Reference Entry
TREATY OF ALLIANCE
In the winter of the American Revolution, diplomats in Paris secured an agreement that transformed the struggle for independence. On February 6th, 1778, the United States and France signed a formal Treaty of Alliance and a companion treaty of commerce, bringing a major European naval and military power openly into the war against Britain.
Dated Historical Context
A RECORDED MOMENT IN HISTORY
Treaty of Alliance with France
In the winter of the American Revolution, diplomats in Paris secured an agreement that transformed the struggle for independence. On February 6th, 1778, the United States and France signed a formal Treaty of Alliance and a companion treaty of commerce, bringing a major European naval and military power openly into the war against Britain. The treaty recognized American independence and committed France to fight until that independence was secured, while the United States pledged not to make a separate peace. For the Continental Army, which had survived on thin supplies and uncertain prospects, French aid meant credit, weapons, uniforms, and the promise of a fleet to challenge British control of the seas. Over the next years, French ships, troops, and money would help shift the balance, culminating in the decisive Yorktown campaign. This alliance marked the moment when a colonial rebellion became part of a global war for empire, and it set a pattern for the coalition politics that have shaped American strategy ever since.
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