Spain and the Independence of the United States

In recent years, the body of literature documenting Spain’s contributions to the independence of the United States has grown steadily. Based on extensive archival research, the present volume aims at a comprehensive understanding of this “intrinsic gift.” Chávez (director of the Palace of the Governors in the New Mexican museum system) frames the Spanish contribution broadly, moving from affairs in western Europe to address the full American theater—although focusing principally on events associated directly with the rebellious 13 colonies. After an introductory overview and an opening chapter on general background, the next seven chapters explore the prelude to Spain’s intervention. Another treats the events concerning the formal declaration of war, with five chapters dedicated to the conflict itself. An impressive variety of maps, plates, and photographs complement the presentation.Chávez argues that Spain’s participation was critical for the decisive victory of the United States and France over the British. He emphasizes the contributions of the Spanish navy, the diversions occasioned by Madrid’s initiatives in Europe, and the broad character of Spain’s challenge to Britain’s American positions. He also documents the indispensable role of Spain’s financial and material assistance, both before and during its direct participation in the war from 1779 to 1783.Acting both in concert with the French and alone, Spain applied critical pressure on the British in Europe. The menace of Spain’s recently developed navy, along with components from France, froze British naval power far from the colonial theater, Chávez argues, while other resources were tied down defending Gibraltar from a persistent siege. The Spanish also found the opportunity to recapture Minorca. Spain exploited London’s preoccupation with the rebellious colonists to settle old scores in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico; these military initiatives served to weaken British concentrations in the north. Matías de Gálvez, brother of minister of the Indies José, first repulsed enemy threats to Central America, then swept the intruders from their strongholds. Meanwhile, Matías’s son Bernardo cleared the coast of British positions from Baton Rouge and Manchac to Pensacola. Chávez also documents a lesser-known Spanish advance up the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan. Of more immediate importance to the rebellion were the supplies provided through New Orleans and Havana, the considerable financial assistance extended to the colonists both directly in America and via the French in Europe, and (less directly) the loans provided to the French themselves.Chávez brings an impressive amount of new information to bear on already-familiar themes, one of the book’s greatest strengths. This is especially true of the maneuverings that accompanied the extension of Spanish aid to the insurgents and of the torturous negotiations that preceded Spanish intervention. Finally, the author develops an interesting perspective in arguing that Charles III and his ministers—learning from Spain’s precipitous and disastrous intervention in the Seven Year’s War—practiced admirable patience as they awaited an opportune moment to strike openly.Given its stated aims, one of the book’s weaknesses is its failure to connect clearly Spain’s performance during the Revolutionary War to the improvements effected through Charles III’s early reforms. When discussing the campaign of Bernardo de Gálvez on the Gulf Coast, for example, the author asserts, “The gathering and compilation of all troops and equipment, being prepared for war under Havana’s command, is a study waiting to be done” (p. 245, n. 53). Such a study does in fact exist in a chapter from my own Cuba, 1753–1815: Crown, Military, and Society (Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1986). And nowhere does the author offer a clear estimate of the actual amount of financial assistance that Madrid provided or a clear explanation of why Spain enjoyed such comparative affluence.The author may have attempted to use too broad a brush in depicting the international and imperial context, for the text is all too frequently marred by serious factual distortions, especially early on. The reader should treat cautiously the assertions that “with peace in 1748, Felipe V’s son, Don Carlos, was recognized as king of the two Sicilies, while his older half brother was awarded the duchies of Parma and Piacenza” (p. 4); that “under Carlos III, the home administration benefited from the annual treasure fleets . . . . He built a new royal palace, among many other buildings, in Madrid and expanded his winter palace in Aranjuez” (p. 16); and that “Napoleon had his brother, as king of Spain, give him Louisiana. . . .” (p. 221). Moreover, the assertions that “Spain’s problem in the Americas was exacerbated because France, the ultimate loser of this recently completed war [the Seven Year’s War], was no longer a major factor” (p. 19) and that “France did not share the colonial concerns of Great Britain and Spain, for it . . . was quickly losing its taste for colonization” (p. 22) require much more evidence to be convincing.Such limitations aside, this is an important book. The author’s exhaustive archival research has generated new information, especially regarding the strategies Madrid used to collaborate with the French, to frustrate the British, and to strike a telling blow at enemy interests in America and Europe. Finally, the conclusion assembles useful information regarding the financial contributions of individual borderland colonies, the eventual fate of many of the book’s central characters, and other interesting, miscellaneous details. Thomas Chávez has produced a lasting contribution to the literature detailing the debt that the United States owes Spain for the relative ease with which it realized its birth as a nation

Colonialism · Declaration of independence · Economic history · Independence (probability theory) · Navy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Victory · War of independence · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Archaeology and Natural History · Historical Studies in Latin America · History · Law