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For motives very different, almost all Frenchmen hoped to encourage the movement for the independence of the British colonies in America. Just two decades earlier the French had lost large holdings in the French and Indian War. Louis XV could not forget this humiliation. At the same time, many in France saw the American experiment as a true testing ground for the grand new ideas they had begun to conceive. The Marquis de Lafayette was among the latter. In 1779 he had campaigned in all quarters of France for the funds to build a new ship that would play a role in changing the course of history. Our visit this afternoon takes us to the very yards where the frigate Hermione was built. |
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This page last updated on 6/19/2001 8:18:33 PM.