Episode 3 of 5

Treaty of Amity and Commerce: recognition and trade rights

When: February 6, 1778
Where: Paris, site of the commercial treaty's signing
Part of: Treaty of Alliance between the United States and France

The Treaty of Amity and Commerce established diplomatic and commercial relations, with France the first nation to formally recognize U.S. sovereignty.

Signed alongside the Treaty of Alliance, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce established formal diplomatic and commercial relations between the United States and France. France became the first nation to formally recognize the United States as a sovereign nation, and the treaty established mutual commercial and navigation rights, in direct defiance of the British Navigation Acts that restricted American access to foreign markets.

Sources

Treaty of Amity and Commerce (France–United States) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-04
Treaty of Alliance (1778) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-06-15

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.