America 250 at the Library
Discover our series of lectures, walking tours, and reading lists to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence.
The American Revolution in Paris
A series of walking tours and lectures with Mary Jo Padgett
Few visitors to Paris realize how pivotal a role the city played in securing American independence. Join us for a series of three guided walking tours or a series of four illustrated lectures tracing the French chapter of the American Revolution. While the small-group walks bring the city’s revolutionary sites to life on the ground, the lectures explore all twenty-three locations through photographs and discussion.
About the guide
Mary Jo Padgett has been leading American Revolution history walks and lectures in Paris since 2013, with programs presented through the American Library in Paris, the American Embassy, and WICE.
Each series is €40 for Library members and €50 for non-members. Not a member? Join our community today.
America 250 Walking Tours
Limited to 12 participants
Tuesday June 9 1:30 – 4:30 pm
I. Franklin and Adams in Passy
From Autueil to the Champs Elysées
This walk begins in the quiet residential streets of Auteuil, where John Adams and his family lived in 1784–85, and where his neighbor—the brilliant, unconventional Madame Helvétius—kept a salon that Benjamin Franklin adored. From Passy and Square Yorktown to Place d’Iéna and Square Rochambeau, we follow the traces of Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson as we move through some of Paris’s most magnificent streets.
The walk closes at a local café.
Tuesday June 16 1:30 – 4:30 pm
II. Sites of Treaty of Paris
From Palais du Luxemburg to Rue Jacob
We begin at the Palais du Luxembourg, a prison during the French Revolution, and the place where Thomas Paine was held captive. From there, a stroll brings us to the legendary Café Procope, where Franklin, Jefferson, Jones, and Voltaire were all regulars, and we follow Jefferson’s own path through the bouquinistes from which he assembled the collection that would eventually form the Library of Congress. The walk ends at the Hôtel d’York, 56, rue Jacob, where the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, and American independence became a matter of international law.
Tuesday June 23 1:30 – 4:30 pm
III. Enduring France-American Ties
From Musée d’Orsay to Bourse de Commerce
This third walk takes up the story where the war left off, tracing the enduring ties between France and the young American republic. We begin at the Musée d’Orsay and Thomas Jefferson’s favorite view in Paris, then follow through the Tuileries to Hôtel de Coislin, where France formally recognized American independence. The walk ends at the Bourse de Commerce, whose surprising connection to both Franklin and Jefferson will be revealed on the day.
America 250 Lectures
Sunday June 7, 2:00 – 4:00 pm
I. Early French Aid to the American Revolution
From the fictitious trading company established by Beaumarchais in 1776 to secretly supply arms, ammunition, and uniforms to the under-armed American Insurgents, to the private cemetery where La Fayette is buried, to the upscale building where John Paul Jones died, and more – we look at American heroes in Paris and how the French helped the insurgents in the
Sunday 14 June, 2:00 – 4:00 pm
II. The Franco-American Alliance
This session explores the important French military assistance during the 8 years of the American Revolution provided by Admiral de Grasse and others, the neighborhoods where Benjamin Franklin and John Adams lived while negotiating French support, and where the treaty was signed that ended the War of Independence.
Sunday 21 June, 2:00 – 4:00 pm
III. Jefferson, Paine, and the Paris Salons
We learn about important places where secret plans were hatched to support the American Insurgents which helped lead to a successful outcome … and then pick up the thread of how the Americans continued to lean on and learn from experienced French connections during the early years of a new country.
Sunday 28 June, 2:00 – 4:00 pm
IV. From Revolution to Republic
Post-American Revolution, strong connections between the two countries continued. Between the end of the American Revolution in 1783 and the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789 and after, mutual exchanges of respect, information, and philosophy occurred.