George Washington issued the Neutrality Proclamation on April 23, 1793, to solve a problem: What role should the United States play in the war between Great Britain and France that began on February 1, 1793? No one in the president’s cabinet wanted to enter the war, even though the United States had signed a treaty with France in 1778. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, however, was not eager to stake out a position, especially because he was suspicious of Great Britain and supported the principles of the French Revolution (1789-99). Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton, on the other hand, sought ways of distancing the administration from the French alliance and hoped to placate Great Britain.
The Neutrality Proclamation was drafted by Edmund Randolph and contained three key points. First, it urged “a conduct friendly and impartial toward the belligerent powers.” Second, it advised all U. S. citizens to avoid acts that would be construed as helping one side or the other. And third, it declared that any citizen of the United States who committed such an act would not be protected by the federal government. Interestingly, the document never used the word “neutrality,” although that was the intended effect.
The proclamation was generally popular in the United States, but it contributed to the developing partisan fervor. James Madison and Alexander Hamilton engaged in a newspaper debate over the policy of neutrality under the pen names “Pacificus” and “Helvidius.” When Citizen Edmond Genet, the new French ambassador, ignored the proclamation, the Washington administration demanded his recall.
The policy of neutrality has been held up as an example of Washington’s statesmanship and as a precursor of his Farewell Address’s advice to avoid “entangling alliances.” It has also been used a precedent for calls for neutrality and isolationism throughout U. S. history.
See also foreign affairs.
Further reading: Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 17881800 (New York: Knopf, 1993).
World History
