Chapter Nine, Section Two Outline
A Policy of Neutrality

• Revolution in France
o Reasons the French revolted
 Peasants and middle class paid heavy taxes
• Nobles paid none
o Americans support the revolution
 Knew what it meant to struggle for liberty
 France had been first ally of the United States in the war against Great Britain
 Marquis de Lafayette – leading French reformer
• Fought with them in the Revolution
 1790’s – Revolution takes a violent turn
• Tens of thousands of French citizens executed when radical group took power
o Violence divides American opinion
 Some continued to support France
• Thomas Jefferson
o Condemned the killings of the king and queen
o Felt French had the right to use violence to win freedom
 Others disagreed
• Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, etc…
o Thought French Revolution was doomed to fail
o Believed democracy could not be created from violence
• Remaining Neutral
o Rulers felt the spread of revolutionary ideas in their own countries
o Britain, Spain, Prussia, Austria, and the Netherlands sent armies to overpower the revolutionaries in France
 War would last 20 years
o A difficult decision
 Washington had to form a foreign policy for the nation
• Actions and stands that a nation takes in relation to other nations
 Old treaty allowed French ships to use American ports, which they wanted to use to supply their ships and attack the British
• How could the United States honor their treaty and still remain neutral?
o Divisions in the Cabinet
 Hamilton stated that the treaty had been signed with Louis XVI
• Argued treaty no longer valid since the kind was dead
 Jefferson still supported the French and was suspicious of Hamilton, who wanted friendlier relations with Britain
 Neutrality Proclamation – The United States would not support either side in the war.
• Forbade Americans from aiding either Britain or France
• Viewed as a defeat for Jefferson, who would eventually leave the Cabinet
• An Unpopular Treaty
o American merchants wanted trade with both France and Britain
 They both ignored the rights of neutral ships, seizing cargo’s headed for each other’s ports
o 1793 – British captured 250 American ships trading in French West Indies
 Americans wanted war
 Washington knew America was to weak to fight
o John Jay was sent to Britain and worked out a treaty
 Britain would pay damages for American ships seized in 1793
 Americans had to pay debts to British merchants, owed from before the Revolution
 Britain agreed to give up forts it still held in the Ohio Valley
 Did not protect the rights of neutral American ships.
o Many protested Jay’s Treaty
 Felt they were giving up more than Britain was
 Senate approved the treaty in 1795
• Washington accepted it to avoid war
• Washington Retires
o 1796 – Washington’s Farewell Address
 Announced he would retire
 Urged the United States to remain neutral in its relations with other countries
 Avoid becoming involved in European affairs
• Felt alliances would pull the United States into war
o Advice would guide American foreign policy for many years