ABSTRACT
Roots of European diplomacy during the period of the American Revolution extended back to the Seven Years' War, the French and Indian War as Americans called its colonial counterpart. Consequently, the Franco-Spanish alliance was at cross-purposes with the Franco-American alliance. Though they did not realize it, the Americans were obliged to remain at war to secure a prize for Spain, a nation with which they had never signed a treaty. The French played Spain and America against each other, a task that only the cunning Vergennes could handle. Spain had long since seen her greatest glory in the days when she could threaten England as a naval power. No longer a prestigious mistress of colonies, she could only stand to lose by championing the cause of colonies whose rebellion she feared might spread to her own American possessions. The American commissioners had achieved a magnificently liberal treaty. They had gained much, conceded only small points.
