1From James Madison to William Bradford, 23 March 1778 (Madison Papers)
.... And yet, by early 1778, the government of Queen Maria I was exhibiting restlessness against the longstanding commercial entente with England. Rumors were afloat that the Portuguese court would soon attune its commercial policy with that of the United States and France (
2The Commissioners to Vergennes, 17 July 1778 (Adams Papers)
On this day the United States and France exchanged the official ratifications of the Treaties of Amity and Commerce and Alliance. The resolution was probably adopted by the congress on 4 May, immediately after it had completed its ratification of the treaties. Congress, after thanking Louis...
3Dumas to the American Commissioners, 24 July 1778: résumé (Franklin Papers)
The two articles of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce that the United States and France had agreed to drop.
4Sartine to the Commissioners: A Translation, 16 August 1778 (Adams Papers)
The translator’s “U States” is clearly a misreading of “Etats respectifs,” that is, the United States and France.
5To Benjamin Franklin from the Continental Congress: Instructions, Plan of an Attack upon Quebec and Observations on the … (Franklin Papers)
6thly. That it will secure the Fisheries to the United States and France their Ally to the total exclusion Of Great britain.
6To George Washington from Colonel Daniel Brodhead, 29 May 1779 (Washington Papers)
“16th Most of the Prisoners took the oath of Neutrality and got permission to set out for detroit Sent by them a copy of the Alliance between the United States and france.
7To Benjamin Franklin from the Continental Congress: Instructions, [14 August–16 October 1779] (Franklin Papers)
, that Britain by so doing would break the peace and hence reactivate the defensive alliance between the United States and France (for which see
8To John Adams from James Lovell, 16 November 1779 (Adams Papers)
Incorrect in the sense that Arts. 11 and 12, which the United States and France had agreed to remove from the treaty, had been eliminated from the text of the treaty then in use in America. Thus, Lovell is referring to Art. 17 of the treaty as ratified (and to Art. 11...
9Patrick Henry to Virginia Delegates in Congress, 23 May 1780 (Madison Papers)
The legislature of Virginia in June 1779 ratified the treaties of alliance and commerce between the United States and France (
10Instructions Respecting a Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the Netherlands, 29 December 1780 (Adams Papers)
between these United States and France, and being particularly attentive to the ninth, tenth and seventeenth articles of our treaty of Amity and Commerce with France numbered as they were finally ratified.
11Committee Report on Tax Status of Friendly Aliens, [5 February] 1781 (Madison Papers)
...Portsmouth, had refused to pay the tax levied by the town upon his wares on the ground that he was exempt under the terms of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce concluded between the United States and France on 6 February 1778. Unable to contravert de La Tour’s argument, especially since it had the support of the French minister, the town officials appealed to the legislature, and it, via...
12From John Adams to the Duc de La Vauguyon, 16 April 1781 (Adams Papers)
...received from Congress, full Powers and Instructions to treat with the States General, and to conclude a Treaty of Amity and Commerce, consistent with the Relations already formed between the United States and France. And, that I have also received a Letter of Credence, as a Minister Plenipotentiary to their High Mightinesses; and another, to his most Serene Highness the Prince of Orange...
13To John Jay from Benjamin Franklin, 19 January 1782 (Jay Papers)
Article 10 of the treaty of alliance with France, which allowed the United States and France to invite other powers injured by England to make common cause with them and join the alliance.
14To James Madison from Edmund Randolph, 21–24 May 1782 (Madison Papers)
, XI, 51–54), but if the legislators considered other matters pertinent to the proposed consular convention between the United States and France, they may have concluded that the statute of 24 December 1779 “for the protection and encouragement of the commerce of nations acknowledging the independence of the United States of America” covered the subject adequately (
15Jean Henri David Uhl to John Adams: A Translation, 1 July 1782 (Adams Papers)
...ch. 7, § 115–116). Thus when a British warship or privateer found Prussian merchandise on a Dutch ship, that property would be counted free and returned to the owner. The United States and France followed the alternative principle that free ships made free goods, which provided that all, even neutral, property was subject to seizure on an enemy ship and that all, even enemy, property was...
16Report Revising John Adams’ Instructions, [5 July] 1782 (Madison Papers)
The portion of this paragraph enclosed in quotation marks is partially an extract from, and partially a paraphrase of, Article XIII of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and France (
17Comments on Instructions to Peace Commissioners, [8 August] 1782 (Madison Papers)
See the preamble of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and articles II and IV of the Treaty of Alliance, both concluded between the United States and France on 6 February 1778 and ratified by Congress on 4 May of that year (
18To Benjamin Franklin from ——— Regnier, 12 October 1782 (Franklin Papers)
… (Philadelphia, 1781) also contained the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the English versions of the Treaty of Alliance and Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and France. Two hundred copies were printed, as Congress had ordered:
19Notes on Debates, [30 December] 1782 (Madison Papers)
...that the treaty of peace must include (1) a recognition by Great Britain of the independence and sovereignty of the United States, and (2) no provision violative of the treaties of alliance and amity and commerce between the United States and France. See
20Notes on Debates, 31 December 1782 (Madison Papers)
...first had commented to the effect that the American commissioners should agree to nothing which would extend greater trading privileges to the British than those guaranteed to the French in the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and France. For the deleted passage JM substituted an approximate copy of the report of the committee as given in the printed journal of...
21Instructions to Benjamin Franklin in re Consuls, [2 January] 1783 (Madison Papers)
...him from appointing vice consuls and consular agents as long as he was consul rather than consul general. He also pointed out that Article III of the proposed consular convention between the United States and France, adopted by Congress on 25 January 1782, “interdicted” the consular appointees “from all traffick or commerce for their own or another’s benefit.” In Barclay’s judgment this...
22From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, 7 January 1783 (Madison Papers)
...” JM omitted 285, signifying “cy.” He underlined the ciphers for “tacit.” Article VIII of the “Treaty of Alliance, Eventual and Defensive,” concluded between the United States and France in 1778, reads: “Neither of the two parties shall conclude either truce or peace with Great Britain, without the formal consent of the other first obtained; and they mutually engage not to lay...
23Notes on Debates, 29 January 1783 (Madison Papers)
Regarding the comment written by JM in his footnote, Article XXII of the treaty referred to “select articles” of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and France (
24Notes on Debates, 12–15 March 1783 (Madison Papers)
, XXIV, 245). For this reason the American peace commissioners had not broken the letter of the Treaty of Alliance between the United States and France, but by not consulting Vergennes during the negotiation of the preliminary articles, they appeared to have violated “the spirit of the Alliance.” See
25Continental Congress Remarks on the Provisional Peace Treaty, [19 March 1783] (Hamilton Papers)
The Treaty of Alliance between the United States and France, signed in 1778, had stipulated that neither country should make peace without the concurrence of the other. During the peace negotiations Congress repeatedly had reminded the American commissioners of this treaty obligation to France and warned them against...
26Notes on Debates, 19 March 1783 (Madison Papers)
That is, Article VIII of the Treaty of Alliance between the United States and France, pledging joint action in concluding “either truce or peace with Great Britain” (...take a position contrary to a stipulation in the Treaty of Alliance between the United States and France (n. 18). Lee most probably meant that Congress should have rescinded the instructions of 15 June 1781 limiting the...
27Notes on Debates, 11 April 1783 (Madison Papers)
...n. 3. Congress had received an official copy of that treaty on 12 March but delayed ratifying it until 15 April, thus conforming with the pledge given in Articles I and VIII of the Treaty of Alliance between the United States and France (Hunter Miller, ed.,
28From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, 10 June 1783 (Madison Papers)
...” JM signified the British naval headquarters there. Congress, reflecting the provisions of the preliminary treaties of peace agreed upon by Great Britain with the United States and France, adopted a proclamation on 11 April 1783 declaring that in the Atlantic Ocean north of the latitude of the Canary Islands hostilities had legally ceased on 3 March, which was one month subsequent to...
29Draft Consular Convention between France and the United States, [before 24 December 1783] (Franklin Papers)
On August 29, just before the United States and France were to sign their definitive peace treaties with England, Vergennes’
30To Benjamin Franklin from Jérôme-Marie Champion de Cicé, 27 December 1783 (Franklin Papers)
proposed the appointment of a French ecclesiastic to oversee the Catholic Church in America. The archbishop urged Vergennes not to miss this opportunity to strengthen the Catholic faith as well as ties between the United States and France. Before he answered