All American students should know about the role of Spain in the birth of the United States.

The French involvement in U.S. independency is well remembered, Spain's role less so. Spain's help was not limited to arms: it involved financial help and supplies. Powder, uniforms, and weapons were generously provided from the beginning, never to be repaid, except in the form of trade. For it is not just Galvez' conquest of Pensacola that changed the course of the war, but first the siege of Gibraltar, which forced Great Britain to split its forces and dealt Spain a better hand in Guatemala, the Mississippi, the Floridas, and then the Bahamas. Soldiers were recruited from all over the Spanish empire, from Spain itself and from throughout Spanish America. Many died fighting British soldiers and their allies.And the Spanish dollar became the basis for the new country's national coinage