Problems Abroad

    When Britain and France went to war in 1793, President Washington intended for the United States to remain neutral in the conflict.  The President quickly found out that America's neutrality would be difficult to achieve.

     The French Republic sent Edmund Genet to the United States to try and obtain support for their struggle with the British and the Spanish.  Genet arrived in South Carolina and began to recruit American privateers to fight for the French.  While touring the American South, Genet began to raise a volunteer army to invade Spanish controlled Florida.  By the time Genet arrived in Philadelphia, President Washington had become concerned of Genet's actions.
  
      While Genet was touring the American South, Washington's Cabinet began to debate which course of action the United States should take with the crisis in Europe.  Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson encouraged the President to support the French in their military struggles.  The U.S. had signed a treaty with France promising military support if either nation was ever attacked.  Many Americans were sympathetic with the French struggle for democracy, and felt that the United States was obligated to come to the aid of the French.

   For Alexander Hamilton siding with the French would be an economic disaster.  Britain was America's number one trading partner, to help the French would guarantee a British boycott of American goods.  Many Northern merchants had close business ties with Great Britain, and could not afford to upset their trading partners.  As the French Revolution became increasingly bloody, Hamilton believed that America could soon be faced with same type of violence and upheaval that was occurring overseas.

   In April of 1793, President Washington issued the Neutrality Proclamation that formally declared America's stance on the European conflict. He would spend the remaining years of his Presidency trying to keep America out of European affairs and protect America's neutrality.


Below is a link to a scene from HBO's John Adams miniseries that depicts a confrontation  between Genet and President Washington.