Entangling Alliances with None: American Foreign Policy in the Age of Jefferson

249 Pages·1987·10.848 MB·English

by  Lawrence S. Kaplan

ENTANGLING ALLIANCES WITH NONE
Most ofthe articles in thiscollectionhaveappeared first inother publications. I
wouldliketothanktherespectiveauthorsand publishersforpermissiontoreprint
them here.
"Thomas Jefferson: The Idealist as Realist,"from F. Merli and T. Wilson, eds.,
MakersofAmericanDiplomacy(NewYork:CharlesScribner'sSons,1974),53-79.
"ReflectionsonJeffersonasaFrancophile,"South AtlanticQuarterly79(Winter
1980): 38-50. Copyright 1979by Duke University Press.
"TheFoundingFathersandtheTwoConfederations:TheUnitedStatesofAmer
icaand the United Provinces ofthe Netherlands, 1783-1789,"from J. W. Schulte
Nordholtand RobertP. Swierenga,eds., A BilateralBicentennial(NewYork:Oc
tagon Books, 1982),33-48.
"TheNeocolonialImpulse:TheUnitedStatesandGreatBritain,1783-1823,"from
Morrell Healdand Lawrence S. Kaplan, CultureandDiplomacy: The American
Experience(Westport,Conn.:Greenwood Press, 1977),46-65. Copyright 1977by
Morrell Healdand Lawrence S. Kaplan.
"The Consensus of 1789:Jeffersonand Hamilton on American Foreign Policy,"
SouthAtlanticQuarterly71 (Jan. 1972):91-105.Copyright 1972byDuke Univer
sityPress.
"TowardIsolationism:TheRiseand FalloftheFranco-AmericanAlliance, 1775
1801,"from Lawrence S. Kaplan, ed., The American Revolutionanda"Candid
World"(Kent, Ohio: Kent State Univ. Press, 1977), 134-60.
"Jefferson'sForeignPolicyandNapoleon'sIdeologues,"WilliamandMaryQuar
terly 19(July 1962): 344-59.
"Jefferson, the Napoleonic Wars, and the BalanceofPower," William andMary
Quarterly 14(April 1957): 196-218.
"Franceand Madison'sDecisionforWar, 1812,"Mississippi Valley HistoricalRe
view50(Mar. 1964):652-71.
"FranceandtheWarof1812,"JournalofAmericanHistory57(June1970):36-47.
"The Paris MissionofWilliam HarrisCrawford, 1813-1815," Georgia Historical
Quarterly60(Spring 1975):9-23.
"TheIndependenceofLatinAmerica: NorthAmericanAmbivalence, 1800-1820,"
from Healdand Kaplan, CultureandDiplomacy, 66-91.
"FoundingFathersontheFoundingFathers:ReflectionsonThreeGenerationsof
AmericanDiplomaticHistorians,"fromSocietyfor HistoriansofAmericanFor
eign Relations, Newsletter6, no. 4(Dec. 1975): 1-8.
ENTANGLING
ALLIANCES WITH
NONE
AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY IN THE AGE
OF JEFFERSON
LAWRENCE S. KAPLAN
"Peace, commerce, andhonestfriendship
with allnations, entangling
allianceswith none"
Jefferson's First Inaugural Address
4 March 1801
THE KENT STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
KENT. OHIO AND LONDON. ENGLAND
©1987byTheKentStateUniversityPress,Kent, Ohio44242
Allrightsreserved
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber86-27840
ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
ISBN0-87338-336-2
ISBN0-87338-347-8 (pbk.)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Kaplan,LawrenceS.
"Entanglingallianceswithnone".
Bibliography. p.
Includesindex.
1. UnitedStates- Foreignrelations-1783-1815. 2.UnitedStates- Foreign
relations-Revolution,1775-1783. 3. Jefferson,Thomas,1743-1826-Viewson
internationalrelations. I. Title.
E31O.7.K37 1987 327.73 86-27840
ISBN0-87338-336-2(alk. paper)
00
ISBN0-87338-347-8(pbk. :alk. paper)
00
BritishLibraryCataloginginPublicationdataareavailable.
In memoryofAlbert Hall Bowman
Jeffersonian

CONTENTS
PREFACE IX
INTRODUCTION Xl
PART ONE. JEFFERSONIAN BACKGROUND
I. ThomasJefferson: The Idealistas Realist 3
2. ReflectionsonJeffersonasa Francophile 24
3. The Founding Fathersand the TwoConfederations:
The United States ofAmericaand the United Provinces
ofthe Netherlands, 1783-1789 35
PARTTWO. FEDERALIST FOUNDATIONS
4. The Neocolonial Impulse: The United Statesand Great
Britain, 1783-1823 51
5. The Consensusof 1789:Jeffersonand Hamilton on
American Foreign Policy 67
6. Toward Isolationism: The Riseand Fall ofthe Franco
American Alliance, 1775-180I 79
PARTTHREE. REPUBLICAN SUCCESSES AND FAILURES
7. Jefferson's Foreign Policyand Napoleon's Ideologues 99
8. Jefferson, the Napoleonic Wars,and the Balanceof
Power III
9. Franceand Madison's Decision for War, 1812 127
10. Franceand the Warof1812 143
II. The Paris MissionofWilliam HarrisCrawford, 1813-1815 152
PART FOUR. TO THE MONROE DOCTRINE
12. The IndependenceofLatin America: North American
Ambivalence, 1800-1820 165
PART FIVE. JEFFERSONIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY
13. Founding Fathersonthe Founding Fathers:
ReflectionsonThreeGenerationsofAmerican
Diplomatic Historians 187
14. Recent HistoriographicalTrends 194
NOTES 201
INDEX 224
viii
PREFACE
The
essays and monographs included in this volume have been written
overa thirty-year period and derive in spirit ifnot in content from ideas
conceived and worked out in my doctoral dissertation on Jefferson and
France. While many ofmy initial conceptions have been modified over
time,thethemeofAmericanisolationismunderliesallthechapters. Under
standing this particular species of American exceptionalism remains an
inspiration in the 1980sevenas it was in the 1950s.
This search began in Samuel Flagg Bemis's seminar at Yale in 1948.
While its direction did not always accord with his views, Iwould like to
acknowledge with appreciation his support for my studies. A number of
scholarly institutions deserve my thanks. The American Council of
Learned Societies granted a pre-doctoral fellowship in 1950-51. In later
years the American Philosophical Society gave grants in 1967-68 and in
1969-70. As a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholarsin 1974, Ihad theequivalentofanacademicyeartoworkonthe
Age ofJefferson. In bicentennial convocations in Kent, Ohio in 1976, in
Washington, D.C. in 1978 and 1983, in Paris in 1978 and 1986, and in
Amsterdam in 1982, I had opportunities to refine my thoughts on the
subject.
TwofriendsinparticulardeservemorethanthefewlinesthatIgivethem
here.BobFerrellhasbeenaguideeversinceaseminarsessionin1948when
hediplomaticallysuggestedthatmydescriptionofNapoleonBonaparteas
"little corporal"was not only inaccurate but uninspired. Throughout, Al
Bowmanhastakenthetimeandtrouble to readallmywritings. Hiscom
mentary has been critical but always supportive. I want to add a special
note of thanks to 80 Heald for permission to incorporate two chapters
from our Culture andDiplomacyinto this volume.
Iwouldliketo acknowledgealso theroleofJohn Hubbell,colleaguein
theHistoryDepartmentanddirectoroftheKentStateUniversityPress,in
encouraging me to publish this book. The work offlattening angularities
and minimizing infelicities has beendone bymy editorat the Kent State
University Press, Flo Cunningham. Thefinal typing,accompanied byfre
quent helpful observations, was done by my special word processor,
Marge Evans.