how did the french alliance contribute to the american revolution

The power which first recognizes the independence of the Americans, he said, will be the one to gather all the fruits of this war.. And so the man who believed that there never was a good war or a bad peace, old Dr. Benjamin Franklin, a man laden with the worlds honors who might easily have pleaded age and weariness, set out for France in his seventy-first year to secure these necessities for his country. With the appointment of the mission to France the affairs of the two secret committees were theoretically unscrambled; the commissioners were to take charge of foreign relations, and young Tom Morris of commercial matters. The historian Henri Doniol, who edited the secret French archives of the period, claimed that Franklin did more than coach the Whigs; that he in fact started an international gunrunning ring by quiet negotiations with certain arms manufacturers and exporters in England, Holland, and France. A French expeditionary force arrived in the United States in 1780. The two Lee brothers in Congress saw that their brothers in London were put in posts of influence. It inspired the French to launch their own revolution for liberty and equality. Conyngham hastily sailed back to his berth and unloaded the powder. It turned out that the French warships had been sent with orders to protect not only the islands of Louis XVI, but also any American vessels in the area. Athur Lee, who became Congress agent in London after Franklins departure, had been in conspiratorial relations with Beaumarchais during his visits to England. Shipping was at a premium; in the last year the price of vessels had tripled. France is one of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) top five troop contributors. Captain Pearson of the Speedwell had orders to follow any suspected American ship out to the open sea and there arrest her. Wentworth did not give up, and in a conference the next day he offered America a few more concessions, purely on his own authority. Tom Morris was dragging out the last months of his wretched life, and Lee saw no point in beating a dead horse. His friend Sieur Montaudoin bought a great Dutch ship and named it Benjamin Franklin . By September Congress lamentable trade embargo would include the West Indies, and no more mainland produce would be sent Bermuda, which meant a galloping famine. Economic historians will recognize the invaluable research and work of two individuals in particular that this article draws from: Merrill Jensen, and . British firms had also been running munitions to the colonies, and continued to do so, despite orders-in-council. It was an entirely new sort of war because the United States was a new sort of country, whose survival depended less on land fighting than on a complex of factors in which Franklin was deeply involved. In 1757, Franklin went to England to represent the Pennsylvania Assembly as a diplomat in its fight against the descendants of the Penn . How did the French Alliance contribute to the American Revolution? A clever negotiator could have done much there, for Frederick the Great despised the British and the little German states that sold them mercenaries; he took a lively interest in the progress of the American war and was ready to expand Prussias trade with the Americans, which so far had been clandestine. And finally Franklin played his trump card, the possibility that America might be forced back into the British Empire unless some powerful aid is given us or some strong diversion be made in our favor. He knew that the Bourbon nightmare was the picture of Britain, reunited with her American colonies, sweeping Spain from the lower Mississippi and both Bourbon powers from the Caribbean. France's Debt Problems. By the middle of July Vergennes had made up his mind to ask the King for armed intervention. They sent eight of them to France and got back safely. But his most important work was with the new firm of Hortalez & Company, which really meant the House of Bourbon. All this was excruciating, since Lee had trumpeted in letters home that he had the ministry and Hortalez in his pocket. As was demonstrated at the Battle of Yorktown, the French alliance was decisive for the cause of American independence. Arthur Lee knew he was being kept out of important conferences, and yet within a few months he was writing friends that he alone had negotiated the French alliance, though Franklin and Deane tried to take credit for the work. Captain Pearson of the, The islet of St. Eustatia, an international free port in the northern Leewards, was a fountainhead of what Samuel Adams called the, To the citizens of Nantes the alliance was not merely a commercial bond, but a blend of credos and enthusiasms which they shared with their friends overseas. Lord Stormont, the British ambassador, had been sputtering at Vergennes for two years about the shipping of contraband from French ports, and now he raised such a storm that the minister had to forbid the sailing of one Hortalez vessel after the other. The copies of his early correspondence with Beaumarchais proved that he knew better. It was a long time before this contract with the Farmers General could be satisfied, since few ships could now run the British blockade of the American seaboard. He could not punish Conyngham, who was in parts unknown, so he had William Hodge arrested and sent to the Bastille. As for Dr. Dubourg, this bookish man was an incongruous visitor at Versailles by June of 1776, by which time he had received Franklins appointment as the French agent of his Committee of Secret Correspondence. His widening circle of intimates included people of great influence: Masons, scientists and scholars, men and women of the aristocracy. He was the Edward Edwards of the secret service, the master spy of the century. A little pressure on Vergennes would do no harm. With Deane and Carmichael, and all those shadowy young Americans who helped the great privateering drive of 1777, he organized an underground system for escapes. Robert Morris had arranged Toms appointment under the delusion that the youth had reformed during a long stay abroad and was to be trusted with the public business. By September, 1775, the crusader was back in Versailles, and with Vergennes intensified the campaign to draw the King into their dangerous project of largescale aid to the colonies. Franklin enjoyed the brief engagements. Compare And Contrast The American Revolution And French Revolution. Masonry was powerful in France and all-powerful in Nantes, and for perhaps a generation its exporters had been sending American brothers, along with bills of lading and business papers, sheaves of French Masonic literature in exchange for similar pamphlets from the colonies. The foreign alliances of France have a long and complex history spanning more than a millennium. Louis XVI was helpless; he dared not begin the war without Spain. For the rest of the war she ran salt to the mainland, refused to privateer against the Americans, and built for them her superb sloops. Behind the benevolent smile lurked the master of intrigue, skillfully maneuvering the vacillating courts of Europe. He knew that this purpose was the weakening of Britain rather than the emancipation of the United States. It encouraged the French to adopt the government system of popular sovereignty. Arthur was installed in the place where he could counteract Deane and that wicked old man, as R. H. Lee called Franklin. If successful, France would get as her share half the Newfoundland fishery and all the sugar islands; Spain would be enriched by Portugal and the Floridas, and the United States would gain Canada, Bermuda, and the Bahamas. Then and then only did he dissolve his company, which had spent over 42,000,000 livres, mostly for America, and most of it never paid back. However, there are crucial differences that led to their respective results and their . "Rear alliance"), aiming at allying with countries situated on the opposite side or "in the back" of an adversary, in order to open a second front encircling the adversary and thus re . The situation at home was alarming. The American Revolution. The first move was to eliminate Franklin and Deane by creating a scandal in Congress about their peculation of public funds. He had made Saratoga possible. Apprehensive as he was about Britain, Vergennes risked war to release Captain Wickes and Captain Henry Johnson, who had sailed in company with him on the Irish cruise, from their long protective arrest in port. The small matter was to be Conynghams capture of another British packet, this time the one plying to Holland. The French Revolution lasted from 1789 until 1799. He radiated reassurance like one of his own stoves; the warmth and charm of his personality masked his Merlin powers. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1975. The Doctor was adept at working through trusted friends, and his friends were legion. During the struggle for American independence, France provided the money, troops, armament, military leadership, and naval support that tipped the balance of military power and paved the way for the Continental Army's ultimate victory. Deane and Beaumarchais were already fast friends, working in harmony to load the Hortalez fleet with war supplies. The King was always anxious to avoid friction with England, and Lees visit would arouse her suspicions. In order to make the war effective he reminded Vergennes of things Vergennes could do for the Bourbon cause: release the Hortalez ships, foster the American trade, and lend Congress money. His new cutter, the, When Vergenness orders came through to sell the, Conyngham lusted for his fine new cutter, which mounted 14 six-pounders and 22 swivels, and would have a crew of more than a hundred American and French seamen. Franklin knew that Vergennes, who for years had befriended America, would scuttle her the instant she ceased to serve his purpose. Americans, for instance, were forbidden to trade directly with foreign countries or with the foreign islands of the Caribbean, except in a few commodities which could be sold under cumbersome and expensive restrictions. In a few swift parries Franklin suggested what his technique of dealing with the ministry would be. Moreover, a certain project which he may have discussed with Morris and Wickes was developing in his mind, and he needed to find out how France would react if prizes were brought into Nantes. She threaded the colonies and Britain with her spies; Versailles knew much better than Whitehall how the Revolution was shaping. Despite his own best efforts, Lees mission turned out to be a success. No man of his century could approach Franklin as a subtle and effective propagandist. On the last day of the year the bad news arrived from Spain: Charles III was unwilling to enter an alliance with America. Above all we needed an ally. In 1865, Edouard de Laboulaye (a French . Little Benny Bache would be put in school to learn French, and Temple Franklin would act as his grandfathers unpaid secretary. Franklin was a shrewd judge of men, and his unclouded confidence in Bancroft needs some extraordinary explanation. If Vergennes had any doubts about Franklins grasp of Bourbon aims, they were resolved by the Doctors masterly letter of January 5. But before this blackout settled down Congress managed to get dispatches through, which in effect begged Franklin to manage his side of the desperate crisis as he saw fit. America needed French aid of every sort: ships, supplies, loans, to begin with. Congress would not even sanction commerce with friendly powers because that was tantamount to declaring independence. Franklin soon warned Congress not to enlarge its connections with this questionable pair. After the Seven Years' War, Britain found itself in about twice as much debt . Vergennes decided that honor was preferable to peace, faced down an ultimatum from England, and got the two Navy ships safely to sea, where they would have to take their chances with the British warships waiting for them. It was a fine moment for his debut. As for the French islands, the Cape developed into a prime source for munitions, and Martinique became an American privateer base before Franklin sailed. Vergennes would promise to investigate the matter, which meant that Stormont had lost a point. His first wife soon died and he married the daughter of a great political familyand switched to politics. A generation after the end of the Revolutionary War, new revolutions emerged in nearly a dozen Spanish colonies in Central and South America.

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