Only Weeks After America's Victory at Yorktown, Benjamin Franklin Promises Repayment of a French Loan that Funded the American Revolution

(Passy, France: Printed by Benjamin Franklin), December 4, 1781. Single sheet, 9 3/4 x 7 1/4 in. (248 x 184 mm). A fine partially-printed promissory note in French (No. 18), for 816,000 livres, neatly accomplished in the hand of Benjamin Franklin as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to France, and boldly signed by him at bottom, as well as in the third person at the beginning; fine scalloped marbled border along right side. Creased along center from old fold; a few very small holes in lower left corner. Hessler X2

A remarkable, very rare, and very fine ornate French loan certificate, accomplished and boldly signed by Benjamin Franklin, promising the repayment of a French loan given by King Louis XVI to support the American Revolution. Printed by Franklin at his celebrated Passy press outside of Paris, this promissory note for 816,000 French livres ($151,000, approximately $4 million in 2026 dollars), reads in part, "We, Benjamin Franklin, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of North America, by virtue of the authority vested in us by the Congress of the said States, promise on its behalf and jointly and in solidarity for the said Thirteen United States to request payment and reimbursement the Royal Treasury of His Most Christian Majesty, on the first of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, at the home address of business of Mr. Grand, Banker in Paris, the sum of eight hundred and sixteen thousand livres, in French currency, with interest at the rate of five percent per annum, value received in cash..." The loan was part of $2 million authorized by a resolution of Congress on December 3, 1777, of which about one third was issued. According to Hessler, "this was the first loan to be made by the French Government". The present document is among the last items printed by Franklin at his Passy press.

Not listed by Luther S. Livingston in his Franklin and his Press at Passy (New York: Grolier Club, 1914), although the typographical ornaments along the top match those seen in Livingston 20 (An Ode in Imitation of Alcaeus). The present example is one of a series of certificates promising repayment of various loans provided by the French government. Called "The Congress Promises" (Benson, "Curious Colors of Currency", p. 306, American Journal of Numismatics, 2019), they were printed on wove paper that Franklin ordered from London stationer James Woodmason in 1779. The certificates were typeset in duplicate on a single sheet, side-by-side, and separated by a central strip of marbling, which was then cut in a scallop-design to create a matching pair of submitted and retained documents. In total, Franklin printed around 21 sheets of these documents, including their matching halves, as well as a number of duplicates or retained copies (see Benson, "Curious Colors of Currency", p. 306 and Appendix, American Journal of Numismatics, 2019).

French assistance, delivered through loans, munitions, and military backing, proved essential to the achievement of American independence. During the two years before the formal Franco-American alliance, France covertly channeled growing amounts of money and war supplies to General Washington's fledgling army. Done largely out of self interest, the French government aided the Americans in order to weaken the British, their traditional enemies who had bested them in the French and Indian War over a decade prior which resulted in the loss of their North American possessions and their diminishment as a global power. The procurement and delivery of these armaments was first orchestrated by the eccentric French playwright Caron de Beaumarchais, a passionate supporter of the American cause, who concealed the aid behind a fictional trading firm called Rodrigue Hortalez & Co., established with funding from the French government. Prior to France's open entry into the conflict they provided upwards of 5,000,000 livres to the American war effort, a crucial infusion that staved off the collapse of the Continental Army.

Benjamin Franklin arrived in Paris in December 1776 as a member of a three-person diplomatic delegation, joined by Silas Deane of Connecticut and Arthur Lee of Virginia. They were commissioned by Congress to negotiate a formal alliance with France and to attain supplies and loans for the American cause. Throughout the following year, Franklin orchestrated the procurement and shipment of weaponry and loans in a protracted diplomatic dance with France's foreign minister, Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes. The American victory at Saratoga in October 1777 finally persuaded the French to fully commit to a formal military and commercial alliance, which was signed on February 6, 1778. For the next four years, Franklin endeavored to meet the financial demands of Congress while keeping in the good graces of the French government, which was increasing its debt by $10 million a year with its support of America. Due to Franklin's efforts, French backing proved vital to both the Continental Army's survival and its triumphs on the battlefield. During the length of their involvement, France committed more than 10,000 troops, approximately 22,000 sailors, over 60 warships, along with an immeasurable quantity of weaponry, gunpowder, flints, artillery, cannons, uniforms, footwear, and other essential provisions. In total, the French spent 1.3 billion livres in direct support of the Americans during the war, including 35,000,000 livres in loans to the Americans—the majority of which were negotiated by Franklin.

On October 19, 1781, less than two months before Franklin printed and signed this document, the Continental Army, with ground and naval assistance from the French, defeated Lord Cornwallis's army at Yorktown, Virginia, essentially bringing the war to an end. Franklin received news of the victory from Vergennes himself the night of November 19, 1781: "I cannot better express my gratitude for the news you often communicate to me, than in making you acquainted that the Duke of Lauzan arrived this afternoon with the agreable News that the Combin’d Armies of France & America have forced General Cornwallis to capitulate..." Negotiations to formally end the war began the following April 1782, with a preliminary peace treaty drafted in November of that year, and a final treaty signed in September 1783.

Extremely rare. The first examples of this type of document came to market in 1946 at the Parke-Bernet sale of the collection of Franklin Bache (1869-1946), great-great grandson of Benjamin Franklin, and Bache's wife, Nancie T. Bache (1872-1937). Twenty-two examples in varying amounts, and dated from 1779-82, were sold. The present example presumably being lot 44, while a right-side mate was lot 43. Lot 43, presumably along with ours, as well as three others from the aforementioned Bache collection were then sold at Parke-Bernet in 1966 as part of the collection of Perc S. Brown. Since that sale about only three other examples have come to auction, No. 21 (sold three times: Christies, 1990; Christies, 2023; and RR, 2026), a right-side mate of the present No. 18 (Sotheby's, Collection of Laird U. Park, Jr. November 29, 2000, lot 131), and No. 16 (Eldred's, April 8, 2010, Lot 132; and Stack's Bowers, August 17, 2011, Lot 5392). According to Benson's census of these documents, of the 40 or so known examples (including right and left sides), only four, including the present, are known to be in private collections. Of the remaining 36, Benson records 24 in institutions, and the remaining 12 unaccounted for.

A fine document testifying to the means in which America gained its independence.