In this year of 2026, in which we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of our country’s founding, there will be many dates and facts of those formative days. Today, I will share two such dates.
The sixth of February 1778, during the American Revolutionary War, the United States won official recognition and military support from France with the signing of the Treaty of Alliance in Paris. Key details of the treaty included (1) to formally ally the US and France against Great Britian to secure US independence, sovereignty, and territory, (2) neither nation would cease fighting until American independence was recognized, and (3) France guaranteed American territorial gains while the US guaranteed French possessions in the West Indies.
This treaty followed the American victory at Saratoga in 1777, which convinced King Louis XVI that the American colonies could win. It was negotiated and signed by Benjamin Franklin. Other signers were Silas Deane and Arthur Lee, and the French Diplomat Conrad Alexandre Gerard.
On the fourteenth of January 1784, at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, the Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris. This document negotiated in part by future president John Adams, contained terms for ending the Revolutionary War and established the United States as a sovereign nation .The treaty outlined America’s fishing rights off the coast of Canada, defined territorial boundaries in parts of North American formerly held by the British, and forced an end to reprisals against British loyalists. Thonmas Jefferson and James Monroe were among the delegates who ratified this Document.
Another date, April 18th, 1775, and its importance will be discussed at a future meeting.