William Temple Franklin

William Temple Franklin (London, England, 1760 – Paris, France, May 25, 1823) was a British-born American diplomat and real estate speculator. He is best known for his involvement with the American diplomatic mission in France during the American Revolutionary War. Beginning at the age of 16, he served as secretary to his grandfather Benjamin Franklin, who negotiated and agreed to the Franco-American Alliance.

The younger Franklin was also secretary for the American delegation that negotiated United States independence at the Treaty of Paris in 1783. He returned to Philadelphia with his grandfather afterward. Finding his prospects limited in the United States, he later returned to Europe, where he lived mostly in France.

Read more about William Temple Franklin:  Early Life and Education, Paris, Later Life, Marriage and Family, Years in France, Works, See Also

Famous quotes containing the words william, temple and/or franklin:

    Utopia’s quite another land;
    In her enterprising movements,
    She is England—with improvements,
    —Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)

    I have often felt as though I had inherited all the defiance and all the passions with which our ancestors defended their Temple and could gladly sacrifice my life for one great moment in history. And at the same time I always felt so helpless and incapable of expressing these ardent passions even by a word or a poem.
    Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)

    We are not certain, we are never certain. If we were we could reach some conclusions, and we could, at last, make others take us seriously.
    In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
    —Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)