Editing Benjamin Franklin (section)

===Ambassador to France (1776–1785)===
<!-- This Anchor tag serves to provide a permanent target for incoming section links. Please do not remove it, nor modify it, except to add another appropriate anchor. If you modify the section title, please anchor the old title. It is always best to anchor an old section header that has been changed so that links to it will not be broken. See [[Template:Anchor]] for details. This template is {{subst:Anchor comment}}. -->
[[File:Franklin1877.jpg|thumb|Franklin, in his [[fur]] hat, charmed the [[French people|French]] with what they perceived as his rustic [[New World]] [[genius]].{{refn|group=Note|Portraits of Franklin at this time often contained an inscription, the best known being [[Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune|Turgot's]] acclamation, "{{lang|la|Eripuit fulmen coelo sceptrumque tyrannis.}}" (He snatched the lightning from the skies and the scepter from the tyrants.) Historian [[Friedrich Christoph Schlosser]] remarked at the time, with ample hyperbole, that "Such was the number of portraits, busts and medallions of him in circulation before he left Paris, that he would have been recognized from them by any adult citizen in any part of the civilized world."&nbsp;– {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Franklin, Benjamin}}}}]]
[[File:Libertas Americana silver medallion 1783.jpg|thumb|While in France, Franklin designed and commissioned [[Augustin Dupré]] to engrave the medallion [[Libertas Americana]], which was minted in Paris in 1783.]]
On October 26, 1776, Franklin was dispatched to France as [[commissioner]] for the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/benjamin-franklin-sets-sail-for-france|title=Benjamin Franklin sets sail for France|website=history.com|date=November 13, 2009 }}</ref> He took with him as secretary his 16-year-old grandson, [[William Temple Franklin]]. They lived in a home in the Parisian suburb of [[Passy]], donated by [[Jacques-Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont]], who supported the United States. Franklin remained in France until 1785. He conducted the affairs of his country toward the French nation with great success, which included securing a critical military alliance in 1778 and signing the 1783 [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]].<ref>{{cite web|editor-last=Miller|editor-first=Hunter|title=British-American Diplomacy: The Paris Peace Treaty of September 30, 1783|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/paris.asp|publisher=The Avalon Project at Yale Law School}}</ref>

Among his associates in France was [[Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau]]—a [[French Revolution]]ary writer, orator and statesman who in 1791 was elected president of the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Assembly]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Book in the Painting {{pipe}} Jefferson|url=https://www.isthisjefferson.org/DLP_D04.html?zoom_highlight=Franklin|access-date=December 30, 2022|website=www.isthisjefferson.org}}</ref> In July 1784, Franklin met with Mirabeau and contributed anonymous materials that the Frenchman used in his first signed work: ''Considerations sur l'ordre de Cincinnatus''.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Mirabeau|first1=Gabriel-Honoré de Riquetti|url=http://archive.org/details/cihm_39568|title=Considérations sur l'Ordre de Cincinnatus ou Imitation d'un pamphlet anglo-américain [microforme]|date=1784|publisher=A Londres: Chez J. Johnson ...|others=Canadiana.org|isbn=978-0-665-39568-0}}</ref> The publication was critical of the [[Society of the Cincinnati]], established in the United States. Franklin and Mirabeau thought of it as a "noble order," inconsistent with the [[Egalitarianism|egalitarian]] ideals of the new republic.<ref>Van Doren, Carl. ''Benjamin Franklin'' (The Viking Press: New York). 1938. pp. 709–710.</ref>

During his stay in France, he was active as a Freemason, serving as venerable master of the lodge [[Les Neuf Sœurs]] from 1779 until 1781. In 1784, when [[Franz Mesmer]] began to publicize his theory of "[[animal magnetism]]" which was considered offensive by many, [[Louis XVI]] appointed [[Royal Commission on Animal Magnetism|a commission]] to investigate it. These included the chemist [[Antoine Lavoisier]], the physician [[Joseph-Ignace Guillotin]], the astronomer [[Jean Sylvain Bailly]], and Franklin.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Franklin's Forgotten Triumph: Scientific Testing|url=https://www.americanheritage.com/franklins-forgotten-triumph-scientific-testing|access-date=December 30, 2022|website=AMERICAN HERITAGE|language=en}}</ref> In doing so, the committee concluded, through [[Blinded experiment|blind trials]] that mesmerism only seemed to work when the subjects expected it, which discredited mesmerism and became the first major demonstration of the [[placebo]] effect, which was described at that time as "imagination."<ref>{{cite web |title=The phony health craze that inspired hypnotism |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQyAnKjD6W4 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211123/KQyAnKjD6W4| archive-date=November 23, 2021 | url-status=live|website=YouTube | date=January 27, 2021 |publisher=Vox |access-date=January 27, 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In 1781, he was elected a fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]].<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter F|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterF.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterF.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=July 28, 2014}}</ref>

Franklin's advocacy for [[religious tolerance]] in France contributed to arguments made by French philosophers and politicians that resulted in Louis XVI's signing of the [[Edict of Versailles]] in November 1787. This edict effectively nullified the [[Edict of Fontainebleau]], which had denied non-Catholics civil status and the right to openly practice their faith.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Book338glava314dictofersailles1787html Wa365bet Vioslot|url=https://booking-help.org/book_338_glava_314_Edict_of_Versailles_(1787).html|access-date=December 30, 2022|website=booking-help.org|archive-date=December 30, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230204343/https://booking-help.org/book_338_glava_314_Edict_of_Versailles_(1787).html|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

Franklin also served as American minister to Sweden, although he never visited that country.<ref name="hist_Benj">{{cite web |title=Benjamin Franklin – People – Department History – Office of the Historian |work=history.state.gov |access-date=February 27, 2019 |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/franklin-benjamin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023040237/https://www.history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/franklin-benjamin |archive-date=October 23, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He negotiated a [[Treaty of Amity and Commerce (United States–Sweden)|treaty]] that was signed in April 1783. On August 27, 1783, in Paris, he witnessed the [[Hot air balloon#First manned flight|world's first hydrogen balloon flight]].<ref name="EcceF">{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5_7IRHZGyzMC&pg=PA36 |title=Eccentric France: Bradt Guide to mad, magical and marvellous France| author=Piers Letcher&nbsp;– Jacques Charles |year= 2003|publisher=Bradt Travel Guides |access-date=March 17, 2010| isbn=978-1-84162-068-8}}</ref> ''[[Robert brothers#First hydrogen balloon|Le Globe]]'', created by professor [[Jacques Charles]] and [[Robert brothers|Les Frères Robert]], was watched by a vast crowd as it rose from the [[Champ de Mars]] (now the site of the [[Eiffel Tower]]).<ref name="Sci&Soc">{{cite web| url=http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10447673 |title=Science and Society, Medal commemorating Charles and Robert's balloon ascent, Paris, 1783 |publisher=Scienceandsociety.co.uk |access-date=March 17, 2010}}</ref> Franklin became so enthusiastic that he subscribed financially to the next project to build a manned hydrogen balloon.<ref name="Fid Green">{{cite web| url=https://www.fiddlersgreen.net/models/Aircraft/Balloon-Charles.html |title=Fiddlers Green, History of Ballooning, Jacques Charles |publisher=Fiddlersgreen.net |access-date=June 20, 2011}}</ref> On December 1, 1783, Franklin was seated in the special enclosure for honored guests [[Robert brothers#First manned hydrogen balloon flight|it took off]] from the [[Tuileries Garden|Jardin des Tuileries]], piloted by Charles and [[Robert brothers|Nicolas-Louis Robert]].<ref name="EcceF"/><ref name="FAI">{{cite web| url=http://www.fai.org/ballooning/newsletter/pr00-02.htm |title=Federation Aeronautique Internationale, Ballooning Commission, Hall of Fame, Robert Brothers |publisher=Fai.org |access-date=March 17, 2010| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080516222023/http://www.fai.org/ballooning/newsletter/pr00-02.htm |archive-date=May 16, 2008}}</ref> [[Walter Isaacson]] describes a [[chess]] game between Franklin and the Duchess of Bourbon, "who made a move that inadvertently exposed her king. Ignoring the rules of the game, he promptly captured it. 'Ah,' said the duchess, 'we do not take Kings so.' Replied Franklin in a famous quip: 'We do in America.{{'"}}{{sfn|Isaacson|2003|p=372}}