The Impact of the American Revolution on the French ( Lafayette and/or others ) - Essay Example

It also shaped the constitution-making process in France, changing it from a unilateral approach to the need for conventions, as it was the case in the US. Therefore, the American Revolution had considerable impact on the French. During the American war of Independence, the American colonies encountered a serious challenge in conducting international diplomacy and attaining the international support it required in order to fight its oppressors, the British. France provided a vantage ally considering that Britain was already its enemy.

France and America, therefore, had a common enemy in the form of British forces. For this reason, American colonies found it easier to approach France than any other country. It did not take long before representatives from both countries met to sign the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1778. As the American colonists looked forward to financial assistance from the French, a member of the Committee, Benjamin Franklin, kept writing to his French counterparts about America’s war exploits against the British.

This served to deliberately work up the French, who had suffered devastating defeat at the hands of the British during the Seven Years’ War and had, consequently, lost the North American Territory which they had acquired through the 1763 Treaty of Paris. The two political rivals continued to fight for power over the territory in the years that followed. The rebellion of North America, therefore, provided the French with an opportunity to hit back at the British. The French then began to secretly fund the United States through an American trader named Silas Deane.

The American Revolution also led France into a financial crisis (O’Rourke p123). Even after gaining independence, the US still needed to forge alliances with other countries. Consequently, Benjamin Franklin came in handy again. Franklin led a group of commissioners to France with the aim of drafting an