Good morning, Whitewater
So far as I know, there are no municipal public meetings today. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Regardless, even without the gathering of a single municipal task force, somehow our lives will go on. Perhaps, just perhaps, something good will happen today without government intervention. That’s just the optimist in me, I wouldn’t wonder.
It’s Spirit Day at Washington School, proud home of the Golden Eagles.
It’s the anniversary of a great moment in American history: On this date in 1778, representatives from the United States and France sign the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance in Paris.. The website of the History Channel describes the treaties and their happy consequences —
The Treaty of Amity and Commerce recognized the United States as an independent nation and encouraged trade between France and the America, while the Treaty of Alliance provided for a military alliance against Great Britain, stipulating that the absolute independence of the United States be recognized as a condition for peace and that France would be permitted to conquer the British West Indies….
In 1776, the Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee to a diplomatic commission to secure a formal alliance with France. Covert French aid began filtering into the colonies soon after the outbreak of hostilities in 1775, but it was not until the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777 that the French became convinced that the Americans were worth backing in a formal treaty.
On February 6, 1778, the treaties of Amity and Commerce and Alliance were signed, and in May 1778 the Continental Congress ratified them. One month later, war between Britain and France formally began when a British squadron fired on two French ships. During the American Revolution, French naval fleets proved critical in the defeat of the British, which culminated in the Battle of Yorktown in October 1781.
Today is also the anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and the anniversary of our treaties — the first ever for America — with France is one of the reasons that I don’t have to kneel, genuflect, crawl, or bow low to Britain’s doddering impressive & shrewd monarch.
As one need not servilely defer to the monarch of an entire nation, there’s no need to do so for any much smaller, local versions of the same.