The Diplomacy of the American Revolution

by Samuel Flagg Bemis

Book Overview

"To the superficial observer there would seem never to have been an age less propitious for the birth of a new nation. The tendency of the times was altogether for the aggrandizement of big states and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B002ZZ1FPC
• Release Date: January 1961
• Publisher: Indiana University
• Length: 293 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Entangling Alliances

The Diplomacy of the American Revolution, by Samuel Flagg Bemis, describes the complicated diplomatic maneuvering primarily among the US, Britain, France, and Spain. It is the first (in historical chronologically) of Bemis' books on early American diplomacy. It is followed by Jay's Treaty, Pinckney's Treaty, and John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy, all of which I found well worth reading.. The initial phase of the American Revolution extended from 1775 to 1777. During this period, the American effort can be characterized as a rather unsuccessful defense against superior British forces. The diplomatic scene was characterized as follows: 1. The Continental Congress established a model for foreign relations based on friendship, trade, and recognition of American independence. Military alliances were to be specifically avoided. A committee, led by Benjamin Franklin, was sent to France to seek recognition and a treaty along these lines. Unknown to the Americans, this committee's secretary was a British agent who kept London informed on all aspects of the American mission to France. 2. France's goals in the American Revolution were (1) revenge on Britain for France's defeat in the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War) and (2) a significant reduction in the economic, naval, and military might of the British Empire by the separation of the American Colonies from Britain. France entertained the idea of recognizing American independence but realized that this would be tantamount to a declaration of war on Britain. However, prudence (i.e., fear that an American surrender that would leave France as the sole power facing the might of Britain) dictated that France should delay entry until either (1) the Americans had demonstrated that their revolution was not going to fizzle out or (2) France could persuade Spain to enter the war as a French ally. As neither of these conditions appeared imminent in 1775, France contented itself with providing covert money and arms to the Americans. 3. Spain's primary goal, the recovery of Gibraltar which had been taken by the British early in the 1700s, while it did involve Britain, did not directly involve the Americans. Furthermore, unlike France, Spain had extensive American colonies of its own, and was unsympathetic to the idea of colonial revolutions. However, it was willing to bend these principles a bit by covertly providing money and arms to the Americans in an attempt to weaken Britain. The defeat and surrender of Burgoyne's army at the battle of Saratoga in 1777 changed the situation dramatically. 1. Britain became willing to negotiate a treaty giving the American colonies a large degree of self-rule as a dominion of the British Empire) similar to Canada's current status) and the revocation of the various commercial acts that had been an immediate cause of the revolution. 2. France, recognizing that quick action was required to prevent an Anglo-American reconciliation. Ho