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America, Russia, Hemp, and NapoleonAmerica. Russian goods were typically part of the cargo of anyship arriving from England. 16Whe n the American farmers and the British soldiers clashedat Lexington and Concord, it appeared that the little contactw e would have with Russia during the war would be with fixedbayonets. In 1775, Catherine the Great seemed inclined to sellthe services of some of her troops to George III for use in NorthAmerica; and although she soon permanently rejected the idea,the rumor that Russian mercenaries were on their way to jointhe Hessians persisted among Americans. 17As it happened, Russia's influence on our revolution wasmuch to our advantage. Britain, in her effort to destroy bynaval blockade the ability of France and Spain to wage war,declared naval stores to be contraband, and, therefore, legallyseizable. Russia, as Europe's chief producer of naval stores, wassoon affected. In 1780, Catherine the Great announced thather navy would be used against any belligerent wh o interferedwith her neutral trade, and gathered together the chief neutralsof Europe into a League of Armed Neutrality to protect neutralrights on the high seas. This League obliged Great Britain toaccept broader definitions of neutral right on the high seas, andthus weakened Britain's blockade against her enemies. This,plus the fact that the very existence of the League informedBritons that even the neutrals were dangerously anglophobic,ma y have helped persuade Britain to accept a peace that leftthe United States independent.As a result of Catherine's actions of 1780, the fledglingUnited States put aside its distrust and, in December of thatyear, the Continental Congress appointed Francis Dan a ofMassachusetts as minister plenipotentiary to the court of Cath­