A Sovereign People

by Carol Berkin

  87. Viar and Jaudenes to Carondelet, Correspondence of Clark and Genet, p. 999; Thomas Jefferson to Josef Ignacio De Viar and Josef De Jaudenes, August 29, 1793, PTJ, Vol. 26, p. 786; d’Hauterive journal quoted in Bowman, The Struggle for Neutrality, p. 86.

  88. Quoted in Richard Bienvenu, The Ninth of Thermidor (Oxford University Press, 1970), pp. 32–49.

  89. Francois Louis Michel Chemin Deforgues to Edmond Charles Genet, July 30, 1793, quoted in Crandall, “Genet’s Projected Attack,” pp. 87–91.

  90. Edmond Charles Genet to the Minister, October 7, 1793, quoted in Crandall, “Genet’s Projected Attack,” p. 98.

  91. For the change in French policy, see Sheridan, “The Recall of Edmond Charles Genet,” pp. 478–482.

  92. Thomas Jefferson to Christopher Gore, September 2, 1793, PTJ, Vol. 27, pp. 13–14; Thomas Sim Lee to Thomas Jefferson, September 3, 1793, PTJ, Vol. 27, pp. 25–26.

  93. Memorial from George Hammond, September 4, 1793, PTJ, Vol. 27, pp. 30–32; Thomas Jefferson to George Hammond, September 5, 1793, PTJ, Vol. 27, pp. 35–38; George Hammond to Thomas Jefferson, September 6, 1793, PTJ, Vol. 27, pp. 43–44; Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, September 8, 1793, JMP, Vol. 15, pp. 103–105.

  94. Memorial from George Hammond, September 6, 1793, PTJ, Vol. 27, pp. 44–46.

  95. Washington requested that Oliver Wolcott acquire evidence from Webster of Genet’s accusations. See George Washington to Henry Knox, September 9, 1793, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 14, pp. 52–54; George Clinton to George Washington, September 8, 1793, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 14, pp. 47–49 (see editor’s note 1 for Genet’s reply to Clinton).

  12: “The people began to speak out.”

  96. For examples of the memorials, see Thomas Griffin Peachy to Thomas Jefferson, September 3, 1793, PTJ, Vol. 27, pp. 28–29; Jeremiah Wadsworth to Thomas Jefferson, September 4, 1793, PTJ, Vol. 27, p. 35; Ludwell Lee and Roger West to George Washington, October 21, 1793, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 14, pp. 242–243; Address from Fairfax County, Virginia, Citizens, October 21, 1793, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 14, pp. 243–244; See also Ammon, The Genet Mission, 132–146. For a discussion of the public meetings that produced memorials and addresses supporting the president, see Harry Ammon, “The Genet Mission and the Development of American Political Parties,” The Journal of American History, Vol. 52, No. 4 (March 1966), pp. 725–741; see also Christopher J. Young, “Connecting the President and the People: Washington’s Neutrality, Genet’s Challenge, and Hamilton’s Fight for Public Support,” Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Fall 2011), pp. 435–466; Henry Lee to George Washington, September 17, 1793, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 14, pp. 108–111.

  97. Thomas Jefferson to Edmond Charles Genet, September 7, 1793, PTJ, Vol. 27, pp. 52–53.

  98. Translation, Edmond Charles Genet to Thomas Jefferson, September 18, 1793, ASP, Foreign Relations, Vol. 1, pp. 172–174.

  99. Gouverneur Morris to George Washington, October 18, 1793, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 14, pp. 229–231; Gouverneur Morris to George Washington, October 19, 1793, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 14, pp. 233–235; Greg H. Williams, The French Assault on American Shipping, 1793–1813: A History and Comprehensive Record of Merchant Marine Loss (McFarland, 2009), p. 16.

  13: “It is with extreme concern I have to inform you…”

  100. Alexander Hamilton to Rufus King, August 13, 1793, PAH, Vol. 15, pp. 239–242 (see introductory note by editors, pp. 233–239); John Jay and Rufus King to Alexander Hamilton and Henry Knox, November 26, 1793, PAH, Vol. 15, pp. 411–412; Rufus King to Alexander Hamilton, November 26, 1793, PAH, Vol. 15, pp. 413–414; John Jay to Alexander Hamilton, November 26, 1793, PAH, Vol. 15, pp. 412–413; George Washington to Henry Knox, February 15, 1794, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 15, pp. 233–234; Alexander Dallas to Thomas Jefferson, December 4, 1793, PTJ, Vol. 27, p. 481; Thomas Jefferson to Edmond Charles Genet, December 18, 1793, PTJ, Vol. 27, p. 583.

  101. AC, 3rd Congress, 1st Session, Senate, December 3, 1793, pp. 10–13.

  102. AC, 3rd Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, Proceedings, December 5, 1793, pp. 136–137, 157; ASP, Foreign Relations, Vol. 1, pp. 140–188; AC, 3rd Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, December 6, 1793, pp. 138–140.

  103. William Moultrie to George Washington, December 7, 1793, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 14, pp. 482–483; ASP, Foreign Relations, Vol. 1, pp. 309–311.

  104. See Genet, Washington, Jefferson, and “Citizen” Genet, p. 39.

  105. Quoted in Elkins and McKitrick, Age of Federalism, p. 372.

  14: “I augur more good than evil.”

  106. Robert Troup to Alexander Hamilton, December 25, 1793, PAH, Vol. 15, pp. 587–588; Phillip Schuyler to Alexander Hamilton, December 15, 1793, PAH, Vol. 15, pp. 457–458; John Trumball to John Adams, January 16, 1794, FOL.

  107. John Adams to Abigail Adams, December 20, 1793, FOL; John Quincy Adams, “Columbus,” Part 4, Columbian Centinel, December 18, 1793; Thomas Boylston Adams to William Cranch, January 4, 1794, FOL; Abigail Adams to John Adams, December 31, 1793, FOL.

  108. Alexander White to James Madison, December 28, 1793, JMP, Vol. 15, pp. 163–164.

  109. AC, 3rd Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, January–April, 1794, pp. 155–159, 174–248, 256–349, 352–410, 413–432, 501, 505–522, 529–530, 561, 566–598, 600–603. For Madison’s comment, see AC, 3rd Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, January 3, 1794, p. 157.

  Epilogue

  110. Ammon, The Genet Mission, pp. 171–179; for the comments on Genet’s death, see Genet, Washington, Jefferson, and “Citizen” Genet, p. 52.

  Part III: The XYZ Affair

  1: “The conduct of the French Government is so much beyond calculation.”

  1. For the self-evaluation, see John Adams to Timothy Pickering, August 6, 1822, FOL.

  2. “The Warning, No. I” [January 27, 1797], PAH, Vol. 20, pp. 490–495.

  3. Wolcott’s comments quoted in Bowman, The Struggle for Neutrality, p. 270; “The Answer” [December 8, 1796], PAH, Vol. 20, pp. 421–434. For a discussion of Adet’s efforts to influence the election, see Michael F. Conlin, “The American Mission of Citizen Pierre-Auguste Adet: Revolutionary Chemistry and Diplomacy in the Early Republic,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 124, No. 4 (October 2000), pp. 489–520. See also Bowman, The Struggle for Neutrality, pp. 262–278. For the Aurora’s publication of this letter and others by Adet, see James Tagg, Benjamin Franklin Bache and the Philadelphia “Aurora” (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991), pp. 293–294; For the exchange of letters on the Jay Treaty between Adet and Secretary of State Pickering, see ASP, Foreign Relations, pp. 559–588.

  4. For Monroe’s letter criticizing the Jay Treaty, see [James Monroe], Enclosure: Sketch of the State of Affairs in France, June 23, 1795, PTJ, Vol. 28, pp. 392–398.

  5. For Monroe’s farewell address and the reply by Paul Barras, see ASP, Foreign Relations, Vol. 1, p. 747.

  6. James Monroe, A view of the conduct of the executive, in the foreign affairs of the United States, connected with the mission to the French Republic, during the years 1794, 5 & 6 (Benjamin Bache, 1797). For George Washington’s detailed annotation of Monroe’s publication, see Comments on Monroe’s A View of the Conduct of the Executive of the United States, March 1798, PGW, Retirement Series, Vol. 2, pp. 169–217; for John Adams’s view of Monroe’s personal unpopularity in France, see John Adams to Elbridge Gerry, May 3, 1797, FOL.

  7. For the documents relating to Pinckney’s experiences in Paris, see AC, 5th Congress, 1797–1799, Appendix, pp. 3059–3095. See also James McHenry to George Washington, March 24, 1797, PGW, Retirement Series, Vol. 1, pp. 47–48; George Washington to James McHenry, April 3, 1797, PGW, Retirement Series, Vol. 1, pp. 71–72; [Timothy Pickering], Enclosure: A Statement of Facts Relative to General Pinckney’s Mission to France [March 30, 1797], PAH, Vol. 20, pp. 560–567.

  8. Tagg, B
enjamin Franklin Bache, p. 317; John Adams to Henry Knox, March 30, 1797, FOL; George Washington to James McHenry April 3, 1797, PGW, Retirement Series, Vol. 1, pp. 71–72; see also George Washington to Timothy Pickering, April 10, 1797, PGW, Retirement Series, Vol. 1, pp. 93–94.

  9. Tagg, Benjamin Franklin Bache, p. 316.

  10. John Adams to Timothy Pickering, March 14, 1797, FOL; Notes on Pinckney Case, March 19, 1797, FOL.

  11. John Adams to William Heath, April 19, 1797, FOL; John Adams to John Quincy Adams, March 31, 1797, FOL.

  2: “I have it much at heart to Settle all disputes with France.”

  12. For the Decree of the Executive Directory concerning the navigation of neutral vessels, loaded with merchandise belonging to the enemies of the republic, and the judgments on the trials relative to the validity of maritime prizes, 12th Ventose, 5th year, see AC, 5th Congress, Appendix, pp. 3076–3078; Rufus King to Timothy Pickering, March 12, 1797, AC, 5th Congress, Appendix, p. 3082. Pickering forwarded this dispatch from John Quincy Adams to Alexander Hamilton on April 29, 1797, PAH, Vol. 21, pp. 68–71. Pastoret quoted in Matthew Q. Dawson, Partisanship and the Birth of America’s Second Party, 1796–1800: Stop the Wheels of Government (Greenwood Press, 2000), pp. 51–52.

  13. Elbridge Gerry to John Adams, April 25, 1797, FOL; John Adams to Elbridge Gerry, May 3, 1797, FOL.

  14. AC, 5th Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, May 16, 1797, pp. 54–59.

  15. AC, 5th Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, May 22–June 3, 1797, pp. 67–237.

  16. George Washington to Oliver Wolcott, May 29, 1797, PGW, Retirement Series, Vol. 1, pp. 161–162; John Adams to Elbridge Gerry, May 30, 1797, FOL.

  17. AC, 5th Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, June 5–June 24, 1797, pp. 239–386.

  18. Questions to be Proposed Concerning Negotiators to be Sent to France, May 27–28, 1797, FOL; Timothy Pickering to the Senate, February 27, 1797, ASP, Foreign Relations, Vol. 1, pp. 748–749. For a biography of Timothy Pickering, see Gerard H. Clarfield, Timothy Pickering and the American Republic (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1980).

  19. Alexander Hamilton to Oliver Wolcott Jr., March 30, 1797, PAH, Vol. 20, pp. 567–568; Alexander Hamilton to Oliver Wolcott Jr., April 5, 1797, PAH, Vol. 21, pp. 22–23; Alexander Hamilton to Oliver Wolcott Jr., June 6, 1797, PAH, Vol. 21, pp. 98–101.

  20. See Alexander Hamilton to Timothy Pickering, March 22, 1797, PAH, Vol. 20, pp. 545–547; Alexander Hamilton to Timothy Pickering, May 11, 1797, PAH, Vol. 21, pp. 81–84; see also Rufus King to Alexander Hamilton, April 2, 1797, PAH, Vol. 21, pp. 8–12.

  21. John Adams to Elbridge Gerry, April 6, 1797, FOL.

  22. For a biography of John Marshall, see Jean Edward Smith, John Marshall: Definer of a Nation (Henry Holt, 1996).

  23. D’Hauterive’s comments on Marshall and Pinckney quoted in Jean Edward Smith, John Marshall, p. 187.

  24. On Adams’s belief in Gerry’s impartiality, see John Adams to Thomas Welsh, March 10, 1797, FOL; See Elkins and McKitrick, The Age of Federalism, pp. 556, 558; for a biography of Gerry, see George A. Billias, Elbridge Gerry: Founding Father and Republican Statesman (McGraw-Hill, 1976); for the Abigail Adams quote, see Richard Brookhiser, What Would the Founders Do? Our Questions, Their Answers (Basic Books, 2007), p. 148.

  25. Quoted in Billias, Elbridge Gerry, p. 262, n. 70; Adams had nominated Dana, along with Pinckney and Marshall, in a letter to the Senate, May 31, 1797, FOL; see John Adams to Elbridge Gerry, June 20, 1797, FOL.

  26. John Adams to Elbridge Gerry, July 17, 1797, FOL.

  27. Elbridge Gerry to John Adams, July 14, 1797, FOL.

  3: “Talleyrand… could not be for war with this country.”

  28. For the instructions to the commissioners, see AC, 5th Congress, Appendix, pp. 3324–3336.

  29. Tagg, Benjamin Franklin Bache, p. 323.

  30. For a discussion of French politics in 1797, see William Stinchcombe, “The Diplomacy of the WXYZ Affair,” The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 4 (October 1977), pp. 590–617; see also William Stinchcombe, “Talleyrand and the American Negotiations of 1797–1798,” The Journal of American History, Vol. 62, No. 3 (December 1975), pp. 575–590.

  31. Elkins and McKitrick, The Age of Federalism, p. 568.

  32. For a study of Talleyrand’s character, see Crane Brinton, The Lives of Talleyrand (W. W. Norton, 1963); see also Jack F. Bernard, Talleyrand: A Biography (Putnam, 1793); Jean Edward Smith, John Marshall, pp. 192–196.

  33. Jean Edward Smith, John Marshall, p. 198; Billias, Elbridge Gerry, p. 267.

  34. Elbridge Gerry to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, September 20, 1797, in Elbridge Gerry’s Letterbook: Paris 1797–1798, ed. Russell W. Knight ( Essex Institute, 1966), p. 7; Billias, Elbridge Gerry, p. 263.

  35. Jean Edward Smith, John Marshall, p. 200.

  36. There are numerous accounts of the meetings between the Americans and the French agents sent by Talleyrand. The account that follows below relies on John Marshall’s record of the meetings, found in PJM, Vol. 3; and in abbreviated form in Smith, John Marshall; but see also Elkins and McKitrick, The Age of Federalism, pp. 571–579; and Stinchcombe, “The Diplomacy of the WXYZ Affair.”

  37. John Adams to Timothy Pickering, October 31, 1797, FOL.

  38. Jean Edward Smith, John Marshall, p. 205.

  4: “We experience a haughtiness… unexampled in the history and practice of nations.”

  39. PJM, Vol. 3, p. 251; Knight, Elbridge Gerry’s Letterbook, pp. 18–19; PJM, Vol. 3, p. 254.

  40. Jean Edward Smith, John Marshall, p. 209–210; PJM, Vol. 3, p. 171.

  41. PJM, Vol. 3, p. 173.

  42. Ibid., pp. 176–177.

  43. Ibid., pp. 182–183.

  44. Jean Edward Smith, John Marshall, p. 213.

  45. Jean Edward Smith, John Marshall, p. 221.

  46. Elbridge Gerry to Mrs. Gerry, November 28, 1797, in Knight, Elbridge Gerry’s Letterbook, p. 21; John Marshall to Rufus King, quoted in Jean Edward Smith, John Marshall, p. 220; Rufus King to Messrs. Pinckney, Marshall, and Gerry, December 23, 1797, in The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King: Comprising his letters, private and official, his public documents and speeches, ed. Charles R. King, MD, Vol. 2 (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1895), pp. 262–263.

  5: “Shall an immediate declaration of war be recommended?”

  47. John Adams to the US Congress, November 22, 1797, AC, 5th Congress, 2nd Session, House of Representatives, November 23, 1797, pp. 630–634, November 27, 1797, pp. 645–648.

  48. George Washington to Oliver Wolcott Jr., January 22, 1798, PGW, Retirement Series, Vol. 2, pp. 39–40; John Adams to James McHenry, Timothy Pickering, Oliver Wolcott Jr., and Charles Lee, January 24, 1798, as an enclosure in PAH, Vol. 21, pp. 339–341.

  49. Jean Edward Smith, John Marshall, p. 222.

  50. PJM, Vol. 3, p. 205.

  51. Ibid., p. 223.

  52. Ibid., p. 232.

  53. See Elbridge Gerry to Mrs. Gerry, March 26, 1798, in Knight, Elbridge Gerry’s Letterbook, pp. 33–34.

  54. PJM, Vol. 3, pp. 236–237.

  55. See Talleyrand [to John Marshall], April 13, 1798, PJM, Vol. 3, p. 461; John Marshall to Talleyrand, April 13, 1798, PJM, Vol. 3, p. 462; John Marshall to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, April 21, 1798, PJM, Vol. 3, p. 463; John Marshall to Timothy Pickering, June 18, 1798, PJM, Vol. 3, p. 467.

  6: “He… was the dupe of Diplomatic Skill.”

  56. For Elbridge Gerry’s rebuttal to Marshall’s account in his dispatches, see his letters to President John Adams in Knight, Elbridge Gerry’s Letterbook, pp. 44–74; Charles Cotesworth Pinckney to Rufus King, April 4, 1798, in Life and Correspondence of Rufus King, Vol. 2, pp. 303–304; John Quincy Adams to John Adams, September 25, 1798, FOL; George Washington to Thomas Pinckney, February 10, 1799, PGW, Retirement Series, Vol. 3, pp. 365–366.

  7: “Is this the language of an American who loves his country?”

  57. AC, 5th Congr
ess, 2nd Session, House of Representatives, March 19, 1798, pp. 1271–1272; Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, March 21, 1798, JMP, Vol. 17, pp. 99–100.

  58. Tagg, Benjamin Franklin Bache, pp. 336–337.

  59. For the House debates, see AC, 5th Congress, 2nd Session, March 26–April 2, 1798, pp. 1314–1371.

  60. AC, 5th Congress, 2nd Session, House of Representatives, April 2, 1798, pp. 1370–1371.

  61. AC, 5th Congress, 2nd Session, House of Representatives, April 3, 1798, pp. 1374–1375, and April 6, 1798, pp. 1377–1380.

  62. “The Warning, No. IV,” PAH, Vol. 20, pp. 524–527; for Allen’s comments, see AC, 5th Congress, 2nd Session, House of Representatives, April 20, 1798, pp. 1483–1485; for the newspaper attacks on Republicans that followed the publication of the transcripts, see James Morton Smith, “Background for Repression: America’s Half-War with France and the Internal Security Legislation of 1798,” Huntington Library Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 1 (November 1954), pp. 50–51.

  63. AC, 5th Congress, 2nd Session, House of Representatives, April 26, 1798, p. 1554.

  64. Tagg, Benjamin Franklin Bache, pp. 339–342.

  65. George Washington to Timothy Pickering, April 16, 1798, PGW, Retirement Series, Vol. 2, pp. 242–243; see also Timothy Pickering to Alexander Hamilton, April 9, 1798, PAH, Vol. 21, pp. 408–410.

  66. For the act suspending commercial intercourse with France, see The Avalon Project; AC, 5th Congress, 2nd Session, Senate, June 25, 1798, p. 588; for the abrogation of the treaties of 1778, see AC, 5th Congress, 2nd Session, House of Representatives, June 25, 1798, pp. 2035–2037, June 30, 1798, p. 2063, July 6, 1798, pp. 2116–2128.

  67. AC, 5th Congress, 2nd Session, Senate, June 21, 1798, pp. 585–586; for the popularity of John Adams, see James Morton Smith, “Background for Repression,” pp. 37–58.

  8: “Millions for defense but not one cent for tribute.”

  68. For examples of these memorials, see Ebenezer Tucker to John Adams [Address of the Citizens of the Township of Little Eggharbour], April 23, 1798, FOL; Jacob Rahm to John Adams [The Address of the Inhabitants of Shippensburg and Its Vicinity], April 28, 1798, FOL; John Edwards to John Adams [The Address & Memorial of the Citizens of Charleston], May 1798, FOL; Young Men of Philadelphia to John Adams, May 7, 1798, FOL; Joseph G. Wright to John Adams [The Address of the Inhabitants of the Town of Wilmington], May 1798, FOL; see also James Morton Smith, “Background for Repression,” pp. 39, 50. For an analysis of the themes of these memorials, see Thomas M. Ray, “‘Not One Cent for Tribute’: The Public Addresses and American Popular Reaction to the XYZ Affair, 1798–1799,” Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Winter 1983), pp. 389–412.