<P> Starting with the Siege of Yorktown, Benjamin Franklin never informed France of the secret negotiations that took place directly between Britain and the United States . Britain acknowledged that the United States owned all the land south of the Great Lakes and east of the Mississippi River, except for Florida (which went to Spain). However, since France was not included in the American - British peace discussions, the alliance between France and the U.S. was weakened . Thus the influence of France and Spain in future negotiations was limited . </P> <P> The war formally ended in September 1783 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris . France gained (or regained) territories in the Americas, Africa, and India . Losses in the 1763 Treaty of Paris and in the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) were in part regained: Tobago, Saint Lucia, the Senegal River area, as well as increased fishing rights in Terra Nova . Spain regained Florida and Minorca, but Gibraltar remained in the hands of the British . </P> <P> Because the French involvement in the war was distant and naval in nature, over a billion livres tournois were spent by the French government to support the war effort, raising its overall debt to about 3.315 billion . The finances of the French state were in disastrous shape and were made worse by Jacques Necker, who, rather than increase taxes, used loans to pay off debts . State secretary of Finances Charles Alexandre de Calonne attempted to fix the deficit problem by asking for the taxation of the property of nobles and clergy but was dismissed and exiled for his ideas . The French instability further weakened the reforms that were essential in the re-establishment of stable French finances . Trade also severely declined during the war, but was revived by 1783 . </P> <P> The war was especially important for the prestige and pride of France, who was reinstated in the role of European arbiter . However, Great Britain, not France, became the leading trading partner of the United States . The French took pride in their cultural influence on the young country through the Enlightenment, as attested by Franklin and Jefferson, and as embodied in the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the United States Constitution in 1787 . In turn, the Revolution influenced France . Liberal elites were satisfied by the victory but there were also some major consequences . European conservative Royalists and nobility had become nervous, and began to take measures in order to secure their positions . On May 22, 1781, the Decree of Ségur closed the military post offices of the upper rank to the common persons, reserving those ranks exclusively for the nobility . </P>

Who was sent to france to ask for help