Saturday, May 14, 2016

The French Alliance of 1778

From the York Daily Record:
The Treaty of Alliance with France, during the Revolutionary War, was both signed in France and ratified by the Continental Congress while York was the seat of government for the new nation. Without France’s significant military aid, provided by this treaty, it is doubtful that the Revolutionary War would have been won against Great Britain.

This 13-cent United States Postage Stamp commemorates French King Louis XVI handing the signed copy of the treaty to Benjamin Franklin. If you are reading this on the Ydr.com site, click on this LINK for a Full View of the illustrations in this post on the original YorkBlog site; since the ydr.com site will occasionally cut off important details in the cropping of illustrations.

The Treaty of Alliance was signed in France on February 6, 1778, following many months of negotiations by American diplomats Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee. One of the keys to getting France to finally agree to a treaty was the colonists’ first major military victory in the defeat of British General Burgoyne’s army of 6,000 men at Saratoga, New York, on October 17, 1777. (Read more.)
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1 comment:

MadMonarchist said...

So much of this is misconstrued today. The Franco-American Alliance is either treated dismissively or the emphasis is placed on "France" rather than "The *Kingdom* of France". True enough, American independence would not have been won without King Louis XIV, even before recognition French loans and French Charleville muskets were vital. So, the Kingdom of France was America's first ally and, it is even more often forgotten, the First French Republic was America's first foreign enemy. The undeclared war between the U.S. and revolutionary France is seldom mentioned at all. The whole relationship just messes up everyone's narrative, on the left and the right.