Franklin and Washington: the 30-year partnership that forged America

Executive overview

Franklin and Washington first crossed paths during the French and Indian War — one supplying wagons, the other burying the general who ignored their advice. Their collaboration deepened across three decades, spanning the Revolution and the founding of the federal government.

Franklin was the diplomat, propagandist, and financier; Washington was the commander. Neither role worked without the other.

Victory in the Revolution required both men to succeed — and their success required coordination.

Franklin: entrepreneur before statesman

• Born 15th of 17 children; largely self-taught through reading
• Identified that Philadelphia's two printers were incompetent and dominated the trade within years
• Built an integrated media business: newspapers, Poor Richard's Almanac, paper mills, print shops, postmaster role
• Wealth was never his chief goal — "I would rather have it said he lived usefully than he died rich"
• Founded the Junto, a subscription library, a firefighting brigade, a volunteer militia, and the University of Pennsylvania
• Discovered electricity as science, invented the lightning rod and the first electric battery
• Ideal prayer: "wisdom that discovers my true interest"

Washington: frontier soldier shaped by failure

• Became a surveyor at 17 to profit from land speculation on the frontier; acquired 2,000 acres by age 20
• Inherited Mount Vernon and a Virginia military post after his older brother died of tuberculosis
• At 21, sent by Governor Dinwiddie to demand the French leave western forts — the mission made his reputation
• First combat: survived a Native American assassination attempt 15 feet away; narrowly escaped multiple times
• Early battles were disasters — a third of his men dead or wounded, every mistake possible made by his own admission
• Witnessed Braddock's catastrophic defeat firsthand: 976 British casualties versus 40 on the opposing side

The founding of a common cause

• Franklin read Washington's published frontier journal and immediately saw an ally
• Franklin created the first American editorial cartoon — a rattlesnake cut into colonies labelled "Join or Die" — to push for inter-colonial union
• This 1754 idea became the blueprint Franklin carried all the way to the Constitutional Convention 30 years later
• Both warned Braddock against underestimating Native American fighters in forest terrain; Braddock dismissed them and was killed
• Key lesson from Braddock's defeat: British troops were beatable in New World combat — a suspicion that would fuel revolution

Divergent leadership styles

• Washington led through discipline, appearance, and hierarchy; he looked the part and kept distance from his men
• Franklin led through reason, pragmatic incentives, and understanding what motivated people
• Franklin boosted chapel attendance by authorising rum distribution after services; his regiment was oversubscribed while Washington's was chronically undermanned
• Franklin always deferred to Washington as the better battlefield commander; Washington always deferred to Franklin as the superior diplomat

The Revolution: near-collapse and survival

• Washington's army dwindled to a few thousand fit soldiers; "I think the game is pretty near up"
• Christmas night 1776: Washington crossed the Delaware, captured the Hessian garrison at Trenton, then routed British forces at Princeton
• Shifted to a Fabian strategy — named after Roman general Quintus Fabius — using attrition and guerrilla tactics instead of open-field battle
• British General Howe fixated on capturing cities rather than destroying the army; Franklin observed: "Philadelphia has taken Howe"
• Franklin sent Washington words of encouragement during the darkest period, noting that European generals studying maps spoke with "great applause" of his conduct
• The 1780–81 winter nearly broke the army: starving, unpaid, mutinous, and betrayed by Benedict Arnold
• Franklin, nearly 80 and crippled by gout and kidney stones, held the French alliance together, arranged uniforms, arms, loans, and naval support
• "By soldiering on for one more year, Washington's army, destitute and half naked, turned the world upside down"

After the war: building the nation

• Washington retired to Mount Vernon immediately after victory — unlike almost every revolutionary general before or since
• Franklin, still in France, negotiated peace with Britain and continued scientific work: attributed a cold European winter to an Icelandic volcanic eruption, proposed daylight saving time, invented bifocals, and helped pioneer hydrogen balloon flight
• Both returned to public life for the Constitutional Convention; Franklin carried his inter-colonial union idea from 1754 to its completion
• Franklin warned that executive power would always expand toward monarchy; he twice defended the power to impeach corrupt presidents
• Their final meeting: Washington stopped at Franklin's home on his way to begin his first presidential term; Franklin was bedridden and dying

Shared character

• Neither was born to power; both earned it through work and demonstrated competence
• Both listened more than they talked, compromised on means to secure ends, and never wavered on principle
• Both retired from business before entering government and never saw themselves primarily as politicians
• Both accepted that the world could be improved through reason, evidence, and persistent action
• Washington's last words: "It is well." Franklin's mind was sharp until the moment he died