Ottoman Algeria in Western Diplomatic History with ... - Bibliothèque

was not to the taste of its French colonial rival which had been engaged
actively in clandestine military support for the Americans, a support that made
the victory of George Washington, commander of the Continental Army (1775-
1783), at the Battle of Saratoga (1777) possible. 21 From the beginning, and
even before the Declaration of Independence, France found in the growing
tensions between the colonies and their mother country an opportunity to take
revenge and regain its lost power in North America; power it had lost after the
humiliating treaty of 1763. 22 That the Americans had realized very early in the
conflict and Congress instructed its agents at Paris to accept an alliance with
France and Spain, if those powers could be persuaded to make one. 23
Weak as they supposedly were, the American Commissioners at Paris,
of whom Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) with his “air faussement naïve” 24
was the most prominent, shrewdly played off those European powers’ rivalries
to the most advantage of the USA. When offers of peace came from Great
Britain, they pressed France for a treaty of amity and commerce and an alliance
which they obtained finally in 1778. 25 That alliance was the decisive factor in
the final military victories that led to the independence of the United States.
The principle that rejected binding alliances was discarded for more practical
and strategic considerations but the commercial principles—free maritime trade
21 Duroselle, La France et les Etats-Unis, pp. 25-30.
22 Ibid., p. 22.
23 DCAR, 1:416, From B. Franklin to Arthur Lee, March 21, 1777.
24 Duroselle, La France et les Etats-Unis, p. 23. Dean of the founding fathers and diplomats, Franklin
was a printer, editor, scientist, philanthropist, ‘philosopher,’ and above all a Free-Mason. He served as
a colonial agent in England (1760-75), then in Paris as a diplomatic agent for the USA (1776-1785).
Today he is considered as the ‘Father of the Foreign Service’ of the USA, Barnes, Foreign Service, p.
17.
25 Duroselle, La France et les Etats-Unis, p. 24. Congress ratified the treaties with France within an
expedite length of two days.
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