by Martha Leonard

Created on: August 25, 2009

The role of France in the American Revolution really began much earlier. The French and Indian War, known as the Seven Year War in Europe, was fought over land in America. By the time it was over in 1763 Britain had accumulated about $15 billion in debt and English taxpayers were complaining. It was then that Parliament, using the theory that the colonies were to serve the economy of the mother country, began to pass a series of acts designed to tax the American to pay for the protection she had provided during the war. These Acts became more and more restrictive and obnoxious to the colonies until tensions finally rose to the point of rebellion.

The same war ultimately affected the Revolution in yet another way. A young man named George Washington was very active as a Virginia militiaman in that war. It could not be said that he was successful as a military man. Even Washington himself later stated those days fill me with grief. I must strive to forget them. (p. 191, George Washington) Nevertheless, his experiences in that war formed him for his later role in history. He endured many hardships, suffered serious, life-threatening illness and learned many political lessons. Dealing with the French and the Indians, he learned stealth, subterfuge and how to bluff. He further learned discretion and deception. He also became expert in managing inadequate supplies. It was also during this time that he realized that the English considered Americans to be inferior and servants to the Crown. These sentiments grew and hardened as time went on.

As Commander-in-Chief of the colonial army during the Revolution, Washington knew he needed help. Congress sent at delegation to Europe to ask for aid. They found a welcome in France, who was still smarting from the defeat and loss of land in the Seven Years War. Silas Deane, one of the delegation wrote home joyfully that he was overwhelmed with volunteers who wanted to enlist. (Unfortunately, he was not a good judge of character. Most of the men he accepted turned out to be more trouble than valuable, interested only in their own welfare.) Ben Franklin, on the other hand, completely won the heart of France. He understood the rage the French had for the British as well as the yearning for independence and Enlightenment in the younger French. Washington, strategist that he was, also hinted that France could recoup some of her losses by fighting on the side of America.

At first France's King Louis XVI was reluctant to openly

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