During the
American Revolution and the
American Revolutionary War the
Continental Congress appointed
Ralph Izard Commissioner to the Court of the Grand Duke of Tuscany on July 1, 1777. Izard's main role was to secure funding for the war by asking
Grand Duke Ferdinand for a million dollars. Izard never arrived in
Tuscany learning in advance of the high probability that Ferdinand would refuse to receive him in
Florence for fear of upsetting the British. The Duchy maintained good ties with England and its navy in the
Mediterranean to maintain trade and commercial ties. The Continental Congress terminated Izard's mission on June 8, 1779, once it became clear the Duchy would not recognize the United States. The Duchy appointed
John F. Mansony as their first representative to the U.S. also as exequatur as Consul for the states of
New Hampshire,
Massachusetts,
Rhode Island,
Vermont, and
Connecticut residing in
Boston whose appointment was signed by President Monroe on November 6, 1817. All representatives of the Duchy were consular officers. The last representative of Tuscany to the United States was
G.B. Tagliaferri, whose exequatur as Consul at New York was signed by President
Franklin Pierce on November 1, 1854. Despite no formality of relations, both countries made several attempts to sign a treaty of commerce. The earliest of such attempts was in 1784 when U.S. Ministers Plenipotentiary
Benjamin Franklin,
John Adams, and
Thomas Jefferson tried to negotiate a treaty of amity and commerce between the two states. By January 1785, the process of negotiating such an agreement never came to be for unknown reasons. Relations ended in 1860 following the
Unification of Italy when the Grand Duchy was dissolved and incorporated into a singular Italian state. ==See also==