Paris Archives - Journal of the American Revolution

Posted on November 28, 2022

This Week on Dispatches: John E. Happ on Benjamin Franklin and the American Legacy in Paris

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor John E. Happ on the commemorations to Benjamin Franklin and the American Revolution that can be seen in Paris. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. Dispatches can […]

by Editors

Posted on November 21, 2022

Benjamin Franklin and the American Legacy in Paris

France has an extraordinary way of commemorating the glorious past through landmarks and monuments. Benjamin Franklin had been an off and on resident of Paris living at 66 rue Raynouard, the former Hotel de Valentinoise, in Passy. He was recognized as the first official diplomat and Ambassador of the thirteen American colonies. There is a […]

by John E. Happ

Posted on January 23, 2020January 23, 2020

Henry Laurens and the Grand Tour of Europe

In the fall of 1771, the South Carolina rice merchant Henry Laurens sailed to Britain with his teenaged sons. They toured the countryside and settled in London, where Laurens conducted business and oversaw the loading of ships to America. He also wanted to give his sons an education, placing them with men who would help […]

by Will Monk

Posted on September 19, 2019September 18, 2019

Thomas Jefferson: Life, Liberty, and French Fries

Thomas Jefferson and Julia Child. Not two people you’d expect to be linked in history. But yet, indeed they are—as two gourmets who loved fine French cuisine. Frequently today in books, magazines, and online articles, Thomas Jefferson is “credited” with “introducing” such French foods as crème brûlée to the American appetite, as well as . […]

by John L. Smith, Jr.

Posted on July 21, 2019

This Week on Dispatches: John L. Smith, Jr. on John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and King Louis XVI together at Notre-Dame

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews actor, teacher, US Army and US Air Force veteran, and JAR contributor, John L. Smith, Jr., about the extraordinary day in 1785 when Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and his family, and the king and queen of France attended a service at Notre-Dame. As your host Brady Crytzer says, […]

by Editors

Posted on July 18, 2019July 17, 2019

Strange Bedfellows: Adams and Franklin as Diplomatic Duo

Close the window. No, leave the window open. Cold night air can be toxic to one’s health. No, what’s truly toxic is stifled, fetid air . . . . What has for centuries been an argument between couples long-married was, on one evening in September 1776, an impassioned dispute between temporary bedfellows John Adams and […]

by Geoff Smock

Posted on June 13, 2019June 14, 2019

The Day Notre-Dame Cathedral Hosted Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and King Louis XVI

1785 was a rare year in Paris—it was safely nestled between revolutions. The American Revolution had come to an official end right there in Paris one and a half years before, while the French Revolution was still four years off. And for the past 440 years—since the 1345 opening of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris […]

by John L. Smith, Jr.

Posted on February 12, 2019February 15, 2019

The “Hynson Business”—The Story of a Double Agent

Wars have a way of creating strange alliances, and the American Revolution was no exception. I encountered one such unusual relationship while researching my article on American naval officer Lambert Wickes, who completed many daring privateering captures in European waters in 1776-77 before relinquishing the stage to John Paul Jones. By all accounts, Wickes was […]

by Richard J. Werther

Tag: Paris