In 1776 delegates from all the colonies met in Philadelphia. They formed
what is called the second Continental Congress of America.

It was now more than a year since the war had begun, and the colonists
had made up their minds not to submit to the king of England and his
council.

Many of them were strongly in favor of setting up a new government of
their own.

A committee was appointed to draft a declaration of independence, and
Benjamin Franklin was one of that committee.

On the 4th of July, Congress declared the colonies to be free and
independent states. Among the signers of the Declaration of Independence
was Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania.

Soon after this Dr. Franklin was sent to Paris as minister from the
United States. Early in the following year, 1777, he induced the king of
France to acknowledge the independence of this country.

He thus secured aid for the Americans at a time when they were in the
greatest need of it. Had it not been for his services at this time, the
war of the Revolution might have ended very differently, indeed.

It was not until 1785 that he was again able to return to his home.

He was then nearly eighty years old.