Both during Hamilton's tenure as Secretary of the Treasury
and for some years after his resignation, he played a key role
in developing early American foreign policy. His debut in the realm
of international politics occurred in 1789, when the French
Revolution erupted in Paris. Whereas Thomas Jefferson
marveled at the republican spirit of the revolution, Hamilton was
appalled by its bloodiness.
In 1793, France, under the leadership of Napoleon,
declared war on Spain, Great Britain, and Holland. The United States
lacked the resources and desire to enter the Napoleonic
Wars, and even Jefferson agreed with Hamilton and
Washington that the United States should remain neutral. Whereas
Hamilton, however, believed that Washington should publicly declare
that the United States would remain out of the war, Jefferson believed
that Congress should declare neutrality. Jefferson reasoned that
because only Congress could declare war, it should also be the
only body that could declare neutrality. In the end, Hamilton won
out, and convinced Washington to issue the famous Neutrality Proclamation
in 1793.
U.S. neutrality was compromised, however, when Citizen
Genet, the French ambassador to the United States, began to recruit
Americans to fight for the French. Additionally, Genet tried to
use American ports to launch French naval attacks on the British
and use American soil to train French troops. Genet claimed that
this was all perfectly legal and that the United States had an
obligation to help France under the 1778 Franco-American treaty
that had been signed during the Revolutionary
War. Hamilton argued that the United States did not
need to honor the 1778 treaty because it had been an agreement
with the king of France, not with the new French Republic established
during the French Revolution. Hamilton also encouraged Washington
to deny Genet's request that the United States repay its debts
to France in advance.
Washington did eventually deny Genet's request, but he
did not declare the 1778 treaty void, as Hamilton suggested. Genet
was allowed to continue his recruitment campaign, which nearly prompted
Great Britain to declare war on the United States. Washington ordered
Genet to return to France, but Genet asked not to be sent home
because he believed that he would lose his head on the guillotine
if he returned. Washington allowed him to stay in America.
The British, angry with America's borderline participation
in the wars, began taking measures into their own hands. Great
Britain still maintained military outposts in the westernmost lands
of the United States, and refused to remove these soldiers. British
soldiers also began to impress American civilians and merchant
sailors into serving on British warships, and the British navy seized
hundreds of American merchant ships. To prevent war with Great
Britain, Hamilton encouraged Washington to send Supreme Court Chief Justice
John Jay to London to sign a treaty with the English. Jay left for
England in 1794 with instructions from Hamilton that outlined American
goals for the diplomatic talks. In his instructions, Hamilton insisted
that British impressments of Americans cease, that all British
forts be removed from American territory, and that the random seizure
of American ships come to a full stop.
Jay signed a treaty in the fall of 1794, but Jay's Treaty,
as it came to be known, was a disappointment for Hamilton. Very
few American goals were met, but Hamilton urged Washington and
the Senate to ratify the treaty because he believed that war between
Great Britain and the United States would otherwise be inevitable.
Hamilton wrote a series of essays under the pseudonym "Camillus"
that defended Jay's Treaty line by line. His efforts convinced
the public, and the Senate ratified the treaty.
Hamilton also helped Washington draft his famous Farewell Address,
which Washington delivered in 1796 when he announced that he would
not seek a third term as president. In the Farewell Address addressed
several important issues, Washington asked the American people
not to divide themselves into political parties, and called upon
them to maintain and uphold their republican ideals and morality.
Furthermore, Washington encouraged the United States not to meddle
in European affairs. Many historians believe that Hamilton actually
wrote many of the key passages of the speech, even though its tone
is distinctly Washington's. Washington retired from public life
in 1796, and Vice-President John Adams was elected President, much
to Hamilton's dismay.
The French government responded violently to Jay's Treaty, which
they saw as an Anglo-American alliance against France. Between
the years 1796 and 1800, the French Navy seized or destroyed hundreds
of American ships and cut off all formal diplomatic relations with
the United States. Hamilton petitioned President Adams to send
John Jay to Paris to negotiate another treaty with France. Adams
agreed, but when the ambassadors arrived in France, the French
government demanded a bribe of a quarter of a million dollars before
it would even talk with the Americans. The demand for the bribe
became known as the XYZ Affair, named after the three unnamed French
diplomats who had demanded payment. Americans were shocked and
many demanded war. Hamilton did not want war at this time, but
agreed that the U.S. should begin preparing its military.
