Realizing that America was too weak to become involved in Europe's wars, President Washington adopted a position of neutrality, technically in violation of the 1778 agreement between the United States and France. Many Americans, enthralled by the notion that France was following their example but not fully aware of the direction the French Revolution would take, formed pro-French political organizations called Democratic-Republican clubs. (Jefferson, present at the creation, initially reported favorably on the events in France, but even he eventually came to realize that the Revolution in France had taken an unfortunate turn.)
In a sense, Dickens's phrase about the best of times and worst of times was applicable to the 1790s in America.25.Relations were strained between the United States and both Great Britain and France. On the other hand, no power in the world threatened the internal security of the United States, but neither did any nation feel much respect for the new nation. Although the United States was all but invulnerable to sudden attack because of its separation from Europe, the nation had trouble asserting its rights in the international arena.
The United States was obviously affected by the wars that emanated from the French Revolution, but considerable disagreements erupted about America's proper response. Jefferson and his followers, the Republicans, tended to admire France and believed in the promise of the French Revolution—and end to autocratic government. The Federalists, led by Adams and Hamilton, saw the excesses of the French Revolution as a threat to republicanism everywhere, as the other nations of Europe recoiled in horror at the violence in France. These disagreements were strongly felt in the political debates in America at the time, and it made the already significant political differences even more bitter. For twenty-five years events in Europe whipsawed young America around and finally brought us to the point of war to defend American rights in a very troubled world.
America's basic position in world conflicts has traditionally been one of neutrality, but that position could be maintained only at a price, especially during major periods of conflict, as during the world wars of the twentieth century. Americans wanted to be free to trade in an arena in which wartime needs sent prices, and therefore potential profits, soaring. But trade in a warring world is fraught with danger, as the Americans soon discovered. No longer a part of the British Empire, Americans would now have to learn to defend their own interests, not an easy task.
Furthermore, leftover ill feelings from the American Revolution were exacerbated by the conflict in Europe. Great Britain did not feel inclined to follow the 1783 Treaty in any case, and being engaged in a deadly contest with France, they did not hesitate to make attacks on American shipping. The British Rule of 1756 maintained that ports closed in peacetime were also closed in wartime, and the British Orders in Council of 1793 in effect interrupted all American trade with France by authorizing the seizure of American ships and cargoes. Meanwhile, because of the intensity of the war and its economic aspects, France tried to inhibit American trade with Great Britain. America was a pawn in Europe's deadly game.
In 1783 a French minister, Edmond Charles Genet, known as "Citizen Genet," arrived in Washington and tried to raise privateers for the purpose of attacking British shipping. Genet was received coolly by the Washington administration, as Federalist leaders perceived the enthusiasm as being directed against the Federalist administration. Washington ordered him to be recalled. Citizen Genet eventually found himself out of favor with the French government and wound up settling in America.
World History
