this isnt my name said:
So when the Option is SIGN OR DIE you wouldnt sign? As a general, knowing all the men you had left would be massacred, without the foreknowledge that this would be blown up (because really, if people hadnt raised a stink and they were cool with it, the war wouldnt have started), you wouldnt sign to save their lives? Well, how presumptuous and pretentious of you.
Washington did what any general should. he put his men before his pride and moved to save their lives. Besides, it would have came to war regardless, cause Britain and France cant get along (even today in Canada, French Canadians cant get along with Brit Canadians), and each wanted the country for themselves for trade that was HIGHLY marketable.