I get the impression that some French people have a chip on their shoulders about Americans. I'm sure those who live in Normandy still love us. But I want to remind everyone that we do owe France a tremendous amount of gratitude for the birth of our nation and not just for their military support, but more for their financial investment in the future of our country.
They not only helped fund our war against Britain, they also gave us start-up cash and a line of credit to get our... country off the ground. We're in debt around $20 trillion now but the fact is our country started off in a lot of debt. Our Federal government wasn't up and running until around ten years after the war so colonies' obligation to help out financially was more of a give what you can. It didn't go well. It was Alexander Hamilton who helped get us on track by creating a tax system and holding the colonies accountable for pitching in to run Federal government services and pay down the debt. Of course this wasn't popular. A lot of colonists naively thought the days of taxation were over; they just didn't get that the real promise made was "taxation WITH representation."
France had anterior motives for helping us as for them it was seen as an investment. A strong and growing American economy meant more trade opportunities for their citizens and more taxing opportunities for the French government as the currency flowed back and forth. Britain wasn't a viable trade partner for them as they had been fighting each other for hundreds of years and there was zero trust to create any type of trade agreement so France had to find other opportunities for growth.
Even though they had anterior motives it doesn't take away the fact that a big reason we live in the United States of America is because France believed in capitalism. Take that Bernie Sanders. Viva le France!
They not only helped fund our war against Britain, they also gave us start-up cash and a line of credit to get our... country off the ground. We're in debt around $20 trillion now but the fact is our country started off in a lot of debt. Our Federal government wasn't up and running until around ten years after the war so colonies' obligation to help out financially was more of a give what you can. It didn't go well. It was Alexander Hamilton who helped get us on track by creating a tax system and holding the colonies accountable for pitching in to run Federal government services and pay down the debt. Of course this wasn't popular. A lot of colonists naively thought the days of taxation were over; they just didn't get that the real promise made was "taxation WITH representation."
France had anterior motives for helping us as for them it was seen as an investment. A strong and growing American economy meant more trade opportunities for their citizens and more taxing opportunities for the French government as the currency flowed back and forth. Britain wasn't a viable trade partner for them as they had been fighting each other for hundreds of years and there was zero trust to create any type of trade agreement so France had to find other opportunities for growth.
Even though they had anterior motives it doesn't take away the fact that a big reason we live in the United States of America is because France believed in capitalism. Take that Bernie Sanders. Viva le France!
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