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| Alexander Hamilton |
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| George Washington |
Edmond Charles Genêt was sent to the United States in the position of French minister in 1793. It could not have been foreseen that this man would work to further undermine the relationship between the United States and France. His efforts angered George Washington to the point that a diplomatic crisis could not be avoided. Washington wanted to remain neutral in the war between Great Britain and France but France thought the United States owed that country for having saved the budding nation from defeat in the Revolutionary War. The controversy was ultimately resolved. was Genêt recalled. As a result of the Citizen Genêt affair, the United States established a set of procedures governing neutrality.
Alexander Hamilton: I am terribly sorry, Sir that
matters have reached such proportions.
George Washington: This man is a bur in my
shoe. I cannot walk a step without feeling pain.
Hamilton: As much as I have little
sympathy for the French, the source of our problem has always been that
frenchified troublemaker Jefferson.
Washington: Please not about Jefferson
this morning. I have Edmund Charles Genêt giving me indigestion with my meals
and nightmares in my sleep. France could not have selected a more antagonist
minister to this country.
Hamilton: France will never let us
forget the strong support it gave us during the war. We would be naïve to think
that the French will not now present a bill for services rendered.
Washington: I labored long over my
decision for neutrality and I still believe it was a good decision. Our
French-born citizens have criticized me for my stance, especially Mr. Girard
who claims we should not forget the French lives that were lost during the war.
I am not ungrateful but a new and developing nation cannot afford to make
enemies by plunging again into war. Our resources and efforts must be used in
building a strong and independent republic.
Hamilton: In that time of need and
despair, we would have made a contract with the devil.
Washington: It is not as though the
French helped us for altruistic reasons. We have a significant monetary debt to
pay.
Hamilton: French policymakers needed
the United States to help defend France’s colonies in the Caribbean – either as
a neutral supplier or as a military ally.
Washington: I was twenty-one when
Virginia governor Robert Dinwiddie sent me, a young inexperienced officer, to
demand that the French abandon the string of forts they were building between
Lake Erie and the Forks of the Ohio River. When the French would not comply
with my demand I returned to the Ohio Valley with a regiment of Virginia
provisional troops and Indian allies and defeated the French. It’s quite
possible that they remember that battle and want me to pay in other ways.
Hamilton: Running the risk of provoking
your anger, I would like to point out that rather than a long festering anger from
your days of Lieutenant Colonel in 1753, it may be a recent irritant in the
form of Thomas Jefferson. Bear with me. He spends five years as minister to
France and at the end of his tenure in Paris, the French Revolution breaks out.
Is that a coincidence or the tireless efforts of a monumental meddler inciting
the masses to riot?
Washington: We
were discussing the arrogance of Monsieur Genêt. As this nation’s first
minister from France, he carries a list of almost impossible requirements. The
French assigned Genêt several additional duties: to obtain advance payments on
debts that the U.S. owed to France, to negotiate a commercial treaty between
the United States and France, and to implement portions of the 1778
Franco-American treaty which allowed attacks on British merchant shipping using
ships based in American ports. I will not stand for his attitude or comply with
his demands. We must find a way to limit his influence. Do you know who gave
Genêt this commission?
Hamilton: Since the start of the French Revolution we have
not yet a clear idea of the hierarchy. Perhaps Genêt himself can provide us
with answers to this question.
Washington: He arrived at the southern
port of Charleston, South Carolina. Is that correct?
Hamilton: Yes, he arrived on April 8th.
Washington: Jefferson reported that he
arrived in Philadelphia in May. I suppose he was seeing the sights in
Charleston for a short time.
Hamilton: Perhaps, but he also found
time to influence and receive the consent of South Carolina governor William
Moultrie to establish commissions. These commissions authorized the bearers,
regardless of their country of origin, to seize British merchant ships and
their cargo for personal profit, with the approval and protection of the French
Government.
Washington: That is precisely what I’ve
been told. This man comes to America which he arrogantly treats like a
subordinate French possession and immediately begins a business of privateering
for France. Have you had words with Jefferson on this matter?
Hamilton: Yes, indeed. When Citizen Genêt
arrived in Philadelphia to present his credentials, Jefferson informed him that
the United States Cabinet considered the outfitting of French privateers in
American ports to be a violation of the U.S. policy of neutrality.
Washington: Tell me again why he calls
himself “Citizen?”
Hamilton: Before the French Revolution,
ministerial positions were filled by members of the lower aristocracy. After so
many were executed at the guillotine, the egalitarian term of “Citizen” was
adopted.
Washington: How have we come to this unfortunate pass? The politics of France have driven an even deeper division between the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. We want and need a continued relationship with England while Jefferson and his band prefer supporting the rabble now in control of France.
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