This Day in History: February 15

On February 15, “in a private audience and free conference” with a special committee representing the Congress, Gerard spoke urgently and emphatically of the need to speedily define the unconditional terms the colonies would require if a peace settlement were to be sought. This, he told the delegates, was of vital concern also to Spain, a potential ally whose aid the Patriots desperately needed. How far would America go in prosecuting the war? What might she be willing to relinquish? What territorial boundaries did she expect? February 15 would later be recalled be members of the Congress as a critical turning point when they would reconfront the questions of peace and recommit themselves irrevocably to the course they had begun those three long years ago in 1776.