In the Treaty of Aranjuez (; ; 12 April 1779), Spain agreed to support France in its war with Britain. This was in return for assistance in recovering its former possessions of Menorca, Gibraltar and Spanish Florida.
While Spain refused to become formally involved in the American Revolutionary War, they allowed goods to be shipped through Louisiana, avoiding the British blockade while their recapture of Florida denied the Royal Navy bases on the Gulf Coast. Outside North America, they regained Menorca but failed to take Gibraltar, despite a huge investment of men and money.
With the exception of Menorca and Florida, the 1783 treaties between Britain, France and Spain largely returned the position to that prevailing before the war.
Background
Under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, Spain ceded Menorca and Gibraltar to Britain and regaining them became a primary objective. During the Seven Years' War in 1756, Spain was allied with France; they re-captured Menorca but lost Havana and Manila in 1762. As part of the Treaty of Paris (1763) that ended the war, Britain exchanged these for Spanish Florida, while France compensated Spain by transferring ownership of Louisiana (see Map). British West Florida was strategically important, since it controlled entry to the Mississippi River through the port of Mobile and included the modern Gulf Coast of the United States.
When the American Revolutionary War began in 1776, the British blockade of New England meant Spanish ports such as New Orleans and Havana became a vital supply route for the colonists. This support was provided unofficially since Spain's Chief Minister, Count Floridablanca, hoped diplomacy would persuade Britain to return Menorca, Gibraltar and the Floridas and remove illegal settlements in Central America. Peace with Britain was viewed as essential for his domestic reforms, while Spanish colonies in the Americas or New Spain were vulnerable to British naval power. This concern was heightened by border disputes with Britain's ally Portugal over the Rio de la Plata basin.
The two countries fought several minor wars over this issue but unlike previous conflicts, commitments elsewhere meant Britain was unable to help Portugal, which remained neutral during the American Revolutionary War as a result. The Spanish–Portuguese War (1776–77) was settled by the October 1777 First Treaty of San Ildefonso; in the Treaty of El Pardo (1778) Portugal agreed not to allow its ports in the Americas to be used by nations hostile to Spain, a measure aimed at Britain.
In February 1778, France and the United States signed a Treaty of Alliance, in which France recognised US independence and provided military support. The American War now became part of a wider, global conflict, undermining efforts to reach a diplomatic solution with Britain. On 12 April 1779, France and Spain signed the Treaty of Aranjuez and Spain formally declared war on Britain on 21 June.
Provisions
Spain agreed to support French demands for a range of commercial concessions attempting to roll back British gains made at Utrecht in 1713. Many of the terms were kept secret, including granting France exclusive control over the Newfoundland fishing grounds, a provision unacceptable to the Americans. In return, France would assist in recovering Gibraltar, Menorca and Florida, but Spain would only attack British possessions outside the United States and did not recognise US independence until the Peace of Paris in 1783.
One reason for their reluctance to intervene directly was that Charles III and Floridablanca were concerned by the potential impact of the American Revolution on Spain's own colonies, which they considered essential for modernising and expanding the Spanish economy. In addition, there had been constant disputes over encroachment by American colonists into New Spain before the war; once the United States replaced Britain, future conflict was inevitable.
Another less well-known impact of the Treaty was a deep and abiding Congressional mistrust of "foreign entanglements" which arguably remains current. France agreed in a secret clause to continue the war until Spain recovered Gibraltar, while the 1778 Franco-American Treaty committed the signatories not to make a separate peace. The combination effectively tied US independence to Spain's recovery of Gibraltar, without the knowledge of the Continental Congress.