The French ministers were not at first willing to make a treaty
of alliance, but under Franklin's influence they lent money to
the struggling colonies. Congress sought to finance the war by
the issue of paper currency and by borrowing rather than by
taxation, and sent bill after bill to Franklin, who somehow
managed to meet them by putting his pride in his pocket, and
applying again and again to the French Government. He fitted out
privateers and negotiated with the British concerning prisoners.
At length he won from France recognition of the United States and
then the Treaty of Alliance.

Not until two years after the Peace of 1783 would Congress permit
the veteran to come home. And when he did return in 1785 his
people would not allow him to rest. At once he was elected
President of the Council of Pennsylvania and twice reelected in
spite of his protests. He was sent to the Convention of 1787
which framed the Constitution of the United States. There he
spoke seldom but always to the point, and the Constitution is the
better for his suggestions. With pride he axed his signature to
that great instrument, as he had previously signed the Albany
Plan of Union, the Declaration of Independence, and the Treaty of
Paris.

Benjamin Franklin's work was done. He was now an old man of
eighty-two summers and his feeble body was racked by a painful
malady. Yet he kept his face towards the morning. About a hundred
of his letters, written after this time, have been preserved.
These letters show no retrospection, no looking backward. They
never mention "the good old times." As long as he lived, Franklin