ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the relation between Spain and the American Revolution from a northern Pacific perspective, in particular from Alta California. The Spanish monarchy considered the Pacific Northwest to belong to Alta California and started to worry about potential territorial encroachment, based on information and rumors of future Russian expansion more to the south. In 1795, following the start of the war against France, a plan was adopted for the re-enforcement of defenses in Alta California. But generally Spanish authorities in California were more concerned by the British than by the French, even in times of war against the latter and alliance with the former, because of their rivalry in the North American continent. The Pacific trade of the infant United States and the burgeoning merchant community’s active in it were crucial factors in the will to occupy Hawai’i, Oregon and California.
