Spain, Benjamin Franklin, the Founding Fathers, and the War for American Independence

As part of the America&Spain250 initiative in partnership with the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute, the American Philosophical Society presents a roundtable discussion with Dr. Gabriel Paquette, Ambassador Gonzalo Quintero Saravia, and Dr. Thomas E. Chávez, moderated by Dr. Richard Kagan (APS 2011).

Join us on Wednesday, September 17, at 6pm to learn about the general partnership between Spain and the emerging United States during the revolutionary era; the Spanish contributions to the war for American Independence, and the relationship between Benjamin Franklin and Spain. The discussion will be followed by a 10-minute Q&A with the audience.

This event is free but registration is required. Please register online to attend in person or watch virtually. Register here.

Ambassador Gonzalo M. Quintero Saravia, PhD in History from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and in Public Law from the UNED, is a corresponding member of the Royal Academy of History and the Colombian Academy of History. He has been a fellow of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. His book “Bernardo de Gálvez: Spanish Hero of the American Revolution” was awarded the Distinguished Book Award of the Society for Military History for the best biography published in 2018 (published by Alianza Editorial under the title Bernardo de Gálvez: A Spanish Hero in the American War of Independence). Among his most recent publications we find: with Professor Gabriel Paquette “Spain and the American Revolution: New Approaches and Perspectives” (New York: Routledge, 2019 and Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2022); “The Participation of France and Spain,” in Wim Klooster ed. “The Age of Atlantic Revolutions. Vol. 1. The Enlightenment and the British Colonies” (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023: 269-295) and with Professor Kathleen DuVal, “Bernardo de Gálvez: Friend of the American Revolution, Friend of Empire,” in Andrew N. O’Shaughnessy, John A. Ragosta, and Marie-Jeanne Rossignol eds. European Friends of the American Revolution (Charlottesville & London: University of Virginia Press, 2023, 147-174).

Dr. Gabriel B. Paquette is Professor of History at the University of Maine, where until recently he served as Senior Associate Provost. He previously held teaching, research, and administrative leadership positions at the University of Oregon and The Johns Hopkins University. His books include The European Seaborne Empires, Imperial Portugal in the Age of Atlantic Revolutions, and Enlightenment, Governance, and Reform in Spain and its Empire, 1759-1808, the latter of which was based on his University of Cambridge doctoral dissertation. With Gonzalo Quintero Saravia, he edited Spain and the American Revolution.

Dr. Thomas E. Chávez has a Ph.D. in History from the University of New Mexico.  He has published fourteen books, three of which have been published in translation in Spain.  He spent a career as a museum director and retired as the Executive Director of the National Hispanic Cultural Center.  He is a member of the Orden de Isabel la Católica and El Real Academía de la Historia.  The Fundación Xavier de Salas presented him with their first Premio.  His latest two books are The Diplomacy of Independence: Benjamin Franklin Documents in the Archives of Spain and Revolutionary Diplomacy: Spanish Connections and the Birth of the United States.

Dr. Richard L. Kagan, Arthur O. Lovejoy Professor Emeritus of History at Johns Hopkins University and PhD from the University of Cambridge, is an authority on modern history, specifically in the exploration of the intellectual and legal facets of the Spanish Empire during the Habsburg era. The author of numerous works, his most recent book, The Inquisition’s Inquisitor: Henry Charles Lea of Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025), explores the life and scholarship of the pioneering historian of the Spanish Inquisition. His earlier book, The Spanish Craze, delves into America’s historical fascination with Spanish literature, art, architecture, and culture. Kagan's significant scholarly contributions have made him a resident member of the American Philosophical Society (APS 2011)—where he was recently elected to the governing council—and a corresponding member of the Royal Academy of History.