You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.

Hello, and thanks for joining Revolution 250. This is where we remember events that took

place 250 years ago this week. It's a short bonus episode from the American Revolution

podcast to remember these important 250th anniversaries from the Revolutionary War.

This week, we remember the establishment of Rodriguez Horteles and Company on May 2, 1776.

There's a new book sponsoring our podcast this week. It's called The Banker Who Made America by Richard

Vague. It's not about Alexander Hamilton, not about Robert Morris. This is a new biography of Thomas

Willing, a man who played a key role in financing the American Revolution, founding the U.S.

government, who you've probably never heard of. Robert Morris and later Alexander Hamilton

both learned banking and commerce from this man. Willing came from a wealthy and established Philadelphia family

and even served as mayor during the colonial era. Willing worked in the background and is not well

remembered today. Richard Vague, who was Pennsylvania's security secretary a few years ago,

helps us follow the money that made the revolution possible and helped establish the foundation

for the U.S. government under the Constitution. Willing is the key to all of it. Go to bookshop.org

and use the code ARP15 for 15% off at checkout. That's www.bookshop.org to get 15% off the book with

promo code ARP15. The founding of a new business in France may not sound like a landmark event,

but the Rodriguez Horteles and company was no ordinary business.

The Continental Congress had sent Silas Dean to France in hopes of getting French aid for the war effort

and hopefully a treaty that would bring France into the war on America's side.

Dean found the French government largely uninterested in helping.

France was still rebuilding its military, especially its Navy, following the losses from the

seven years' war. It simply wasn't ready for another fight with Britain. If France had provided

...