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[[File:Surrender_of_General_Burgoyne.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|The surrender of the British General John Burgoyne at Saratoga, on October 17, 1777 convinced France to side with American Colonies against Britain]]During the American Revolution, the American colonies faced the significant challenge of conducting international diplomacy and seeking the international support it needed to fight against the British. The single most important diplomatic success of the colonists during the War for Independence was the critical link they forged with France. While France and the Colonies had flirted with each other it was not until the British surrender at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777 that France decided to ally with the Colonies against Britain. Representatives of the French and American governments signed the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce on February 6, 1778.__NOTOC__
====Secret Committee created to Communicate with Potential Allies====
American colonists hoped for possible French aid in their struggle against British forces. The Continental Congress established the [[What was the purpose of the Committee of Secret Correspondence during the American Revolution?|Secret Committee of Correspondence]] to publicize the American cause in Europe. Committee member Benjamin Franklin wrote to contacts in France with encouraging accounts of colonial resistance. The French had suffered a defeat by the British during the Seven Years’ War and had lost North American territory under the 1763 Treaty of Paris. As the French and the British continued to vie for power in the 1770s, French officials saw an opportunity in the rebellion of Britain’s North American colonies to take advantage of British troubles. Through secret agents, the French Government began to provide clandestine assistance to the United States, much of which they channeled through American trader Silas Deane.
As the members of the Continental Congress considered declaring independence, they also discussed the possibility and necessity of foreign alliances and assigned a committee to draft a Model Treaty to serve as a guide for this work. After Congress formally declared independence from Great Britain in 1776, it dispatched a group of several commissioners led by Benjamin Franklin to negotiate an alliance with France. When news of the Declaration of Independence and the subsequent British evacuation of Boston reached France, the French Foreign Minister Charles Gravier (Comte de Vergennes ) decided in favor of an alliance. However, once news of General George Washington’s defeats in New York reached Europe in August of 1776, Vergennes wavered, questioning the wisdom of committing to a full alliance.
====Franklin negotiates an Alliance with France====
[[File:Vergennes,_Charles_Gravier_comte_de.jpg|thumbnail|left|250px|Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes, French Foreign Minister]]
Benjamin Franklin’s popularity in France bolstered French support for the American cause. The French public viewed Franklin as a representative of republican simplicity and honesty, an image Franklin cultivated. A rage for all things Franklin and American swept France, assisting American diplomats and Vergennes in pushing for an alliance. In the meantime, Vergennes agreed to provide the United States with a secret loan.
Despite the loan and discussions of a full alliance, the French limited their assistance to the new American Colonies at the outset. Throughout 1777, Vergennes delayed as he conducted negotiations with the Spanish Government, which was wary of U.S. independence and also wanted assurances that Spain would regain territories if it went to war against the British.
Vergennes finally decided in favor of an alliance when news of the British surrender at the Battle of Saratoga reached him in December 1777. Vergennes, having heard rumors of secret British peace offers to Franklin, decided not to wait for Spanish support and offered the United States an official French alliance. On February 6, 1778, Benjamin Franklin and the other two commissioners, Arthur Lee and Silas Deane, signed a Treaty of Alliance and a Treaty of Amity and Commerce with France.
====The Treaty of Alliance====
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ART. 1.
