Conversations with the Past

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Conversations with the Past

"Benjamin Franklin Slept Here: The Founding Father's Failed Mission to Make Canada the 14th Colonies"

• Speaker: Sean Kelleher, Trustee of the Saratoga County History Center, Historian for the Town of Saratoga, and Vice Chair of the Saratoga 250 Commission.
• Time: 7 p.m.
• Location: At the Chapman.
• Cost: Free for members, $10 for non-members.
• Registration: Call (518)793-2826. Payment is required at the time of registration. Space is limited.

Before independence was declared, America’s greatest diplomat attempted his most ambitious mission: winning Canada for the Revolutionary cause. In spring 1776, Benjamin Franklin journeyed through the Saratoga region on his way north, hoping to make Canada the 14th colony. Town Historian Sean Kelleher explores why this mission failed, how it influenced the drafting of the Declaration of Independence just months later, and how Franklin transformed defeat into triumph.

From the muddy roads along the Hudson in Saratoga to the halls of Versailles, follow Franklin’s remarkable evolution from rejected envoy to celebrated ambassador. Learn how his Canadian failure taught lessons that would prove invaluable in France, where his diplomatic genius secured the alliance that won American independence.