Treaty of Alliance with France (1778)
The American Colonies and France signed this military treaty on February 6, 1778. It formalized France’s financial and military support of the revolutionary government in America.
Believing that they would benefit militarily by allying themselves with a powerful nation, the Colonies formed an alliance with France against Great Britain during the Revolutionary War.
According to this first military treaty of the new nation, the United States agreed to provide a defensive alliance to aid France should England attack.
American diplomats Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee negotiated in France on behalf of the American Colonies. The treaty is written in both English and French.
The two sides also agreed that neither France nor the United States would make peace with England until the independence of the United States was recognized. As part of the alliance between "the most Christian King and the United States of North America," neither party could conclude a peace "with Great Britain without the formal consent of the other."
France also recognized the independence of the United States, as dependent upon a military victory. The treaty stipulated that "The essential and direct End of the present defensive alliance is to maintain effectually the liberty, Sovereignty, and independance absolute and unlimited of the said united States, as well in Matters of Gouvernement as of commerce."
The United States and France agreed "not to lay down their arms, until the Independence of the united states shall have been formally or tacitly assured by the Treaty or Treaties that shall terminate the War."
