https://padlet.com/24mkgoodrow/22whrhjheqrt Madeline Goodrow en-us 2018-12-05 16:20:32 UTC 2019-01-02 13:51:43 UTC hello@padlet.com 24mkgoodrow https://padlet.com/24mkgoodrow/22whrhjheqrt/wish/311442529 1775. A year we shall never forget. This was when the American Revolution began. In this war, American colonists and Britain had a very important disagreement. American colonists thought they should be free from Great Britain. Great Britain thought they should be in control of the American colonies. ]]> 2018-12-05 16:22:50 UTC https://padlet.com/24mkgoodrow/22whrhjheqrt/wish/311442529 24mkgoodrow https://padlet.com/24mkgoodrow/22whrhjheqrt/wish/311443109  Benjamin Franklin, a member of the Secret Committee of Correspondence, sent a letter to the French supporting colonial resistance. The French saw an opportunity to help take down the British. Earlier, the French had lost the Seven Years’ War to the British. The French decided to give secret help to the American colonists. Silas Deane, an American trader, was the person who would give the colonists what they needed to battle from the French. The French provided the Americans with weapons, such as guns and ammunition, uniforms, and troops and naval support. The French navy sent troops to fight, and they fought off a British fleet. They also protected George Washington’s troops in Virginia. In the Battle of Yorktown, without the French help, the British might have never surrendered. The U.S. might have never been free today! ]]> 2018-12-05 16:23:42 UTC https://padlet.com/24mkgoodrow/22whrhjheqrt/wish/311443109 24mkgoodrow https://padlet.com/24mkgoodrow/22whrhjheqrt/wish/311443566 Shortly after Congress had officially declared independence from Great Britain in 1776, they sent off a group of many commissioners, which was led by Benjamin Franklin to make an alliance with France. This was wavered by Comte de Vergennes, a French Foreign minister, because of the losses of George Washington in New York. Even though Vergennes did not want to commit at first, Benjamin Franklin was very popular in France, so he secured French support for the Americans. The French thought Franklin was a Republican of simplicity and truth. Franklin went viral all around France, which caused Comte de Vergennes to make a secret loan to the American cause and an alliance with the French and Americans were made. Even though there was a loan and many discussions were happening at the time, French help to the U.S. was restricted from the beginning. All through 1777, Vergennes had to delay deals they said they would make with the Spanish Government, which didn’t like the idea of the U.S. being its own country. In the end, Vergennes finally decided that they would make an alliance when they found out that the British surrendered to the Americans at the Battle of Saratoga.  With Vergennes’ consent, U.S. commissioners made negotiations with Britain to bring the war to a stop, and a preliminary agreement was made in 1782. Benjamin Franklin told Vergennes about the agreement and asked them for another loan. Vergennes did not want to at first, but they later agreed to make a loan because France had issues with money. In the end, Franklin and Vergennes presented a united front even though the British attempted to split the two. In 1783, the United States, Spain, and France officially ended the war in with Britain. The official document was called the Treaty of Paris. 

]]> 2018-12-05 16:24:28 UTC https://padlet.com/24mkgoodrow/22whrhjheqrt/wish/311443566 24mkgoodrow https://padlet.com/24mkgoodrow/22whrhjheqrt/wish/311444983 As you can see, without the French assistance the United States of America might not have ever been a free country! The French supplied the American colonists with ammunition, arms, and even their own troops. How much more helpful could things be? Many privileges the U.S.A. has now could still have yet to exist. ]]> 2018-12-05 16:26:31 UTC https://padlet.com/24mkgoodrow/22whrhjheqrt/wish/311444983 24mkgoodrow https://padlet.com/24mkgoodrow/22whrhjheqrt/wish/311454642  "French Alliance, French Assistance, and European Diplomacy." https://history.state.gov/milestones/1776-1783/french-alliance. Accessed 4 Dec. 2018.]]> 2018-12-05 16:40:17 UTC https://padlet.com/24mkgoodrow/22whrhjheqrt/wish/311454642