re: #269 sagehen

So PBS this weekend did an episode of “Royal Secrets” about Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution.

Something I hadn’t heard before; France’s support for the American revolution was super-expensive. They spent/donated/loaned an amount equivalent to 3 years of their Royal budget. And we didn’t pay it back. Any of it. That’s why they were broke; that’s why Louis and Marie had no money to take care of their own obligations to their subjects. That’s why their people were hungry and angry. The French Revolution happened because the United States was a bunch of deadbeats.

Mentioned in Hamilton. Jefferson was for supporting it, and Hamilton was opposed. Washington went along with Hamilton, with the justification being “Who are we supposed to support?”