Diplomats Abroad: Franklin, Adams & Jefferson in Europe, 1776-1789

Diplomats Abroad: Franklin, Adams & Jefferson in Europe, 1776-1789

About This Map

What it shows

Franklin, John Adams and John Jay brought the war to a close with Britain's Treaty of Paris, signed at Paris on 3 September 1783.^[1]

Quick Facts

The essentials

Quick Facts

Period: Early Modern World Region Covered: Western Europe - the British Isles, France, the Dutch Republic, the German states, Switzerland and northern Italy, from Edinburgh and Amsterdam south to Spain's Atlantic coast and the Italian cities of Genoa, Turin and Milan Classification: Diplomatic Map

It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the hearts of the Most Serene and Most Potent Prince, George the Third... and of the United States of America, to forget all past misunderstandings and differences that have unhappily interrupted the good correspondence and friendship which they mutually wish to restore.^[1]

Opening lines of the Definitive Treaty of Paris, signed by David Hartley for Britain and John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and John Jay for the United States

The treaty's own opening language, agreed and signed at Paris on 3 September 1783 by the same three American commissioners this map follows across Europe — the formal words that closed the mission the map depicts.^[1]

Timeline

How it unfolded

26 September 1776

Franklin Elected Commissioner to France

Congress elected Benjamin Franklin one of three commissioners to France on 26 September 1776^{[2, p. 6]}; Thomas Jefferson was also chosen but declined because of his wife's ill health, and Arthur Lee took his place^{[3, p. 347]}. Franklin arrived in Paris in December 1776 and found Silas Deane and Arthur Lee already there^[4].

17 October 1777

Burgoyne Surrenders at Saratoga

General Burgoyne surrendered his entire army at Saratoga on 17 October 1777^[5]. According to Sargent's edition of Franklin's works, the news from Saratoga decided the French cabinet in its course^[4].

6 February 1778

Franco-American Treaties Signed

The treaties between France and the United States were signed on 6 February 1778, a compact of friendship and commercial reciprocity together with an eventual treaty of alliance^{[6, p. 38]}. The commissioners were presented to the king as representatives of an independent state on 20 March 1778^[7].

8 April 1778

John Adams Arrives in Paris

John Adams reached Paris on 8 April 1778^[4] as a joint commissioner with Franklin and Arthur Lee, took up residence with Franklin at Passy, and had his first audience with Louis XVI on 8 May^{[8, p. 6]}. In February 1779 he learned that the joint commission had been superseded by Franklin's appointment as sole minister to France^{[8, p. 6]}.

19 April 1782

Dutch Republic Recognises American Independence

The States General of the Netherlands recognised American independence on 19 April 1782, and Adams presented his credentials as minister plenipotentiary to the stadholder three days later^{[8, p. 7]}. He signed a contract for a loan of five million guilders with Amsterdam bankers on 11 June and a treaty of amity and commerce with the Netherlands on 8 October 1782^{[8, p. 7]}.

3 September 1783

Treaty of Paris Signed

The definitive peace treaty between the United States and Great Britain was signed in Paris on 3 September 1783, formally ending the war^[9]. Adams signed it, having joined Franklin and John Jay in signing the preliminary articles on 30 November 1782^{[8, p. 7]}.

6 August 1784

Jefferson Arrives in Paris

Thomas Jefferson arrived in Paris on 6 August 1784 and stayed in France until the autumn of 1789^{[10, p. 375]}; Congress had named him with Adams and Franklin that spring to negotiate commercial treaties with European and North African nations^{[8, p. 7]}. In March 1785 Congress voted that he should succeed Franklin as minister at the French court^[11].

1 June 1785

Adams Presented to George III

Named the first United States minister to Great Britain on 24 February 1785^{[8, p. 7]}, Adams was presented to George III on 1 June 1785^{[12, p. 8]}. His daughter's journal records that Lord Carmarthen introduced him to the king at the palace and that he made a speech when presenting his letter^[13].

26 September 1789

Jefferson Leaves Paris

Jefferson left Paris for America on 26 September 1789, ending the stay in France that had begun in August 1784^[14]^{[10, p. 375]}. He intended only a brief visit home and a return to Europe, a plan he never carried out, as he was appointed Washington's Secretary of State^[15].

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Explain why the Prussian-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce of September 1785 had to be signed three separate times - by Franklin at Passy, Adams in London and the Prussian minister at The Hague - rather than at one ceremony, and what that says about how far the American diplomatic mission in Europe had spread by then.

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Argue whether the three separate signings of the September 1785 Prussian treaty - in France, Britain and the Dutch Republic - make it one treaty or three, and what that tension reveals about how a nation with no capital of its own actually did diplomacy.

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Pitch me the September 1785 Prussian treaty like it's the world's most awkward group project: three American diplomats, three different cities, one signature each, and nobody ever in the same room.