Therefore, by the time the American Revolution broke out in 1775, the young French King Louis XVI was eager to use this conflict to . He refused, when his mission was over, to return to his once beloved Paris. The Secret Committee, dominated by the capable merchant Robert Morris, methodized the smuggling of war supplies from Europe, which had been going on for years. The merchant was the intendant for supplying clothing for the French Armyand of late the American Army, for he had given Beaumarchais a million livres worth of clothing on credit. As a past master in the art of making the other man feel that he was acting solely for him, Vergennes recognized this basic technique in diplomacy. The great powers seemed less inclined than ever to begin their war. He seemed to be everywhere at once, a nightmare figure. The commissioners drew on it for their expenses, for the purchase of war supplies, for building three frigates in Holland and France, and for keeping up the maritime war in European waters. The colonies needed these things . On July 14 a mob stormed the Bastille prison in Paris looking for arms to protect itself from the king's forces. Arguably the key French contribution to the war came during the Yorktown campaign. Conyngham shook them off and began the most spectacular cruise of the war. The King was tireless, and only the quirks and massive stubbornness which were part of his psychosis would now and then hamper the working of his great information machine. A new nation had emerged, and in time each individual would realize his new identity. However, Beaumarchais put his whole soul into his character as friend of the American Revolution. However, when Franklin arrived in Paris, Bancroft was in an ideal position to watch the Kings most dangerous enemy, and he made a good bargain with the secret service. Sieur Montaudoin shared many interests with Franklin; both were members of the Royal Academy of Sciences, enthusiasts of the new physiocratic school, and Masons. Vergennes too recognized the subtle strategy behind the cruises, and he was coming to the decision that war could not be postponed much longer. He was the unifying force of the Revolution, the one man who could understand and use effectively the complex elements which composed it. Vergennes sensed that the benign old Doctor was ready to fence with naked steel, that he perfectly realized France was playing the old game of power rivalry, and that he would co-operate in the gameup to a pointto keep France as an ally. These prospects were bleak enough in December, 1775, but Franklin sent Bonvouloir back with such a rosy report that they immediately improved. But the early ratio of seven British merchantmen captured to one American lost was rapidly declining, and Britains patrol of the seaboard was making it difficult to maintain a supply line of military and civilian goods. The Comte de Vergennes. Getting a fleet for Washington was high on Franklins agenda. French involvement in the American Revolutionary War of 1775-1783 began in 1776 when the Kingdom of France secretly shipped supplies to the Continental Army of the Thirteen Colonies when it was established in June 1775. His new cutter, the Revenge , had been bought by William Hodge of Philadelphia, who had also obtained Conynghams first ship. At the first hint of this the Doctor tendered his resignation, which to his relief was not accepted. Wentworth did not give up, and in a conference the next day he offered America a few more concessions, purely on his own authority. He knew that this purpose was the weakening of Britain rather than the emancipation of the United States. Ferreiro, Larrie D. Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France & Spain Who Saved It. This must not happen again. Then he tried to tempt Deane with the honours and emoluments which the King would bestow on him if he brought about a reconciliation. Then he captured the Kings packet Swallow , running between Falmouth and Lisbon. The Revenge was owned half by Congress and half by Hodge and David Conyngham, a wealthy cousin of the captains who was on a business trip to Europe. When they arrived at Martinique, the Americans were so cordially received that Bingham settled down as resident agent for Congress. British general Henry Clinton marched north from New York and could have helped Burgoyne turn the tide at Saratoga, but he never arrived. Robert Morris alcoholic half brother Thomas had just been appointed by Congress as its commercial agent for all of France. She anchored in Quiberon Bay with her prizes, and Franklin made a bone-racking journey overland by post chaise. Sixty years after his death the incredible truth came out. John Adams once remarked that while Washington was to be respected as a private individual, in Congress I feel myself to be superior to General Washington. He objected to the commander being allowed to name his own generals and thought Congress should carry on every function of war except shoot down redcoats. The United States fought all the way through the war without a government. No man of his century could approach Franklin as a subtle and effective propagandist. It attempted to pay down that debt by taxing colonists through the Stamp Act, generating far more resentment than revenue. Bancroft was still the mission confidant at Passy; certain Americans who sat at Deanes dinner table reported on ship movements to the British secret service, and Captain Joseph Hynson, who happened to be Lambert Wickess stepbrother, stole an entire pouch of dispatches intended for Congress, which contained all the secret correspondence between the mission and the French ministry for the last eight months. Similar to MORE This well-connected young man had been sent direct from Congress to buy two ships to serve as packets for the mission. Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949, Benjamin Franklin And The French Alliance, Franklin was now seventy, afflicted with gout, and wretchedly tired from his labors in Congress and its candle-burning committees. What major problem did the Continental army face in the winter of 1777? Some inner mechanism in the Lee genes transmuted whatever was wrong with the Lees into something much worse that was wrong with their enemies. Though still reeling from the loss of its American colonies at the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, the country remained a global power with a strong army and navy. In the last months the King had relinquished his illusion that war could be avoided, and he approved his ministers memoir the day it was presented. It began with the bold request that France sell the United States eight ships of the line, completely manned . Explain the purpose of a colonial stamp tax, how it would be implemented and which people or groups it would affect. At the moment, Nantes was all Frankliniste . After Lees visit he proffered no more aid and listened to Floridablanca. The British had many other secret agents in France, and other avenues of information. Whereas French intervention in the war would help turn the tide in favor of the Americans, the debt it incurred would contribute to the later French Revolution (1789-1799 . He refused to sign the final peace treaty with England until all American prisoners were released. He demanded every favor under heaven and even wrote Frederick (who refused to receive him) a preposterous letter, in effect telling him how he could run his kingdom better. But Bancroft was in the most strategic position of any informer, and his conduct at Passy was mysterious. However, over time divisions of opinion became apparent between federalists and anti-federalists. Podcast: Libert, Unit, Egalit. Born in Massachusetts in 1744, Bancroft was just of age when he settled in London, but he was already a notable scientist and writer. how did the french alliance contribute to the american revolution. Finally, not daring to return to France, he made for Cap Ferrol in Spain. 900 seconds. Bancroft was in a balky mood but finally gave the desired information: Spain was not ready for a war with England. He was hardly prepared for the booming activity in Americas behalf that he found in Nantes. Since Nantes was the key port for American purposes, Franklin made a personal sacrifice and sent his grandnephew Jonathan Williams there as the special agent for the commissioners. A riving home just after Lexington, Franklin had found the leaders in Congress still struggling against their enforced propulsion towards independence. He was also making them a gift of 375,000 livres. In November 1789, Richard Price . Both revolutions began due to the financial problems in their countries. He welcomed routine, even a pernicious routine, but any crisis produced a violent reaction. Congress had appointed Jefferson as the third commissioner, but he had declined to serve because of his wifes illness, and the Adams-Lee bloc in Congress rushed their man in as substitute. Revolutionary leadership of George Washington Head of the colonial forces. The French Revolution also influenced U.S. politics, as pro- and anti- Revolutionary factions sought to . When Deane left Philadelphia on his mission to France, Franklin suggested that Edward Bancroft would be a useful consultant on European affairs, and so it proved. Due to the fantastic time lag in communications with Congress, Alderman Lee was about to take up his assignment as joint commercial agent for France ten months after Congress had canceled that assignment and appointed him envoy to Prussia and Austria. This period of conflict began in 1698 with the War of the Grand . This was the same thing as asking France and Spain to declare immediate war against Great Britain. For a complication of reasons the Massachusetts cousins, John and Samuel Adams, had formed a close alliance with the Virginia brothers, Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot Lee. She was starting out as a beggar at the court of Versailles, and she would have to keep on begging until the war was over. Since this ruined Arthur Lees flattering picture of himself as Americas first envoy to Madrid, he was enraged. His affection for Franklin and Deane had the ring of sincerity, and years later, when Deane was of no possible use to him, he was still the devoted friend. He soon went down to Spain, where Conyngham was taking fresh prizes. What thus started as an acknowledged business arrangement was twisted by Arthur Lee into a fantasy which better suited his private purposes, all directed toward immortalizing Arthur Lee. In the summer of 1775 Colonel Henry Tucker, whose clan dominated island affairs, came to Philadelphia in a state of worry and resentment. C.) It encouraged the French to adopt the government system of popular sovereignty. All the colonizing powers tried to keep New World produce flowing home to the motherland. Meanwhile, Grard warned, the negotiations must be kept secret. Their difficulties in shipping out supplies to America were also greatly increased, for Lee had set down everything he could learn without coding it. Compared to the antics of the French Revolution, the infamous Tea Party in Boston was like the sisters at the convent sneaking into the dorm of the rival convent and shorting their sheets. France and Great Britain were cutthroat enemies. Athur Lees mission to Spain had done nothing to warm her heart to America. Continental Congress established the Secret Committee of Correspondence to publicize the American cause in Europe. He terrorized the towns on the east coast of England and Scotland. If this scheme can be executed, it will disconcert all the plans at one stroke, without an appearance of intention, and save both the public and me.. The only source for salt during the war was the Turks Islands beds at the tail of the Bahama chain, long a Bermudian monopoly. D.) It caused many French nobles and clergy to move to the newly independent United States. Plainly neither side wanted to start hostilities, and they had perfected a system for avoiding a rupture. Lack of food. Somehow the wild Irishman, repeating the maneuver of the sound and sober Wickes, created an infinitely greater reaction. Whatever disaster happened in 1777, he wanted to build a friendship between the French and American peoples which would last for many generations, and he calmly laid the foundations of that friendship in his own daily associations. George Washington was appointed commander of the Continental Army in 1775. In March the Doctor was given a charming house at Passy on the grounds of the Htel Valentinois, which belonged to the merchant prince Donatien le Rey de Chaumont. The arms of which Doniol speaks had long since been amassed, and it seems probable that Dubourg and Vergennes discussed other matters. It inspired the French to launch their own revolution for liberty and equality. DuVal, Kathleen. His background was no more humble than Franklins, but his friend could dress like a Quaker while Deane amassed a huge wardrobe of velvets and satins and drained his private purse entertaining his new French acquaintances. They all hated and feared Britain as the newly dominant nation of Europe. Franklins household, the unofficial American embassy, was never lonely, even when Benny was sent off to school. Congress was shipping them tobacco, furs, and other valuable products to buy war supplies and ships, but Tom Morris and Penet claimed every cargo arriving in France. Franklins arrival in Paris set off an extraordinary wave of public excitement that bordered on hysteria. February 6, 1778. Franklin took charge of diplomatic duties, Arthur Lee undertook missions to Spain and Prussia which happily kept him out of Paris at a crucial period, and Deane continued his commercial activities. The powder was stolen; Bermuda was fed. At once, on March 17, the commissioners sent memoirs to the French and Spanish ministries urging a triple war against Britain and her ally Portugal. As for the French islands, the Cape developed into a prime source for munitions, and Martinique became an American privateer base before Franklin sailed. On Christmas Day Washington wrote Congress: Our want of powder is inconceivable. Three weeks later there was not a pound in his magazines. The French government has immediately recalled its ambassadors to the US and Australia for consultation in response to America's recently announced national security partnership with the United . Here are five ways the French helped Americans win their freedom. The alliance of France with the American Patriots started on February 6, 1778, when the King of France signed a treaty with Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A certain Monsieur Hortalez, said the courier, was sending munitions worth 200,000 to the Cape, Martinique, and Statia, which American captains could obtain for Congress simply by saying Hortalez to the port commandant. The Passy household was complete when the wise and enchanting Edward Bancroft arrived to act as general secretary of the mission. American merchantmen picked up contraband all over Europe; the British, Dutch, and French sent some cargoes direct to the thirteen colonies, but far greater amounts to their islands in the Caribbean, to be picked up by American traders. By the summer of 1777 Arthur Lee openly accused Deane and Beaumarchais of appropriating 200,000 which he said the Bourbons had intended as a free gift to America. He masked his powerful and subtle mind behind the benevolent simplicity which was also part of his nature. Naval affairs were stagnant; the privateers attracted all the able seamen. It encouraged the French to adopt the government system of popular sovereignty. It was a fine moment for his debut. The country had no President and Cabinet, no executive departments, no constitution. It could not supply Washington gunpowder in 1775 nor cope with the enlarging task of war procurement. However, Franklin had boarded the, But now he had something serious to report: My informations says that the, In later reports Sir Joseph drew such an alarming picture of Dutch gunrunning, especially to the Caribbean, that the British sent a Navy sloop and cutter to spend the winter at Texel Island near Amsterdam. Sitting together in Deanes hotel while the crowds outside waited for a glimpse of their idol, the two men were already dreading the arrival of Arthur Lee as their colleague. The story goes that he was rushing to play the stock market, and no doubt he was. When Stormont appeared at Versailles Vergennes assured him that the Reprisal and her prizes had been ordered to leave French waters within 24 hours. This wealthy and devoted young Marylander had been educated in England and was qualified for diplomatic assignments. "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 . It was a delusion that cost him and the country dear and brought no profit to Tom Morris. Carmichael, who was still the liaison man between Passy and Dunkirk, found an obliging British subject as the ostensible purchaser of the Revenge , and while he was about it he sold the Surprise to a French buyer and sent her around to Nantes to join the privateer fleet. France did not wait for the announcement of July Fourth. Perhaps the greater part of Edward Bancroft was truly American. As such is their miserable policy, it is our business to force on a war for which purpose I see nothing so likely as fitting our privateers from the ports and islands of France.