Silas Deane (September 23, 1789) was an American merchant, politician, and diplomat, and a supporter of American independence. Deane served as a delegate to the
Continental Congress, where he signed the
Continental Association
The Continental Association, also known as the Articles of Association or simply the Association, was an agreement among the Thirteen Colonies, American colonies, adopted by the First Continental Congress, which met inside Carpenters' Hall in Phi ...
, and then became the first foreign diplomat from the United States to France, where he helped negotiate the 1778
Treaty of Alliance that allied France with the United States during the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
.
Near the end of the war,
Congress charged Deane with financial impropriety, and the British intercepted and published some letters in which he had implied that the American cause was hopeless. After the war, Deane lived in
Ghent
Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...
and London and died under mysterious circumstances while attempting to return to America.
Early life and family
Deane was born on in
Groton, Connecticut
Groton ( ) is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States, located on the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United St ...
, to
blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
Silas Deane and his wife Hannah Barker. The younger Silas was able to obtain a full scholarship to
Yale and graduated in 1758. In April 1759, he was hired to tutor a young
Edward Bancroft in
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...
. In 1761, Deane was admitted to the bar and practiced law for a short time outside of Hartford before moving to
Wethersfield, Connecticut, and establishing a thriving business as a merchant.
Deane married twice, both times to wealthy widows from Wethersfield. In 1763, he married Mehitable (Nott) Webb after assisting her with the settlement of her first husband's estate. They had one son, Jesse, born in 1764. Mehitable died in 1767.
In 1770, Deane married Elizabeth (Saltonstall) Evards, granddaughter of Connecticut Governor
Gurdon Saltonstall
Gurdon Saltonstall (27 March 1666 – 20 September 1724) was governor of the Colony of Connecticut from 1708 to 1724. He was born into a distinguished family and became an eminent Connecticut pastor and a close associate of Governor Fitz-John ...
of the Massachusetts
Saltonstall family. Elizabeth died in 1777 while Silas was in France. Both Mehitable and Elizabeth were buried in the
Old Wethersfield Village Cemetery.
Continental Congress
In 1768, Deane was elected to the
Connecticut House of Representatives; in 1769, he was appointed to the Wethersfield Committee of Correspondence; and from 1774 to 1776, he served as a delegate from Connecticut to the
Continental Congress.
While a member of Congress, Deane used his influence to obtain a commission in the Continental Army for his stepson Samuel B. Webb, who had accompanied him to
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
. Deane excelled in the committee work of Congress, helping to coordinate the attack on
Fort Ticonderoga and to establish the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
.
A dispute arose between Deane and fellow Connecticut delegate
Roger Sherman over the appointment of
Israel Putnam as a
major general under
George Washington's command. This dispute led the Connecticut legislature to replace Deane as a delegate to Congress; but instead of returning to Connecticut, Deane remained in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
to assist Congress.
France
On March 2, 1776, Congress appointed Deane as a secret envoy to France with the mission of inducing the French government to grant financial aid to the colonies. He began negotiating with French Foreign Minister
Comte de Vergennes as soon as he arrived in Paris. Deane organized the shipment of arms and munitions to the colonies with the assistance of
Pierre Beaumarchais, the playwright and outspoken supporter of American independence. Deane also tacitly approved the plot of Scotsman
James Aitken (John the Painter) to destroy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
stores and dockyards in
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
and
Plymouth
Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...
, England, on behalf of the Continental cause.
Deane's position was officially recognized after
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
and
Arthur Lee arrived in Paris in December 1776, with orders from Congress appointing the trio as the diplomatic delegation to France. Deane recruited the services of several foreign soldiers to the cause, including
Marquis de Lafayette, Baron
Johann de Kalb,
Thomas Conway,
Casimir Pulaski, and
Baron von Steuben. For a variety of reasons, many of the foreign officers were unpopular in America, and many in Congress blamed Deane for their behavior, leading them to recall him on December 8, 1777.
On February 6, 1778, Deane and the other commissioners signed the Treaties of
Amity and Commerce and of
Alliance
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...
, officially creating the alliance between France and the American colonies.
Accusations in Congress
On March 4, 1778, Deane received a letter from
James Lovell containing the recall order from Congress. Lovell only mentioned giving a report to Congress about European affairs, and Deane fully expected to be sent back to Paris within a few months. France sent Deane back home aboard a warship.
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...
also presented Deane with a portrait framed with diamonds, and both
Vergennes and Franklin wrote letters of commendation.
Deane arrived in Philadelphia on July 14, 1778, and was shocked when Congress accused him of financial impropriety on the basis of reports by his fellow commissioner Arthur Lee. Because Deane had left his account books in Paris, he was neither able to properly defend himself nor seek reimbursement for money he had spent procuring supplies in France. (While he waited to address Congress, Deane stayed with
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold (#Brandt, Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American-born British military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of ...
, who had just been appointed military governor of Philadelphia.)
In a long and bitter dispute over the charges, Deane was defended before Congress by
John Jay
John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United ...
. He published a public defense in the December 5, 1778, issue of ''
Pennsylvania Packet'' entitled ''The Address of Silas Deane to the Free and Virtuous Citizens of America'', in which he attacked Arthur Lee, other members of the
Lee family, and their associates.
Arthur's brothers
Richard Henry Lee
Richard Henry Lee (January 20, 1732June 19, 1794) was an American statesman and Founding Father from Virginia, best known for the June 1776 Lee Resolution, the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence fr ...
and
Francis Lightfoot Lee both denounced Deane's accusations as libelous and injurious to the American cause.
On January 14, 1779, Deane replied in the ''Pennsylvania Packet,'' listing eight ships that had sailed from France with supplies because of his efforts. Congress offered him $10,000 in depreciated
Continental currency in compensation, but Deane refused, believing the amount too small.
Deane was allowed to return to Paris in 1780 to settle his affairs and attempt to assemble the records in dispute. On arrival, he discovered that he was nearly ruined financially because the value of his investments had plummeted, and some ships carrying his merchandise had been captured by the British.
In March 1781, King
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...
approved a request from
Lord North to bribe Deane in an attempt to recruit him as a spy and to influence Congress.
However, in mid-July they cancelled their plan after the king read intercepted letters in which Deane described the military situation of the
Colonies as hopeless and suggested a rapprochement with Britain. Deane's correspondence was then forwarded to General
Henry Clinton, who provided copies to
Loyalist James Rivington to publish in his newspaper ''Rivington's Royal Gazette'' in New York City. Deane was then accused of treason by his fellow colonists.
Rivington may have been a spy as a member of the
Culper Ring, and unbeknownst to Deane, his former secretary in Paris,
Edward Bancroft, had been a British spy.
After the war and death
In October 1781, Deane moved to Ghent where he could live more cheaply than in Paris. Then in March 1783, he moved to London, hoping to find investors for manufacturing ventures that he planned to pursue after he returned to North America. He toured several manufacturing towns in England in late 1783, considering plans for steam engines that could operate grist mills, even consulting
James Watt for advice. He also tried to attract investors for a planned canal linking
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain ( ; , ) is a natural freshwater lake in North America. It mostly lies between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canadian province of Quebec.
The cities of Burlington, Ve ...
and the
St. Lawrence River. In 1784, he published a defense of his actions during the war entitled ''An Address to the Free and Independent Citizens of the United States of North America''.
In the fall of 1787, Deane became bedridden from an unknown illness and did not fully recover until April 1789. His condition depleted his remaining money and forced him to depend on the charity of friends. In the summer of 1788, a Frenchman named Foulloy approached
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...
in Paris with an account book and a letter book dating from Deane's diplomatic mission, apparently stolen from Deane during his illness. Foulloy threatened to sell the books to the British government if Jefferson did not purchase them—which Jefferson eventually did after negotiating a greatly reduced price.
In 1789, Deane planned to return to North America in an attempt to recoup his lost fortune and reputation. After boarding the ship ''Boston Packet,'' he became ill and died on September 23 while the ship was awaiting repairs after turning back following damage from fierce winds. In 1959, historian
Julian P. Boyd suggested that Deane might have been poisoned by Bancroft, because Bancroft might have felt threatened by Deane's possible testimony to Congress.
Legacy
Silas Deane's granddaughter Philura (Deane) Alden pressed his case before Congress, and his family was eventually paid $37,000 in 1841 (more than a million dollars in the early 21st century) for the money owed to him, on the grounds that the previous audit by the Continental Congress was "ex parte, erroneous, and a gross injustice to Silas Deane".
Deane's hometown of Wethersfield, Connecticut, has a Silas Deane Middle School and a
Silas Deane Highway. A road in
Ledyard, Connecticut, is named for him. Deane's home in Wethersfield, now the
Silas Deane House, has been restored, declared a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
, and opened to the public as a part of the
Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum. Dean Street in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
is named for him.
Notes
Citations
References
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* de Langlais, Tugdual, ''L'armateur préféré de Beaumarchais Jean Peltier Dudoyer, de Nantes à l'Isle de France'', Éd. Coiffard, 2015, 340 p. ().
Further reading
* The "Correspondence of Silas Deane, Delegate to the First and Second Congress at Philadelphia, 1774-1776" was published in the ''Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society'', vol. II.
* ''The Deane Papers'', in 5 vols., in the ''New York Historical Society's Collections'' (1887–1890)
*
Francis Wharton's ''Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States'' (6 vols., Washington, 1889).
External links
Institute of Museum and Library Services website dedicated to Silas DeaneJefferson letters about the Foulloy AffairSilas Deane Papers, Volume III, 1778–1779Samuel Blachley Webb biographical article that mentions Deane*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deane, Silas
1737 births
1789 deaths
Connecticut lawyers
Members of the Connecticut House of Representatives
Continental Congressmen from Connecticut
People from Groton, Connecticut
People from colonial Connecticut
Ambassadors of the United States to France
Yale University alumni
Signers of the Continental Association
Merchants from colonial Connecticut