| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 91.3

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 91.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Securing American Independence: John Jay and the French Alliance. By Frank W. Brecher. (Westport: Praeger, 2003. xiv, 327 pp. $74.95, ISBN 0-313-32591-X.)

Securing American Independence is the second volume of a projected three-volume analysis of French-American relations in the late eighteenth century. Frank W. Brecher highlights John Jay's formulating foreign policy in the Continental Congress. The study continues with Jay's mission to Spain as United States minister and then Jay's crucial role in the peace negotiations in 1782. In his detailed study, the author argues that Jay has been overrated for his policy in 1782 by previous historians, and he offers a reassessment of Jay's fundamental contributions. Primarily, Brecher finds that Jay was seeking to achieve independence from France in the peace negotiations before he left Madrid for Paris in 1782. The author seems to waver on whether Jay's position reflected a difference in policy with France or simply his own personality. Second, the author finds that Jay broke the instructions of Congress by concluding a treaty with Great Britain without consulting France. On these two points, the author has marshaled a convincing argument, making this volume a worthy contribution to the diplomacy of the American Revolution.

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