Dutch Bankers' Loans

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DUTCH BANKERS' LOANS

DUTCH BANKERS' LOANS. The financial independence of the United States was assured when John Adams, minister to the Hague, secured in June 1782 the flotation of a $2 million loan through Amsterdam banking houses. The loan secured for the American government badly needed foreign exchange and tacitly recognized the enlarged commercial role played by the United States, whose trade with Holland and France had developed considerably since 1775. It also foreshadowed the interest of the Dutch in American commercial, security, land, bank, and canal enterprises over the next twenty years.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bemis, SamuelFlagg. The Diplomacy of the American Revolution. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1957.

Ellis, Joseph. Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams. New York: Norton, 1993.

Robert A.East/a. g.

See alsoDebt and Investment, Foreign ; Debts, Colonial and Continental ; Trade, Foreign .