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1784-1800: Diplomacy of the New
Republic
(This page currently under development) |
Categories:
Founding of the Department of State
Thomas Jefferson, First Secretary
of State, 1790-1793
John Jay's Treaty
Washington's Farewell Address
Quasi-war With France
Founding of the
Department of State, 1789
Under the Article II of the Constitution of the United States ratified in
1789, the President has the power to make treaties--as long two-thirds of
the Senate concurs--and to nominate ambassadors, public ministers, and consuls
with the advice and consent of the Senate. These provisions placed the conduct
of foreign affairs principally in the hands of the executive branch, but
certain powers conferred upon the legislative branch--to declare war, appropriate
funds, and advise and consent on treaties and appointments--gives the Congress
significant ability to influence foreign policy. On May 19, 1789, then
Representative James Madison of New York introduce a bill to create an executive
Department of Foreign Affairs headed by a Secretary of Foreign Affairs. On
July 27, 1789, President Washington signed legislation to that effect. Congress
passed another law giving certain additional domestic responsibilities to
the new Department and changing its name to the
Department of
State and the name of head of the department to the Secretary
of State, and Washington approved this act on September 15, 1789. The
domestic duties assigned to the Department of State were receipt, publication,
distribution, and preservation of laws of the United States, custody of the
Great Seal of the United States, authentication of copies and preparation
of commissions of executive branch appointments, and finally custody of the
books, papers, and records of the Continental Congress including the Constitution
itself and the Declaration of Independence.
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Thomas Jefferson,
First Secretary of State, 1790-1793
On September 29, 1789, President Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson of
Virginia, then Minister to France, to be the first Secretary of State under
the new Constitution. The author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson
was one of the leading statesmen of his day, the
mos
t
famous American political philosopher, and had five years experience as American
Minister in Paris, the epicenter of Europe’s diplomacy. Jefferson returned
to the United States and assumed his duties on March 22, 1790. At that time
the United States had only two diplomatic posts and ten consular posts.
Jefferson drew the distinction between the politically oriented diplomatic
service and commercially directed consular service, and he initiated the
practice of requiring periodic reports from American diplomats and consuls
abroad. During his three years as Secretary of State both services grew only
marginally. The Department of State itself was equally small, consisting
in 1790 of a chief clerk, three other clerks, and a messenger. The title
"clerk" refers to officer charged with composition of messages to overseas
posts and other correspondence. The total domestic and foreign expenditures
of Jefferson’s Department in 1791 was only $56,600. Although his sympathies
belonged to France, Secretary of State Jefferson favored the policy of neutrality
in European conflicts. Although he failed to resolve any of the outstanding
issues facing American foreign policy - protection of American territorial
integrity from Great Britain and Spain, the right to navigate the Mississippi
River, or treaties of commerce with Madrid and London - he did lay the groundwork
for eventual resolution of these problems.
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John
Jay's
Treaty
Chief Justice of the United States John Jay, who had helped negotiate an
end to the War for Independence and had been Secretary of Foreign Affairs
under the Articles of Confederation, was selected to undertake a mission
to London in 1794 to resolve outstanding issues between the United States
and its old adversary. The most
i
mportant
problem was British retention of a string of small military posts in northwestern
U.S. territory that London had explicitly agreed to vacate as part of the
treaty of 1783. In addition, British hindrance of American trade and shipping
was causing serious tensions between the two countries. Because Jay was a
Federalist and considered pro-British, Jefferson's followers only reluctantly
agreed to his mission. They were not amused when the U.S. envoy kissed the
hand of the Queen as he was presented at court. In reality, Jay had little
bargaining power in London. The British were at war with revolutionary France
and little prone to compromise. Once they learned that the United States
would not join a league of smaller European nations prepared to defend their
neutrality by force of arms, the British realized they held all the cards.
The only concessions Jay obtained was a surrender of the northwestern
posts--already agreed to in 1783--and a commercial treaty with Great Britain
that granted the United States "most favored nation" status, but seriously
restricted U.S. commercial access to the British West Indies. All other
outstanding issues--the Canadian-Maine boundary, compensation for
pre-revolutionary debts, and British seizures of American ships--were to
be resolved by arbitration. Jay even conceded that the British could seize
U.S. goods bound for France if they paid for them and could confiscate without
payment French goods on American ships. The treaty was immensely unpopular;
"Sir John Jay" became one of the most hated Americans, "damned and double
damned" for caving in to the British. The treaty squeaked through the Senate
on a 20 to 10 vote on June 24, 1795. President Washington courageously
implemented the treaty in the face of popular disapproval, realizing that
it was the price of peace with Great Britain and that it gave the United
States valuable time to consolidate and rearm in the event of future conflict.
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Washington's
Farewell Address
To announce his decision not to seek a third term as President, George Washington
presented his Farewell Address in a newspaper article September 17, 1796.
Frustrated by French meddling in U.S. politics, Washington warned the nation
to avoid permanent
alliances
with foreign nations and to rely instead on temporary alliances for emergencies.
Washington's efforts to protect the fragile young republic by steering a
neutral course between England and France during the French Revolutionary
Wars was made extremely difficult by the intense rhetoric flowing from the
pro-English Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, and the pro-French,
personified by Thomas Jefferson. In his farewell address, Washington
exhorted Americans to set aside their violent likes and dislikes of foreign
nations, lest they be controlled by their passions: "The nation which indulges
toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree
a slave." Washington’s remarks have served as an inspiration for
American isolationism, and his advice against joining a permanent alliance
was heeded for more than a century and a half.
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