Yet he regretted that it had brought involvement with "the baleful realm of European diplomacy." Vergennes was quite willing to lead America to an "abattoir" where portions of the United States might be dismembered if this would advance the interests of France. Bemis conceded that the French alliance had been necessary to win the war. Franklin, Jay, and Adams had done just this during the Revolution and as a consequence had won the greatest victory in the annals of American diplomacy. America's diplomatic success had resulted from staying clear of European politics while reaping advantage from European strife. European diplomacy in the eighteenth century was "rotten, corrupt, and perfidious," warned Bemis. It emphasized the danger of American entanglement in European quarrels. According to Jerold Combs:īemis's The Diplomacy of the American Revolution, published originally in 1935, is still the standard work on the subject. Historian Samuel Flagg Bemis was a leading expert on diplomatic history. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 was highly favorable to the United States which now could expand westward to the Mississippi River. The diplomats-especially Franklin, Adams and Jefferson-secured recognition of American independence and large loans to the new national government. The military and financial alliance with France in 1778, which brought in Spain and the Netherlands to fight the British, turned the American Revolutionary War into a world war in which the British naval and military supremacy was neutralized. The United States (blue) was bordered by the British Empire (yellow) to the north and New Spain (brown) to the south and west.įrom the establishment of the United States after regional, not global, focus, but with the long-term ideal of creating what Jefferson called an "Empire of Liberty." Main articles: Diplomacy in the American Revolutionary War and Confederation Period § Foreign affairs North America after the Treaty of Paris.
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