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Treaty of Alliance with France (1778) (view source)
Revision as of 07:32, January 29, 2009
, 07:32, January 29, 2009add details and bibliog
[[Image:Treaty of alliance.JPG|thumb|300px|The Treaty of Alliance with France]]
[[Image:Treaty of alliance.JPG|thumb|300px|The 1778 Treaty of Alliance with France]]
Believing that they would benefit militarily by allying themselves with a powerful nation, the revolutionary colonies of the newly formed [[United States]] formed an alliance with [[France]] against [[Great Britain]]. According to this first military treaty of the new nation, the U.S. would provide for a defensive alliance to aid France should England attack, and neither France nor the United States would make peace with England until the independence of the United States was recognized.
Believing that they would benefit militarily by allying themselves with a powerful nation, the newly formed [[United States]] in Feb. 1778 formed an alliance with [[France]] against [[Great Britain]]. [[Benjamin Franklin]] was the chief negotiator. He was popular in Paris and American victory at Saratoga in 1777 convinced France that an alliance could be a military success and humiliate France's arch-enemy by stripping away most of its empire.
According to this first military treaty of the new nation, the U.S. would provide for a defensive alliance to aid France should England attack, and neither France nor the United States would make peace with England until the independence of the United States was recognized.
France, with its powerful navy, did declare war on Britain, and brought the Netherlands and Spain into the war along with their strong navies, while keeping the other major powers neutral. Britain was isolated, outgunned at sea and outnumbered on land.. The French sent an army and navy, which proved decisive at the battle of Yorktown in 1781. Both sides thus honored the treaty, which lapsed when peace was signed at the [[Treaty of Paris]] in 1783.
In the 1790s the [[Democratic-Republican]] party of [[Thomas Jefferson]] tried and failed to keep the treaty alive, as the U.S. and France fought an informal war in 1798 known as the "Quasi War".
==Bibliography==
* Bemis, Samuel Flagg. ''The Diplomacy of the American Revolution'' (1935) [http://serv.ul.cs.cmu.edu/zoom/record.html?id=15577 online edition]
* Brecher, Frank W. ''Securing American Independence: John Jay and the French Alliance''. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=107032616 Praeger Publishers, 2003. Pp. xiv, 327 online]
* Chartrand, René, and Back, Francis. ''The French Army in the American War of Independence'' Osprey; 1991.
* Corwin, Edward S. ''French Policy and the American Alliance of 1778'' Archon Books; 1962.
* Dull, Jonathan. ''A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution,'' 1985.
* Dull, Jonathan R. ''The French Navy and American Independence: A Study of Arms and Diplomacy 1774-1787'' (1975)
*** Kaplan, Lawrence S. "The Diplomacy of the American Revolution: the Perspective from France." ''Reviews in American History'' 1976 4(3): 385-390. Issn: 0048-7511 Fulltext in Jstor; review of Dull (1975)
* Hoffman, Ronald and Albert, Peter J., ed. ''Diplomacy and Revolution: The Franco-American Alliance of 1778''. U. Press of Virginia, 1981. 200 pp.
* Hudson, Ruth Strong. ''The Minister from France: Conrad-Alexandre Gérard, 1729-1790.'' Lutz, 1994. 279 pp.
* Kennett, Lee. ''The French Forces in America, 1780-1783.'' Greenwood, 1977. 188 pp.
* Perkins, James Breck. ''France in the American Revolution'' [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=97431821 1911 online]
* Pritchard, James. "French Strategy and the American Revolution: a Reappraisal." ''Naval War College Review'' 1994 47(4): 83-108. Issn: 0028-1484
* Unger, Harlow Giles. ''Lafayette'' (2002)[http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=107265187 online]
==Text of the Treaty==
==Text of the Treaty==
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[[category:American Revolution]][[Category:American State Papers]]
[[category:American Revolution]][[Category:American State Papers]]
[[category:Diplomacy]]
[[category:French History]]