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History and Government—Congressional Biographies—ConnecticutDEANE, Silas
(1737—1789)
DEANE, Silas, a Delegate from Connecticut; born in Groton, Conn., December 24, 1737; received a classical training, and was graduated from Yale College, New Haven, Conn., in 1758; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1761 and commenced practice in Wethersfield, Conn., afterward engaged in mercantile pursuits in the same town; deputy of the general assembly 1768-1775; Member of the Continental Congress 1774-1776; ordered to France in March 1776 as a secret political and financial agent, and in September was commissioned as Ambassador with Franklin and Lee; negotiated and signed the treaty between France and the United States in Paris on February 6, 1778; personally secured the services of Lafayette, De Kalb, and other foreign officers; recalled in 1778 and investigated by Congress for financial misconduct; returned to Europe to secure documents for his defense; died on board ship sailing from Gravesend to Boston, September 23, 1789; interment in St. Leonard’s Churchyard in Deal, on the Kentish coast, England; in 1842 Congress voted to pay his heirs a restitution.
Bibliography
James, Coy H. “The Revolutionary Career of Silas Deane.” Ph.D. diss., Michigan State University, 1956.
Deane, Silas. An Address to the Free and Independant [sic] Citizens of the United States of North-America
. Hartford, Conn.: Printed by Hudson & Goodwin, 1784.
———. The Deane Papers
. 5 vols. Edited by Charles Isham. New York: New-York Historical Society, 1886-90.
———. The Deane Papers; Correspondence Between Silas Deane, His Brothers and Their Business and Political Associates, 1771-1795
. Hartford, Conn.: Connecticut Historical Society, 1930.
———. Paris Papers; or, Mr. Silas Deane’s Late Intercepted Letters to his Brothers, and Other Intimate Friends, in America. To Which are Annexed for Comparison, the Congressional Declaration of Ind[e]pendency in July 1776, and That Now Inculating Among the Revolted Provinces, With the Never-to-be-forgotten Orders of the Rebel General in August 1776, for Preventing a Pacification
. New York: Re-printed by James Rivington, [1782].
James, Coy Hilton. “The Revolutionary Career of Silas Deane.” Ph.D. Diss., Michigan State University, 1956.
———. Silas Deane, Patriot or Traitor?
[East Lansing]: Michigan State University Press, 1975.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
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