The American Revolution between 1765-1783 gave birth to a newly independent nation away from its colonisers. Yet underneath this “glorious” success, there lie deep, complicated and self-interested plots with mindful players. What many may not know, which includes me before I read around this, France contributed hugely to the American success due to many different reasons -- personal and international, in which we will take a look in this piece of writing, looking back at key historical moments.
[In this first part, there will be a rundown of events leading to this Franco-American Alliance, with the second part breaking down how this relationship ultimately broke down.]
America at the time was a relatively passive actor subjected to a variety of enforcements and was being directed around, especially seen through how European powers “played” with American territory. After the Treaty of Paris 1763 which ended the so-called Seven Years’ War between Britain and France, and marked the start of an era of British dominance outside Europe began as France gave up all territory in mainland North America. This effectively ended any foreign military threat to British colonies there.
Straight afterwards, the British issued the Proclamation Line on 3rd October 1763 to tighten up control over autonomous British colonies. The Line forbade colonial expansion westward beyond Appalachia (which affected all 13 colonies) and created discontent amongst Britain and the colonial land with potential settlers. In simple terms, the French land which Britain just grabbed onto was secured.
The British Thought
The Seven Years’ War was extremely costly and in the aftermath, Britain faced a huge budget deficit. Therefore, with the newly secured territory, they turned to the US and colonies to pay for this -- Americans had to pay for British defence, face higher taxes such as those under the Sugar Act 1764, and so claimed unfair treatment. “Taxation without representation” became the rallying cry. Without a doubt, the Americans were angered by such treatments as they said they had their characters. This caused shifts in relations.
By 1774, American loyalists bargained with the British, asking that America would have independence whilst being a colony of Britain and tax themselves. This was brutally rejected. Had Britain compromised to a slight extent, perhaps the Revolution would never have been sparked.
Why would France help America?
For a long time, there has been a fiery rivalry between France and Britain for global empire and commerce. Not only did the Seven Years’ War fuel anti-British feeling, but the French thought helping the Americans could severely weaken the British empire.
Meanwhile back at home, the French monarchy was facing troubles as well. People became sceptical of the monarchy and whether it was doing its job sufficiently to maintain the French prestige and national pride. On top of that, the monarchy was also finding trouble in paying debt, so intervening in US affairs to help achieve independence was a great way to gather popular support.
The Franco-American Alliance
France was already helping the US behind the scenes by sending over ammunition and gunpowder, whilst the Battle of Saratoga (1777) fully convinced the French (at least at that time) that the US was strong enough to be used to weaken the British. Therefore, the US successfully secured a secret loan from Lafayette and had French army officers sent over to help; Lafayette himself also embarked on a journey to North America to serve as a military leader in what was to become a Revolution. In some ways, France was fighting a proxy war which to an extent is filled with self-interest.
By 1778, the alliance between France and America was formally set in stone and became formally acknowledged by outsiders as the Franco-American Alliance, including Britain. So what did Britain do? The Carlisle Peace Commission, a group of British peace commissioners, were sent over to America in the same year to negotiate with the US Congress at the time.
For the first time, the British government agreed to negotiate with Congress and carried over an offer for self-rule, including the ability for colonies to tax themselves as well as having representation in Westminster. Had this was offered any earlier, there probably would have been no alliance between France and America.
18th Century French foreign policy was dominated by a significant agenda -- fight off the British; and in April 1779, France was able to bring Spain into the Revolutionary War, helping the Americans as well. Spain was also a victim of the Treaty of Paris 1763 where territory was lost to Britain. Fast forward, Britain now had to fight the largest navy of alliances, and eventually, the Peace Deal 1783 was signed, giving a generous deal to America.
The War of the American Revolution finally ended. America was given independence, and along with it, a significant proportion of western territory was gifted in the Deal as well.
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