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Franklin, following the lead of [[John Adams]], began preparing for independence. On July 21, 1775, he presented his scheme for the [[Articles of Confederation]], similar to his Albany Plan, which called for a strong central government and a congress with proportional representation. However, few of his ideas were included in the Articles Congress adopted in 1777. The Patriots now controlled every colony, and incited by the clever reasoning of [[Thomas Paine]], realized that their [[republican]] values and way of life were incompatible with conytrol by foreign aristocrats in London. As popular sentiment for independence swelled in late spring 1776, Franklin, joined [[Thomas Jefferson]], [[John Adams]], [[Roger Sherman]], and [[Robert Livingston]] as a committee to prepare a [[Declaration of Independence]]. Jefferson, the best writer, did the drafting, with Franklin offering his editorial commentary. A new nation emerged on July 4, 1776. It had driven out all the British officials. But they returned in force in August, 1776, seized New York City, and offered to negotiate on everything except independence. Patriots demanded independence and refused to negotiate any other terms. Help was needed from France, so in December of 1776 , Franklin was sent to Paris, along with [[Silas Deane]] and [[Arthur Lee]], to secure aid for the new nation.

In his later years, Franklin suffered from extremely painful afflictions, such as gout, which often times oftentimes made it difficult for him to stand upright.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbkPAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT29 "Mr. President": George Washington and the Making of the Nation's Highest Office]</ref> His physician, Dr. John Jones, wrote that due to how much pain Franklin constantly dealt with, he prescribed him with laudanum,<ref name=DrJones>[https://books.google.com/books?id=vAdUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA543 Benjamin Franklin: his autobiography]</ref> which is a narcotic opioid. In his final days Franklin was bedridden, and Jones reported that when Franklin was not blinded by "his tortures", he read books, was cheerful with people who came to visit him, and he was grateful of "the many blessings he had received from the Supreme Being".<ref name=DrJones />

The famous cartoon entitled "Join, or Die," printed on 9 May 1754 in Franklin's ''Pennsylvania Gazette'', shows a sliced up rattlesnake that forms a map of the colonies. It is impotent unless it joins together, as nature clearly intended. Rattlesnakes—powerful and dangerous creatures that were not found in Britain—were often used to represent America. Georgia, the newest colony, is missing, as is Delaware (then part of Pennsylvania). The cartoon alludes to an old myth that a snake that had been cut into pieces would come back to life if the sections were reassembled before sunset, Franklin based his cartoon on a 17th -century French emblem book by Nicolas Verrien which includes a snake divided into two parts with the motto: 'Se rejoindre ou mourir' ('Join or die').

A year after Franklin's death, his unfinished draft autobiography, entitled "Memoires De La Vie Privee," was published in Paris in March of 1791, and portions soon appeared in English. The first complete edition appeares in 1868. It was one of the first and greatest American autobiographies and appears in many editions. Historians have treated the ''Autobiography'' as an allegory for the paradigm of American upward social mobility as well as representing the early economic and political success of America. Beyond this basic representativeness, it endorses the economic promise of free enterprise by using Franklin's life experience to advocate the new nation's economic potential and creditworthiness. Franklin aligns his own history with that of the fledgling United States, in effect equating his ability to successfully capitalize on credit with that of the nation. By depicting his own public credibility, Franklin was able to translate his reputation and promise of success into an endorsement of the viability of American life, intertwining self- and national promotion. In sharp contrast to Jefferson's glorification of the yeoman farmer as the carrier of republican virtue, Franklin looked to the cosmopolitan city for the advancement of mankind, as he tells how the youth arrives in the idyllic city of Philadelphia, where adherence to principles of independence, morality, and industry bring him success.<ref>Jennifer Jordan Baker, "Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography and the Credibility of Personality." ''Early American Literature'' 2000 35(3): 274-293. 0012-8163; James L. Machor, "The Urban Idyll of the New Republic: Moral Geography and the Mythic Hero of Franklin's Autobiography." ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 1986 110(2): 219-236.</ref>