Franklin began his political career when he was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1751. In 1754, he presented the significant Albany Plan of Union at the Albany Congress. With his plan, he proposed that the colonies unify under one government to help organize and protect the individual colonies. He worked hard over the years to try and get Great Britain to allow Pennsylvania to have more autonomy and self-rule. As the revolution approached with increasingly strict rules over the colonies, Franklin tried to persuade Britain that these acts would eventually lead to revolt. Seeing the importance of having an effective way to get messages from one town to another and one colony to another, Franklin reorganized the postal system.
After the beginning of the American Revolution, Franklin went to France in 1776 to gain French aid against Great Britain. His success helped turn the tide of the war. He stayed in France as America’s first diplomat there. He represented America at the treaty negotiations that ended the Revolutionary War which resulted in the Treaty of Paris (1783). Franklin returned to American in 1785.