Silas Deane
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.
Silas Deane | |
|---|---|
Silas Deane, 1781 | |
| United States Envoy to France | |
| In office March 2, 1776 – January 4, 1778 | |
| 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 (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 |
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.