Lecture—Old World Meets New World: Franco-American Encounters, 1776-1783

Historian Robert Selig discusses the experiences of the French soldiers who fought for the under the Comte de Rochambeau during the American Revolution. Arriving in Newport in July 1780, Rochambeau’s soldiers stepped into a brave new world whose societal norms and modes of social interaction differed radically from their own. Rochambeau’s soldiers knew almost nothing about America and its people, and what they thought they knew were preconceptions based on ideals of the Enlightenment. Getting to know their ally proceeded through a slow and sometimes painful educational process as few Americans had ever previously met Frenchmen. American expectations of the new ally had grown over decades of anti-French and anti-Catholic propaganda, often causing them to view French soldiers more as an old enemy rather than a new friend. Drawing from extensive research of primary source materials, this talk examines the moments when mutual prejudices and preconceptions encountered reality and how Frenchmen, or Americans, reacted to personal encounters that proved, or disproved, what they had expected. This program accompanies our current exhibition, Voices of Revolution, on view through January 10, 2027.

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