Thomas Jefferson continued to praise the French Revolution and even stated, “The liberty of the whole earth was depending on the issue…rather than it should have failed, I would have seen half the earth desolated. Jeffersonian-Republicans, in contrast, remained supportive of America’s sister republic, which they saw as carrying on the fight against monarchy. Alexander Hamilton had hoped the French would show the “same humanity, the same dignity, the same solemnity, which distinguished the course of the American Revolution.” He and other Federalists were concerned the French Revolution was instead characterized by mob rule and murderous rampages. The Federalists were becoming increasingly hostile to it and sympathized with Great Britain. Washington had to decide whether the United States should throw in its lot with such a government or chart a neutral course.īy early 1793, the French Revolution had sparked a fierce partisan debate between the Federalists and Jeffersonian-Republicans. It then tried to spread its ideology by declaring war on European monarchies, including Great Britain. But in recent months, the French revolutionary government had killed more than fourteen hundred clergy and nobles in prison and then executed Louis XVI. In 1789, Americans had reacted sympathetically to the French Revolution. After listening to the advice of his cabinet and responding to Genêt’s latest outrages, the president faced a choice that could affect the survival of the new American republic. Finally, the imperious Genêt was making reasonable diplomatic talks nearly impossible, due to his arrogance. Third, Washington’s cabinet and the American people were divided along party lines between supporting France or Great Britain in American foreign policy. Second, it was not clear whether the French alliance still applied, because France had launched an offensive war in Europe and the treaty was a defensive one. First, Europe was aflame, and the president knew the United States was too weak to go to war with any of the major European powers. President Washington had an important decision to make based on numerous important critical variables. On April 19, the cabinet met to discuss the issue and formulate American foreign policy. This fact, along with assurances from Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, encouraged Genêt to take it for granted that the United States was unified in its support for France’s war with Great Britain. Genêt expected American support because France had helped the United States win its independence, and the 1778 Treaty of Alliance between France and the United States was still in effect.
#In response to the european war jefferson full
On the basis of his welcome in South Carolina, “Citizen Genêt” believed he had the full support of America. The enthusiastic reception, which continued as he made his way north to Philadelphia, convinced “Citizen” Genêt (as he was known in Revolutionary France) that all Americans unconditionally supported the French Revolution and would support the French war effort against Great Britain and its allies. Genêt had had the audacity to raise funds and use them to commission French privateers to seize British vessels in American waters and bring them back to port, which was an insult to American national sovereignty. In April 1793, French ambassador Edmond Charles Genêt arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, to a hero’s welcome from the city’s Jeffersonian-Republican inhabitants who supported France over Great Britain in foreign affairs. This Decision Point can be assigned to students in conjunction with the George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796 Primary Source.
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