Silas Deane

Silas Deane
Silas Deane, 1781
United States Envoy to France
In office March 2, 1776 – January 4, 1778 Serving with Benjamin Franklin, Arthur Lee
Appointed by	Continental Congress
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	John Adams
Delegate to the Second Continental Congress from Connecticut
In office May 10, 1775 – January 15, 1776
Delegate to the First Continental Congress from Connecticut
In office September 5, 1774 – October 26, 1774
Personal details
Born	January 4, 1738 Groton, Connecticut
Died	September 23, 1789 (1789-09-24) (aged 51) on a ship near Kent, Great Britain
Resting place	St. Leonard's Churchyard, Deal, Kent, United Kingdom
Spouses	Mehitable Nott Webb ​ ​ (m. 1763; died 1767)​ Elizabeth Saltonstall Evards ​ ​ (m. 1770; died 1777)​
Children	Jesse Deane
Alma mater	Yale

Silas Deane (January 4, 1738 [O.S. December 24, 1737] – September 23, 1789) was an American merchant, politician, and diplomat, and a supporter of American independence. Deane served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he signed the Continental Association, and then became the first foreign diplomat from the United States to France, where he helped negotiate the 1778 Treaty of Alliance that allied France with the United States during the American Revolutionary War.

Near the end of the war, Congress charged Deane with financial impropriety, and the British intercepted and published some letters in which he had implied that the American cause was hopeless. After the war, Deane lived in Ghent and London and died under mysterious circumstances while attempting to return to America.^[1]