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1492 . . . . ,{500}. . . ...Quincentennial Edition...1992
Director, Palace of the Govenors Muesum, Santa Fe, New Mexico
In 1785, George Washington, recently "retired to the country life," wrote a friendly letter to Carlos III, the King of Spain, thanking him for a recent gift. Washington knew that Carlos III had been generous in his support of the birth of the fledgling United States during the War of Indenpendence. For at least five years, Spain had sent more supplies and money than had been requested to help the American Rebels succeed in what must have appeared to be an impossible dream. Spanish men from the peninsula and throughout the Americas fought in the conflict.
The American Revolution used funds collected from people living in the present states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California--then a part of New Spain. An important percentage of financial support originated in New Spain, now called Mexico. Eventually, thousands of Spanish troops fought British troops throughout the Americas.
Britain, France and Spain had extensive colonial holdings and the Colonies existed to benefit the mother country--to garner wealth and power--thus supporting a well-trained and well-equipped navy and army. To become powerful, a country needed to sell more than it bought and to control as much territory as possible.
After nearly half a century, inconclusive warfare was about to transform into the era of revolution with the rebellion of thirteen British colonies. With Spain's involvement came a number of individuals who contributed to the birth and independence of the United States of America.
The Marquis de Grimaldi, who preceded and handpicked Count Floridablanca as minister of state, oversaw the initial secret aid to the Colonies. He set the governmental tone and policy that Floridablanca inherited and continued.
Spain's entire effort in the struggle was overseen by Floridablanca. Described as wily, clever and astute by some people and devious by detractors, Floridablanca concocted a strategy of patience before committing his country to war. After Spain declared war on Britain, Floridablanca oversaw an aggressive effort.
Floridablanca stuck to a plan that would achieve Spain's stated goals. From the beginning of negotiations, Floridablanca and the Marquis de Gimaldi made clear what Spain wanted in exchange for her alliance to France. As reiterated on many ocasions, Spain wanted cleared of British establishments: Gibraltar; Minorca; the Floridas, especially Pensacola; Jamaica and the Bahamas; Mexico, Honduras and Compeche coasts; and Central America. Floridablanca strove to achieve these objectives until peace was made in 1783.
Only the Colonies, by winning their independence, were more successful than Spain in garnering spoils of war. When the war ended, Spain had everything but Jamaica and Gibraltar.
Floridablanca was careful not to send mixed signals to Spain's colonies. He did not openly recognize the rebelling British colonies. Nor did he want to alienate Britain before Spain joined in the engagement. In maintaining Spain's diplomatic etiquette, Floridablanca insisted that official business with the Americans be handled through Spain's Minister to France, who was stationed in Paris. For this reason, Pedro Pablo y Bolea, the Count of Aranda, became a prominent person in the American Colonies' attempt to arrange aid.
Aranda, who later replaced and imprisoned his longtime rival Floridablanca, met with the first U.S. commission--Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee. The Continental Congress had charged the commissioners in late 1776 to travel to Europe and seek foreign help in breaking the British naval blockadge along the North American coast. Aranda invited the commission to his house, where he quickly learned that there would be a language problem because "Franklin speaks very little French, Deane much less and Lee none."
In the course of his ambassadorship in Paris, Aranda became fond of the fledgling Colonies and their stuggle. Lacking Floridablanca's patience, Aranda recommended an early and open Spanish commitment to the Colonies. He was overruled and obediently accepted the decision. Perhaps he was placated by the knowledge that Spain matched France's overt aid with covert support of its own.
One of the more important figures to assist the Colonies' struggle for independence was Bernardo de Gálvez. He helped the cause through diplomatic, financial and military exploits against Great Britain in the Mississippi River Valley, the Gulf Coast, including the Floridas, Louisiana and in in the Gulf of Mexico from 1776, when he became govenor of Louisiana, until 1783 when the American Revolution ended, Gálvez's patience, audacity, appreciation of frontier people, diplomatic knowledge and military skill greatly contributed to the eventual British defeat.
He arrived in Louisiana with explicit royal instructions that reflected the commitment of Carlos III to restore Spain's international prestige and grandeur through economic reform, government restructuring and innovation in colonial enterprise. An anti-British, pro-colonial attitude was implicit in his orders and obvious in his activities.
Although he did not advocate the republican or democratic principles that the Revolution came to symbolize, he was representative of the enlightened spirit of 18th century regeneration and reform. More importantly, his monarch wanted to recoup the losses of the recently concluded Seven Years War won by Britain. The North American rebels not only provided the opportunity but also had the demonstrated potential of becoming a future and lucrative trading partner.
Long before Spain declared war on Britain, the colonials received aid from the peninsula. In 1776 spain dispatched one of its largest fleets to the Americas, where it smashed British smuggling operations along the Brazilian coast and took Uruguay from the Portuguese, who were Britain's allies.
Before declaring war, Spanish aid focused on Gálvez's covert activies in New Orleans, where he received support and encouragement from Havana. Through the efforts of Oliver Pollock, an Irish American Merchant and agent from Virginia, Gálvez succeeded in supplying the successful campaigns of George Rogers Clark, who fought the British foe in the trans-Allegheny regions. While facilitating American shipping in the gulf and up the Mississippi River, he closed the river to the British.
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