Comte de Broglie, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Baron de Kalb hatched a scheme to install Lafayette as the commander in chief of the American army. Critics viewed Deaneâs involvement with such officers as a reflection on his inability to assess officersâ ethics and leadership skills. And there was no doubt Deane and some silent partners were making lucrative business deals on the side. There were no direct connections between and among the various charges and suspicions about Deaneâs conduct in Paris, but Congress was determined to investigate Leeâs allegations.
The long, bitter hearings regarding Deaneâs conduct were messy. France refused to furnish copies of receipts and other documents, claiming that to do so would demonstrate that they had been involved in diplomatic negotiations with a noncountry prior to signing treaties with it. That would embarrass the French.
Deane went on the offensive. He demanded that Congress break off diplomatic relations with France and questioned the integrity of members of Congress who disagreed with him.
Deane returned to Paris in 1781 to find copies of documents such as receipts and journal entries that would prove his innocence. But, Congress was in no hurry to review the accounts he prepared. His cause was lost. Worse, his American colleagues were reluctant to let him return to the colonies because they thought he was a traitor to their cause.
A Man Without a Country
Deane stayed in Europe for a few years, first in the Netherlands and then England, where he lived in poverty. He published a defense of his actions in
An Address to the Free and Independent Citizens of the United States of North America
, which was published in Hartford, Connecticut, and London in 1784. He planned a return to the United States in 1789 to establish his innocence and reclaim his wealth, but he became mysteriously ill before his ship sailed for home. There was some speculation that he had been poisoned deliberately by a British spy. He died on September 23, 1789.
Congress never found Deane guilty of anything. His family did not believe he was. His granddaughter Philura and her husband pressed Congress to review his case. It didâand exonerated him.
Deane was one of the most ill-fated of the founders of the United States. At least he has a highway, a school, and a library named after him in Wethersfield, Connecticut. Someone believed in himâalbeit many years after he died in disgrace.
FEDERAL FACTS
Silas Deaneâs family received $37,000 in 1841 after Congress determined that a former audit was âex parte (from a one-sided or strongly biased point of view), erroneous, and a gross injustice to Silas Deane.â
JOHN DICKINSON
Talbot County, Maryland
November 20, 1732âFebruary 14, 1808
An Enigma Wrapped in a Puzzle
The highly principled John Dickinson offered incontrovertible proof that not all the Founding Fathers always saw eye to eye. He was at various times a Continental Congressman from Pennsylvania and Delaware, president of both colonies/states, a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, a successful lawyer, and one of the wealthiest men in America. He was also one of the most enigmatic Founding Fathers, singled out by a unique legacy: He had a new college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania named after him, twenty-five years
before
he died.
Law School and Leadership
Dickinson began studying law in his adopted city, Philadelphia, when he was eighteen years old. Five years later he moved to London to continue his studies. He gained an affinity for the British Constitution while he was there, which affected his thinking when he returned to the colonies. Dickinson believed that the colonists should adhere to its tenets. He argued that their gripes were with the British Parliament, not its constitution, and could be resolved according to constitutional principles.
After he returned to the colonies, Dickinson married into a Quaker family. His family
The long, bitter hearings regarding Deaneâs conduct were messy. France refused to furnish copies of receipts and other documents, claiming that to do so would demonstrate that they had been involved in diplomatic negotiations with a noncountry prior to signing treaties with it. That would embarrass the French.
Deane went on the offensive. He demanded that Congress break off diplomatic relations with France and questioned the integrity of members of Congress who disagreed with him.
Deane returned to Paris in 1781 to find copies of documents such as receipts and journal entries that would prove his innocence. But, Congress was in no hurry to review the accounts he prepared. His cause was lost. Worse, his American colleagues were reluctant to let him return to the colonies because they thought he was a traitor to their cause.
A Man Without a Country
Deane stayed in Europe for a few years, first in the Netherlands and then England, where he lived in poverty. He published a defense of his actions in
An Address to the Free and Independent Citizens of the United States of North America
, which was published in Hartford, Connecticut, and London in 1784. He planned a return to the United States in 1789 to establish his innocence and reclaim his wealth, but he became mysteriously ill before his ship sailed for home. There was some speculation that he had been poisoned deliberately by a British spy. He died on September 23, 1789.
Congress never found Deane guilty of anything. His family did not believe he was. His granddaughter Philura and her husband pressed Congress to review his case. It didâand exonerated him.
Deane was one of the most ill-fated of the founders of the United States. At least he has a highway, a school, and a library named after him in Wethersfield, Connecticut. Someone believed in himâalbeit many years after he died in disgrace.
FEDERAL FACTS
Silas Deaneâs family received $37,000 in 1841 after Congress determined that a former audit was âex parte (from a one-sided or strongly biased point of view), erroneous, and a gross injustice to Silas Deane.â
JOHN DICKINSON
Talbot County, Maryland
November 20, 1732âFebruary 14, 1808
An Enigma Wrapped in a Puzzle
The highly principled John Dickinson offered incontrovertible proof that not all the Founding Fathers always saw eye to eye. He was at various times a Continental Congressman from Pennsylvania and Delaware, president of both colonies/states, a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, a successful lawyer, and one of the wealthiest men in America. He was also one of the most enigmatic Founding Fathers, singled out by a unique legacy: He had a new college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania named after him, twenty-five years
before
he died.
Law School and Leadership
Dickinson began studying law in his adopted city, Philadelphia, when he was eighteen years old. Five years later he moved to London to continue his studies. He gained an affinity for the British Constitution while he was there, which affected his thinking when he returned to the colonies. Dickinson believed that the colonists should adhere to its tenets. He argued that their gripes were with the British Parliament, not its constitution, and could be resolved according to constitutional principles.
After he returned to the colonies, Dickinson married into a Quaker family. His family
Similar Books
