George Washington's Downfall Essay

During the American Revolution, the Americans faced the unique struggle of forging international diplomacy while searching for the foreign support it needed to fight Britain. France was the first place they turned. France was hesitant at first to support the colonies and only gave them a loan, in secret. It wasn't until after the British surrendered at the Battle of Saratoga that they sought out a full alliance. After this and until the end of the war, France provided supplies, arms, and soldiers to the states and were crucial in the British surrender at

• When Adams became president, the dispute with France carried over. The French looked at Jay’s Treaty as an American attempt to help the British in the war with France. To punish the U.S., the French took American ships that carried cargo to Brittan. During the fall of 1797, Adams sent a delegation to France with the hopes to end the dispute. The French foreign master wouldn’t meet with the Americans and instead demanded a bribe and loan from the Americans.

During the war between France and Britain in 1793, the U.S. decided to remain neutral. However, the Jay’s Treaty is what infuriates the French government. After the U.S. and Britain signed the treaty and recognized Britain as the most favored nation trading status, the French became annoyed and seized U.S. merchant ships. They also refused to receive Charles Cotesworth Pinckney from George Washington as a minister to France. After John Adams became president in 1797, he sends John Marshall and Elbridge Gerry along with Charles to restore peace from France.

During the United States’ infancy, many French influences began to affect American policies. France colonized the middle of the United states from Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains to New Orleans. This vast land colony was lost after the peace treaty following the Seven Years War. Forced to cede their American lands to the English and Spanish, France never forgot their prized possession. Choiseul’s plan to recover the lands started with the unrest in America before the American Revolution, “In 1766, Choiseul ordered Edmé Genet to send a naval officer-turned-spy— Sieur Pontleroy— to America to evaluate colonist dissatisfaction and determine whether French arms and money might help incite rebellion.”

Similarly, the Adams administration also dealt with many foreign affairs, although these more often than not had a unifying effect in America. Similar to the Spanish reaction of Jay’s Treaty, the French were very skeptical of the unexpected agreement between the Americans and Great Britain, causing the French to take action. Seeing the treaty as a violation of the Franco-American Treaty, the French began impressing many American merchant ships just like the British had. Adams, infuriated by the actions of a supposed ally, sent representatives to fix the relations between these two nations, a meeting commonly known as the XYZ Affair. During this meeting, the Frenchmen dubbed “X”, “Y”, and “Z” demanded a huge bribe to allow the Americans to

He does not hold the authority to proclaim such a thing, and what does that say for the American word? As you can see, both sides have very strong cases and there are key points from both sides which makes it very hard to decide. If I had to decide I would agree more with Helvidius. George Washington believed that proclaiming neutrality was the way to go, which is completely fine, but there were other ways to go about doing it.

The constitution was ratified in 1788, just one year before the first election. In this election, the widely popular George Washington was elected as the first ever President of the United

While John Adams was president he was faced with a problem, American ships were getting taken and the sailors were not safe. Earlier the Americans had a problem where the British would not leave the Ohio River Valley, because of this problem the American’s chief justice was sent to Britain to propose a peace treaty, the Jay treaty. This treaty proved successful and in this treaty Britain pulled their troops from the Ohio Valley. The French considered this to be an act of betrayal and attacked the Americans. To end these attacks, three representatives were sent from America to France.

France did a great deal to help the American colonists during their war for independence from the United Kingdom. It is possible to argue that the American colonists would not have won the war if it had not been for the French assistance. The French did not get involved in the American Revolution right away. The French did want to support the Americans because they wanted to hurt Great Britain (which was their main enemy in Europe).

Washington looked to his cabinet to advise if they should provide aid to France or remain neutral. Hamilton responded in his predictable fashion: writing a string of essays titled “Pacificus” defending neutrality. In these essays, Hamilton stated “if the Legislature have a right to make war on the one hand—it is on the other the duty of the Executive to preserve Peace till war is declared” (Pacificus, 1793). Hamilton argued that the President should not bring the country to the brink of destruction to meddle in a military mess where France is Queen and Kingless.

“France was angry at Britain over the loss of Colonial territory in the French and Indian War” (France Allied with American Colonies). This demonstrates that the incentive of the French was to seek revenge on the British, due to their loss in the French and Indian War. France was determined to create a more powerful approach to deliver to the British in order to

The Americans had yet to establish a navy of their own, and because of this the British had complete dominance over the east coast of the colonies. The British navy too control of ports, impacting trade for Americans and allowed the British to maneuver troops and supplies to strategic points during the war. If the Americans were going to push the British back, they needed to build a navy, but they lacked the money and industry to build one, as well as the time required to achieve such a task. So, they allied themselves with the French, who were keen on revenge against the British after an enormous loss of territory to them during the French and Indian War. The French allowed the colonists use of their navy, marking a turning point in the

declares neutrality Washington prioritizes country’s stability in its early years, know that getting involved in “foreign entanglements” would be detrimental to its success. Became a topic of conflict between the political parties: disagreements on whether or not to get involved Citizen Genet affair presents a challenge to American neutrality: French ambassador to the U.S. Edmund Genet hatches plots within the states to promote involvement in the French Revolution Jay Treaty: November 1794 British Royal Navy’s announcement that it will attack any ships engaged in trade with the French → forces Washington to pause all international trade Treaty negotiated by American ambassador to Britain John Jay helped to decrease harsh British policing of overseas

With all this political uncertainty going on the united states had a division of its people, those that supported Britain and those that supported France parties because of all the political uncertainty. The federalist party that was led by alexander Hamilton did not support the revolution and wanted to continue relations with Great Britain. The leader of the French democratic-republican party was Thomas Jefferson that believed

According to Washington's Proclamation of Neutrality, “Whereas it appears that a state of war exists between Austria, Prussia, Sardinia, Great Britain, and the United Netherlands of the one art of France on the other, and the duty and the interest of the United States require that with sincerity and good faith adopt a pursue a conduct friendly and impartial toward the belligerent powers: I have therefore thought fit by these presents to declare the disposition of the United States to observe the conduct aforesaid towards those powers respectively, and to exhort and warn the citizens of the United States carefully to avoid all acts and proceedings whatsoever which may in any manner tend to contravene such disposition.” (Washington, George. Proclamation of