1. Silas Deane of Connecticut, having received his orders from Congress to elicit aid for the Revolution from France in March 1776, arrived six months in that country before Benjamin Franklin.
2. Prior to Franklin's arrival, Deane had already been underway in the negotiation process of solidifying an alliance between the Kingdom of France and the Thirteen Colonies.
3. Francis Dana served as ambassador to Russia before the current United States Cinstitution was adopted and is considered the inagural holder in that position.
4. The title of plenipotentiary shall be granted to Deane in that he was appointed to his position in an official capacity by being drafted and confirmed by Congress's Committee of Secret Correspondence.