This book, encompassing five months during 1782, promises to be one of the most significant volumes in the entire series of Benjamin Franklin's papers. Between March and August, Franklin mastered one of the greatest challenges of his diplomatic career by establishing the framework for a peace agreement with Great Britain.

The negotiations required enormous subtlety in order to mollify the French while also satisfying the British. Franklin's success was based upon the same strengths he had demonstrated several years earlier during the lengthy search for an alliance with the French government: an unswerving confidence in the rectitude and ultimate triumph of the American cause, immense patience, and an aptitude for one of the diplomat's most subtle arts-creating contrasting impressions for different audiences.