ABSTRACT
The defeat at Yorktown was not necessarily the end of the war. The British still held important posts at New York, Charleston, and Savannah, for which they might extract a price or use as bases to continue the struggle. The Spanish remained committed to regaining both Minorca and Gibraltar, while France, Spain, and Britain had ambitions to fulfill in the Caribbean. Lastly the Patriots had yet to secure their independence, which they could achieve only by forcing Britain to abandon its claims to sovereignty. The one factor restraining all the combatants was their serious financial concerns, which made peace seem increasingly desirable.
