![]() 2 Tuchman takes the reader on a narrative of Dutch history that provides a background of European politics leading up to the American Revolution. The history of the Dutch republic is a cautionary tale of what Hamilton warned in the early Federalist Papers. 1 This marked the first time a foreign official formally acknowledged the sovereignty of the United States of America. ![]() ![]() ![]() That’s when the harbor’s Fort Orange fired it’s guns in salute of the Andrew Doria, an American brig flying the stripes, if not stars of the incipient nation. Eustatius, a Dutch possession in the West Indies, raised a tremendous hubbub on the world stage.  On November 16th, 1776, the seemingly innocuous island of St. The title of the book, The First Salute, refers to the first official diplomatic recognition of the United States as a distinct, separate, sovereign entity. Barbara Tuchman’s First Salute: A View of The American Revolution is a look at the American War of Independence from an external perspective. The coverage of events in America is almost tangential to the story Tuchman has to tell. Much of what she relates has a refreshingly different focus from other histories and biographies covered thus far at WWTFT. ![]()
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