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SILAS DEANE

Silas Deane was an American statesman. He was born in 1737 at Groton, Connecticut and died in 1789. He was a member of the Connecticut Committee of Correspondence, and afterward a Representative in the Continental Congress. In 1776 he was sent to France to purchase supplies for the Confederacy. Vergennes, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, referred him to Beaumarchais, a secret agent of the French Government, and with him Silas Deane negotiated. He was accused of extravagance and dishonesty, chiefly by his colleague, Arthur Lee. Silas Deane, Lee and Benjamin Franklin negotiated treaties of amity and commerce with France, which were signed on February the 6th 1778. Silas Deane was recalled the same year at the instigation of Lee. Congress refused him a hearing for some time and finally required a full statement. Returning to France for the necessary papers, he found himself unpopular there, and had to retire to Holland. He died just as he was re-embarking from England for America in 1789.
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