon and artillery, Cornwallis surrendered to Washington on October
17, 1781, effectively ending the War for Independence. Pleading ____________, Cornwallis did not attend the
formal surrender ceremony, held on October 19. Instead, his second in command, General Charles O’Hara,
carried Cornwallis’ sword to the American and French commanders. The French, and George Washington
refused the sword; eventually it was received by _____________________ (Washington’s second in
command). Although the war persisted on the high seas and in other theaters, the Patriot victory at Yorktown
ended fighting in the American colonies. In this battle between the French, Americans, and British nearly one
third of the soldiers were _____________. There were thousands on each side. The British Prime Minister, Lord
North, _______________ after the British defeat and surrender at Yorktown. The British leader, General
Cornwallis, was expecting to get reinforcements from the British Navy that never came.
II. French Alliance
Motivated by a long-term rivalry with _____________ and to avenge their territorial losses during the French
and Indian War, France secretly began sending ______________ to the Americans in 1775. By 1763, the
French debt acquired to fight in the French and Indian War came to a staggering ______________ livres.
France obtained its revenge against Britain by assisting the Americans; however, it gained little real value and
her massive debt severely weakened the government and escalated it towards the French ________________.
The French objective in assisting the Americans was to weaken Britain and to seek revenge for the defeat in
the Seven Years' War. In 1777, America captured the British invasion army at Saratoga. In 1778, France
recognized the United States of America as a _____________ nation, signed a military alliance, and went to
war with Britain. France built coalitions with the Netherlands and ___________, provided Americans with
grants, weapons and loans, sent a combat army to serve under George Washington, and provided a navy that
prevented the British army from escaping Yorktown in 1781. France initially sent agents to observe the war,
organized secret supplies, and began preparations for war against Britain in support of the rebels. France was
also predominantly ____________, and the colonies were Protestant. _______________ served as the American
ambassador to France from 1776 to 1785 and he met with many leading diplomats, aristocrats, intellectuals,
scientists and financiers. Franklin's image and writings caught the French imagination.
III. Ben Franklin, A Complicated Life
Benjamin Franklin was born on Milk Street, in _____________, on January 17, 1706, and baptized at Old South
Meeting House. He was one of 17 children born to Josiah Franklin, and one of 10 born by Josiah's second wife;
Josiah wanted Ben to be a _________. He attended Boston Latin School and did not graduate; he continued his
education through voracious ____________. At 12 he became an apprentice to his brother James, a printer, who
taught Ben the printing trade. Franklin moved to largest city in the colonies _______________ in 1723. He
secured the printing of Pennsylvania’s paper currency, and later he also became public printer
of _________________, Delaware, and ___________. Other moneymaking ventures included the Pennsylvania
Gazette, published by Franklin, and Poor Richard’s _______________, printed annually from 1732 to 1757. By
the late 1740s he had become one of the ____________ colonists in North America. Franklin proposed a paid
city watch, or ____________ force. A paper read to the same group resulted in the organization of a volunteer
____________ company. In 1743 he started the American Philosophical Society. In 1751 he formed the
Academy of Philadelphia, from which grew the University of Pennsylvania. He became clerk of the
Pennsylvania legislature in 1736 and postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737. In 1748 Franklin, at age 42, had
become wealthy enough to retire from active business. He announced his new status as a _________________
by having his portrait painted in a velvet coat and a brown wig; he also acquired a coat of arms, bought several
slaves, and moved to a new and more spacious house. In 1751 Franklin’s papers were published in an 86-page
book titled Experiments and Observations on Electricity. In the 18th century the book went through five
English editions, three in _____________, and one each in Italian and German. In 1757 he went to England as
the agent of the Pennsylvania Assembly with the goal of persuading the British government to oust the
__________ family as the proprietors of Pennsylvania and make that colony a royal province. Except for a twoyear return to Philadelphia in 1762–64, Franklin spent the next 18 years living in London. London was the
largest city in Europe and the center of the burgeoning British Empire, and Franklin was _________________.
In 1759 Franklin received an honorary degrees from the University of Saint Andrews and the University of
_________, which led to his thereafter being called “Dr. Franklin.” Franklin had to face the problems arising
from the Stamp Act of 1765, which created a firestorm of opposition in America. He ordered ___________ for
his printing firm in Philadelphia and procured for his friend John Hughes the stamp agency for Pennsylvania.
Only Franklin’s four-hour testimony before Parliament denouncing the act in 1766 saved his _______________
in America. The English thought him too American, while the Americans thought him too English. But in 1771
opposition by Lord Hillsborough, who had just been appointed head of the new American Department, left
Franklin depressed and dispirited. When the signals from the British government shifted and Hillsborough was
dismissed from the cabinet, Franklin still thought he might be able to acquire an _________________ and work
to hold the empire together. But he became involved in the affair of the Hutchinson letters—an affair that
ultimately destroyed his position in England. The affair backfired completely, and on January 29, 1774,
Franklin stood silent in an amphitheater near Whitehall while being viciously attacked by the British solicitorgeneral before the Privy Council and the court. After some futile efforts at reconciliation, he sailed for America
in March 1775. Upon his arrival in Philadelphia Franklin was immediately elected to the Second Continental
Congress, some Americans remained ______________ of his real loyalties. He had been so long abroad that
some thought he might be a _______________. He was delighted that the Congress in 1776 sent him back to
Europe as the premier agent in a commission seeking military aid and diplomatic recognition from
_______________. In violation of all protocol, he dressed in a simple brown-and-white linen suit and wore
a fur cap, no wig, and no sword to the court of Versailles, the most ______________ and _______________
court in all of Europe. Beset with the pain of gout and a kidney stone, and surrounded by spies and his
sometimes-clumsy fellow commissioners—especially Arthur Lee of Virginia and John Adams of
Massachusetts, who disliked and mistrusted him—Franklin nonetheless succeeded marvelously. He first
secured military and diplomatic alliances with France in 1778 and then played a crucial role in bringing
_________________ with Britain in 1783.
IV. Ben Franklin and Religion
Benjamin Franklin’s beliefs were compatible with ___________. Franklin saw church as a failure of man, and
did not believe in the _______________ of Christ. When Thomas Paine made his famous comments against all
religion, Franklin joined the chorus of Founding Fathers to condemn his opinion. One of the his quotes on
religion emerged from his response to Paine's comments; Franklin asked, "If men are so wicked with religion,
what would they be if ________________?" Although he would never ____________ one religion as superior
to others, he did understand the usefulness of religion in building a stronger society. The dying Franklin joked
that further study was not necessary because he would "expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with
less trouble." Benjamin Franklin, Christian Deist, helped establish the _____________ for religious difference
that became a cornerstone of the United States.
5/14 “John Jay and the Federalist Papers”