Did the French ever consider taking possession of the newly minted United States right after the American Revolution?

by chikindiner

If not, why not? It seems to me that it would have given them an enormous leg up on the British. On top of that, they were positioned to do it.

Were there any people in French government who wanted this to happen?

Side Question: This seems like it would have been a cartoon villain move. Have there been actual 180's like that in history?

Toxicseagull

Simply put they weren't positioned to do it. They had recently lost many possessions in the 7 years war just a decade before and the costs involved in funding the American war of independence and subsequent costs of rebuilding the french navy severely crippled their finances to a point that the countries debt was one of the reasons the revolution took hold just a few years later as they resorted to unpopular taxation to try and raise the money it required.

Britain could finance its (smaller from the independence war) debts at a lower rate due to the financial institutions it had adopted from the Dutch previously.

Plus it wouldn't make sense, the French were well aware of the difficulties of maintaining a war on the other side of the Atlantic with a hostile nation working to prevent it and they had just made a new potential Ally and trade partner in the formative USA with the help of two other allies, trying to undo this by itself would have been a formidable challenge.

Danial Marston - The American Revolution 1774-1783