People are disgusted by politics today. Negative campaigns. Personal attacks. Special interests. People using their public office for personal gain. Scandals. Intrigue. It’s enough to turn anyone off of politics. Forever. For it seems like no matter what the politicians say nothing ever changes. And you know what? They haven’t changed. For even before there was a United States of America this stuff was going on. Even threatening the success of the American Revolutionary War.
George Washington is criticized for many things. For owning slaves (which he released and trained to enter the workforce as free men in his will). That he wasn’t a great general. For he did lose more battles than he won. But even his critics have to give him this at least. He was a man of honor. With impeccable integrity. His men respected him. His officers respected him. His enemies respected him. One of Britain’s last attempts of treachery was to try and bribe Washington to defect to the British side. Where he could live out his life very comfortably. Knowing the Americans would give up without him. But he did not waiver. Resolute to the end. The indispensable one. The Father of our Country.
Sadly, though, there weren’t many indispensable ones. And few that matched Washington’s stature. Perhaps the one coming closest was Benjamin Franklin. Our most respected diplomat. Who played a large part in gaining French support for the American cause. Franklin spent a great deal of time in France during the Revolution. The French loved him. And he loved his time there. Perhaps a little too much. Staying up late. Getting up late. Enjoying social gatherings. And social drinking. Something that John Adams couldn’t stand. Who was very religious. And all-business. About as different from Franklin as you could get. But the French liked Franklin. And did not like Adams. Because he was all-business. And a bit insufferable.
France was America’s most important ally during the war. And technically speaking their only ally. There were many foreigners who sought a commission in the American army. But that was more for glory and fame than support of the cause. France, though, entered into treaty with the independent United States. And supplied a large part of the war effort in both money and arms. Granted this was more to get back at their archenemy, the British, than it was to help the Americans. But the love and respect for Franklin was real.
Franklin was a self-made man living his third life. He was a small business owner and writer. He was a scientist. And now he was a diplomat. He had little to prove. And needed no money. All he wanted was to enjoy what life he had left. And champion the American cause. Not so with his co-emissary Arthur Lee. Whose interests centered more on Arthur Lee than the American cause. He didn’t like Franklin because the French liked and respected him more. And he didn’t like America’s other emissary, Silas Deane, who was in France before Franklin and Lee joined him. And who the French liked and respected, too. Which really annoyed him because the French didn’t like him at all. In fact they thought Lee liked England just a little too much. For he had a brother in England. Which didn’t go over well with the French. Despite his having two brothers in the Continental Congress you just didn’t know where his allegiance lay. Lee aggressively tried to disgrace both Deane and Franklin to make his star shine brighter. Franklin’s character was impeccable, though. No one believed anything he said about Franklin. But, alas, they did about poor Deane. At least enough to recall him to Congress. The French, though, respected Deane enough to give him safe passage back on a French warship with the new French minister to America. This whole episode did little to impress upon the French the professional stature of American diplomacy. Nor did it impress the other European courts. America just wasn’t being taken seriously in Europe.
Except, perhaps, in Spain. John Jay went to Madrid to get Spanish recognition. And Spanish aid. Getting little of either. Spain entered the conflict. As an ally to France, though. Because they, too, hated the British. And they used this opportunity to get Gibraltar back from the British. (They didn’t.) Other than that they had little interest in helping the Americans. For they didn’t trust the Americans. France may have lost all of their North American possessions to the British but they hadn’t. They still had the Louisiana Territory. Western Florida. The land from the Texas Gulf coast to California. As well as the port of New Orleans. And control of the lower Mississippi River. Which the Americans wanted navigation rights on. And god knows what else. For it was no secret that the Americans wanted to expand west. That’s why they wanted the Ohio country. And the Ohio River flowed into the Mississippi River. It didn’t take a genius to know what that meant. The Americans planned on moving west to the Mississippi River. And beyond. Using the Mississippi to ship all of their goods from the interior of the country to the Port of New Orleans. And on to the world. All they needed to do was to remove one last obstacle. The Spanish. And the Spanish grew weary of John Jay. Who only wanted two things. To get Spain to recognize their independence. And for Spain to give them money. Suffice it to say the Spanish did not enter into an alliance with the United States. And gave little money.
Meanwhile John Adams, having annoyed the French, headed to the Netherlands. And was more successful. Not so much because they supported the American cause but because of their commerce. The Dutch and the British had been bitter rivals. The Dutch East (and West) India Company. The English East India Company. They both wanted what the other had. Commerce. They would actually go to war over this trade. Some 4 times. And now the British were interfering with their trade once again. Interfering with their lucrative black market trade from the Dutch West Indies to the United States. Through the British blockade. Which may have broken a treaty they had with the British. So Adams found commercial incentive for Dutch support. But what he didn’t find was Dutch respect for the American cause. And a general ignorance of the American cause. There was just little information about the United States in the Netherlands.
They did see a rising commercial power in the U.S. That would have a lot of food and materials to ship. And being good businessmen they wanted a piece of that action. And they certainly didn’t want to see the French and Spanish monopolize that trade. Which could happen based on the treaty between France and America. And the treaty between France and Spain. Of course if they backed the wrong horse that could hurt them in post-war relations with Britain. Should Britain win. But neither was it in their best interests for Britain to win. For that would only make their greatest rival stronger. But what if the Americans won with the help of the Franco-Spanish alliance? Would the Americans keep their independence? Or would they get absorbed into France and/or Spain? That wouldn’t be good. For it wasn’t that long ago that they won their independence from Spain. So making Spain stronger and/or richer wasn’t high in their to-do list.
Catherine the Great of Russia finally helped push the issue. Indirectly. To keep the seas free and to protect neutral nations she organized a League of Armed Neutrality of which the Netherlands was signatory. Neutral nations wanted no part of Britain’s war with America. And they didn’t want it to interfere with their trade on the high seas. Even if that trade favored the Americans somehow more than the British. So if the British fired upon a neutral engaging in trade the British did not approve of these neutrals would fire back. Thus isolating Britain. And shortly thereafter Adams negotiated a couple of loans. Got recognition as the minister representing the United States of America. And as one of his first duties in that capacity he signed a treaty of commerce and friendship. He may not have had the stature of a Washington or a Franklin but he had the same dedication to the cause. And refused to quit. He was successful. But few other American diplomatic missions were. And they probably caused more harm than good. The antics of a few bringing ridicule to the new nation. Franklin in fact did not approve of this ‘cold calling’ on countries for recognition and aid. Perhaps explaining his laid back ways in France that so irritated Adams. “A virgin state,” Franklin said, “should preserve its virgin character, and not go about suitoring for alliances, but wait with decent virgin dignity for the application of others.” It seemed to do wonders for him. And the nation.