18 Hamilton
regarded
the Republicans as "deeply infected with those horrid principles of Jacobinism, which, proceeding from one excess to another, have made France a theater of blood.
Revolution and War_nodrm
Revolution and War
eign perceptions of threat further, and these various forces combined to leave Iran isolated for most of the 1980s.
As the theory suggests, uncertainty and lack of information damaged Iran's relations with most other states. As Iran and its neighbors began to form more accurate estimates of each other's capabilities and intentions, however, the belief that the revolution might soon spread began to fade. Al- though Khomeini's ideological legacy and the enduring rivalry among his successors have prevented an explicit repudiation of Iran's revolutionary program, efforts to establish more normal foreign relations have already begun and are likely to increase.
[268]
? [6]
The American, Mexican, Turkish, and Chinese Revolutions
"As revolutions have begun, it is natural to expect that other revolutions
will follow. "
-Thomas Paine, 1791
What were the international effects of the American, Mexican, Turkish, and Chinese revolutions? Although the evidence presented here is not de- finitive, these four cases support the basic claim that revolutions intensify security competition and increase the risk of war. Each of them exhibited some or all of the destabilizing dynamics found in the three previous cases, and each state approached the brink of war at least once.
Yet three of these revolutions did not lead to all-out war. The absence of war following the American, Mexican, and Turkish revolutions is best ex- plained by the participants' awareness that the use of force was likely to be costly and difficult. These revolutions did not foster powerful fears of con- tagion, and each took place in geopolitical circumstances that further dis- couraged the use of force. In other words, the relationship between these revolutionary states and foreign powers was characterized by a powerful condition of defense dominance. Thus, even when serious conflicts arose, the use of force was seen as neither necessary nor appealing. By contrast, fear of contagion and counterrevolution was widespread after the Chinese Revolu- tion, whose international consequences were similar to those of the French,
Russian, and Iranian cases.
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
At first glance, the American Revolution seems an obvious exception to the main argument of this book. Contemporaries saw the War of American Independence and the creation of the United States as an event with poten-
?
? ? Revolution and War
tially far-reaching implications. 1 Unlike the other revolutions examined here, however, the new nation remained formally at peace with the other great powers for nearly three decades. By demonstrating that revolutions do not necessarily lead to war, therefore, this case presents an anomaly re- quiring explanation.
Closer examination suggests that the anomaly is not as significant as it first appears. Like other revolutionary leaders, U. S. statesmen were ob- sessed with questions of national security and combined awareness of their own vulnerability with a profound sense of optimism. 2 U. S. relations with other states suffered from misperceptions similar to those that have accom- panied other revolutions, and the resulting tensions were exacerbated by in- ternal divisions, the fear of subversion, and poor communication. Finally, although the revolution did not lead to war, the United States was involved in several "militarized disputes" and came very close to war on at least three occasions. The absence of open warfare was largely the result of geo- graphic isolation, favorable timing, and the unique worldview of the revo- lutionaries themselves; war would have been far more likely under any
other circumstances.
The Diplomacy ofthe "New Republic"
TheWarofIndependence(1775-1783). ThediplomacyoftheWarofInde- pendence supports several familiar propositions about the international ef- fects of revolutionary change. Foreign powers saw the revolution largely in terms of the balance of power; France supported the rebellious colonies in order to weaken England and avenge the losses it had suffered in the Seven Years War, and Spain took advantage of England's defeat to improve i. ts
own position in the Western Hemisphere. 3
The war also offers an example of a revolutionary movement modifying its initial preferences in response to external pressure. As the Model Treaty adopted by the Continental Congress in 1776 suggests, the Founding Fa- thers hoped to avoid foreign commitments and confine relations with for- eign powers to the realm of commerce. The pressure of war forced them to abandon this idealistic stance, however, and the American Confederation
1 For a persuasive argument that the American Revolution was a "real" revolution, see Gordon S. Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992).
2 As E. Wayne Carp notes, "In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that war, threats of war, and domestic insurrections were the major preoccupations of Americans in the 17905. " "The Prob- lem of National Defense in the Early American Republic," in The American Revolution: Its Character and Limits, ed. Jack P. Greene (New York: New York University Press, 1987), 35?
3 See Richard W. Van Alstyne, Empire and Independence: The International History ofthe Amer- ican Revolution (New York: John Wiley, 1? 5), esp. chaps. 4 and 8.
? ? The American, Mexican, Turkish, and Chinese Revolutions
negotiated a formal treaty with France in 1778. 4 Yet an aversion to tradi- tional diplomacy was still widespread, and several prominent American leaders recommended that the new nation forgo regular diplomatic rela- tions with the other great powers. 5
Diplomacr;undertheConfederation(1783-1789). TheTreatyofParisin1783 acknowledged the formal independence of the American Confederation, and three main issues dominated its diplomacy for the rest of the decade. First, the colonists had expected the lure of American commerce to give them considerable leverage over the European powers, but trade with France remained modest, and England monopolized trade with its former colonies by denying U. S. vessels access to its home ports, Canada, or the West Indies. Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress lacked the au-
thority to impose retaliatory restrictions, and the separate colonies soon found themselves in a damaging economic competition. 6 A second issue was payment for losses suffered during the War of Independence; the Treaty of Paris obliged the former colonies to compensate loyalists and British citi- zens for lost property, but the new Congress lacked the power to collect the necessary funds. As a result, Britain refused to withdraw from its network of forts along the northwestern frontier and continued to support a number of Indian tribes who were actively resisting the westward expansion of the new nation. Third, the United States and Spain were engaged in a pro- tracted border dispute over Florida and the Mississippi Valley, and the fed-
eral government was too weak to force Spain into a more conciliatory position. 7 U. S. weakness was further underscored by the predations of the
4 The principml architect of the Model Treaty, John Adams, had previously stated, "I am not for soliciting any political connection, or military assistance . . . from France. I wish for noth- ing but commerce. " Quoted in Lawrence S. Kaplan, Colonies into Nation: American Diplomacy 1763-18oz (New York: Macmillan, 1972), 91; and see also William Stinchcombe, "John Adams and the Model Treaty," in The American Revolution and "A Candid World," ed. Lawrence S. Ka- plan (Kent: Kent State University Press, 1977); 70.
5 Felix Gilbert argues that the Founding Fathers rejected balance-on-power diplomacy in favor of an idealistic internationalism based on the writings of the French philosophes, but more recent research suggests that U. S. leaders placed great importance on the balance of power and paid scant attention to the philosophes' opinions. See Felix Gilbert, To the Farewell Address: Ideas ofEarly American Foreign Policy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961); James Hutson, John Adams and the Diplomacy of the American Revolution (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1980), "Intellectual Foundations of Early American Diplomacy," Diplo- matic History 1, no. 1 (1977), and "Early American Diplomacy: A Reappraisal," in Kaplan, American Revolution and "A Candid World," 49?
6 See Charles R. Ritcheson, Aftermath ofRevolution: British Policy toward the United States, 1783-1795 (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1969), 18-45; Reginald Horsman, TheDiplomacyofthe New Republic, 1776-1815 (Arlington Heights, Ill. : Harlan Davidson, 1985), 29-31; and Kaplan, Colonies into Nation, 158-63.
7 The dispute had important implications for U. S. economic development, as Spain's con- trol of New Orleans allowed it to prevent U. S. settlers from shipping goods via the river. See
? ? ? Revolution and War
Barbary pirates, who began attacking U. S. shipping once English protection was withdrawn. 8
These issues cast doubt on the long-term viability of the republican ex- periment. The belief that republics were inherently unstable and suitable only for small nations such as Switzerland convinced many contemporaries that the Confederation would soon collapse, and U. S. leaders were increas- ingly worried about the threat of foreign subversion. 9 These pressures helped convince the thirteen former colonies to replace the Articles of Con- federation with a constitution that would grant the federal government sig- nificantly more authority. 10
The Federalist Era: 1789-1801. U. S. foreign policy acquired greater force and coherence under the new Constitution, but it also became the main issue dividing the emerging Federalist and Republican factions. 11 Led by Alexander Hamilton, the Federalists wanted to create a strong central state that could curb local factionalism and preserve U. S. independence in a world of hostile powers. Convinced that British capital and commerce were essential to establishing U. S. credit and restoring the U. S. economy, Hamil- ton opposed schemes for commercial retaliation against England and sought to downplay the alliance with France. 12
By contrast, the Republican faction, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, sought to preserve a predominantly agrarian republic and fa- vored a close alliance with France. Viewing commerce as a potent diplo- matic weapon, they called for discriminatory duties against states that refused to sign commercial treaties, and they believed the United States
Samuel F. Bemis, Pinckney's Treaty: America's Advantagefrom Europe's Distress, 1783-1800 (New Haven: Yale Uruiversity Press, 196o); and Arthur P. Whitaker, The Spanish-American Frontier, 1783-1795: The Westward Movement and the Spanish Retreat in the Mississippi Valley (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1927), esp. B-10.
8 See H. G. B;unby, The Prisoners ofAlgiers: An Account of the Forgotten American-Algerian War, 1 785-1797 (London: Oxford University Press, 1966); and Horsman, Diplomacy of the New Republic, 3o-31.
9 See Ritcheson, Aftermath ofRevolution, 33-35.
10 As Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 1 1 , "Under a vigorous national government, the nat- ural strength and resources of the country, directed to a common interest, would baffle all the combinations of European jealousy to restrain our growth. " Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, The Federalist (New York: Modem Library, 1937), 65. See also Frederick W. Marks,IndependenceonTrial:ForeignAffairsandtheMakingoftheConstitution (BatonRouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1973).
11 The competing visions of the Federalists and Republicans are summarized in Alexander DeConde, Entangling Alliance: Politics and Diplomacy under George Washington (Durham: Duke University Press, 1956), 3 1-65; Paul Varg, Foreign Policies of the Founding Fathers (Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1963), 73-80; and Richard Buel, Jr. , Securing the Revolution: Ideology in American Politics, 1 789-1815 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1972), 29-49?
12 For a detailed description of Hamilton's "grand design," see Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, TheAgeofFederalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 92-132.
? ? ? The American, Mexican, Turkish, and Chinese Revolutions
could develop its economy without close ties to the former imperial power. Thus, where Hamilton saw Anglo-American commerce as an indispensable source of revenue and manufactured goods, to Jefferson and Madison it was a source of potential corruption and a threat to Republican ideals. Republi- cans also saw Hamilton's blueprint for a strong central state as a threat to liberty, and they generally opposed efforts to increase U. S. military pre- paredness. 13
The differences between the Republican and Federalist prescriptions for U. S. foreign poHcy were compounded by the revolution in France and the outbreak of war in Europe. Jefferson and the Republicans saw the upheaval in France as another triumph for the cause of liberty, but Hamilton and the Federalists soon came to regard it as a threat to U. S. interests. 14 The Franco- American treaty of 1778 called for the United States to guarantee French possessions in the New World and authorized either power to dispose of prize vessels in the other's ports. But support for France would invite Eng- lish retaliation and disrupt the commercial ties that lay at the heart of Hamilton's financial system. Despite Republican misgivings, therefore, the United States formally proclaimed its neutrality in April 1793. 15
France saw U. S. neutrality as a betrayal of the 1778 alliance. Relations were strained further by the activities of Edward Charles Genet, the new French minister to the United States. Genet had received a tumultuous wel- come upon his arrival in Philadelphia in April 1793, and he promptly com- missioned a dozen U. S. ships to operate as privateers against English shipping. These acts were in clear violation of U. S. neutrality laws, but Genet answered requests to cease his activities by threatening to appeal di- rectly to the American people. Even Francophiles such as Jefferson were ap- palled by Genet's conduct, and the Cabinet issued a formal request for his recall in August 1793. 16
13 See Elkins and McKitrick, Age ofFederalism, 7<)-89, 133-63, 195-257, 315; and Robert C. Tucker and David Hendrickson, Empire ofLiberty: The Statecraft ofThomas Jefferson (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1990), chaps. 2-5.
14 As U. S. minister to France, Jefferson helped draft the Declaration of the Rights of Man
and described the French Revolution as "the first chapter of the history of European liberty. " John Marshall declared that human liberty depended "in a great measure on the success of the French Revolutio11,1 " and even Hamilton later remarked that the French had "sullied a cause once glorious a1nd that might have been triumphant. " Quoted in Michael Hunt, Ideol- ogy in American Foreign Policy (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987), 98; and Elkins and McKitrick, Age ofFederalism, 31cr11, 360; and also see Dumas Malone, Jefferson and the Ordeal ofLiberty (Boston: LittEe, Brown, 1962), 48.
1 5 S e e M a l o n e , J effe r s o n a n d t h e O r d e a l of L i b e r t y , e s p . 6 8 - 7 5 ; D e c o n d e , E n t a n g l i n g A l l i a n c e , 87--91; 186--<}7; and Charles Marion Thomas, American Neutrality in 1793: A Study in Cabinet Government (New York: AMS Press, 1967), chap. 1.
1 6 See DeConde, Entangling Alliance, 284-85; Harry Ammon, The Genet Mission (New York: W. W. Norton, 1973), 141-45; and Eugene R. Sheridan, "The Recall of Edmond Charles Genet," Diplomatic History 18, no. 4 (1994).
.
? ? Revolution and War
These events accelerated the polarization between Federalists and Re- publicans. Jefferson and his associates saw U. S. neutrality as de facto sup- port for England and suspected the Federalists of seeking to establish a monarchy. 17 Hamilton and the Federalists were alarmed by the Republicans' pro-French sympathies, the surge of popular support for France, and Genet's overt attempts to encourage and exploit these sentiments. Thus, while Republicans brooded over "Anglomane" plans to subvert the Consti- tution and establish a monarchy, Federalists feared a Republican plot to em- broil the United States in a war with England and establish a "popular
? democracy" in league with France. 18
Ironically, the decision to remain neutral did not prevent Anglo-American relations from approaching war the following year. The central issue was a conflict over maritime policy, the catalyst being the English Order-in-Coun- cil of November 6, 1793, imposing a blockade over the French West Indies. The Royal Navy's policy of halting U. S. vessels in order to impress former English citizens intensified anti-British feeling, and confrontations between English and U. S. forces along the northwestern frontier further complicated Anglo-American relations. 19 Although London relaxed the November order in January, sympathy for France increased, and many Americans now be- lieved that a war with England was both likely and desirable. 20 Tensions rose higher when fears of a U. S. attack led English officials in Canada to
1 7 In May 1793, Jefferson described his domestic opponents as "zealous apostles of Eng- lish despotism" and France's enemies as "the confederacy of princes against liberty. " After resigning as secretary of state, he warned a friend, "There are in the U. 5. some characters of opposite principles . . . all of them hostile to France and looking to England as the staff of their hope. " Such men, he asserted, saw the Constitution "only as a stepping stone to monarchy. " Quoted in DeConde, Entangling Alliance, 56; and Elkins and McKitrick, Age of Federalism, 317.
18 Hamilton regarded the Republicans as "deeply infected with those horrid principles of Jacobinism, which, proceeding from one excess to another, have made France a theater of blood. " He also suggested that their zeal for France was "intended by every art of misrepre- sentation and deception to be made the instruments first of controlling, finally of overturn- ing the Government of the Union. " The Federalists blamed Genet for the growth of
"Democratic Societies" during this period, which they mistakenly regarded as products of French subveFsion. Quoted in Buel, Securing the Revolution, 69; and Elkins and McKitrick, Age of Federalism, 360, 456; and also see Robert R. Palmer, The Age of the Democratic Revolution: A Political History of Europe and America, J 76o-1Boo (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1959'-64), 2:529-31.
1 9 I n the sprring o f 1794, Governor George Clinton o f New York reported that the British governor of Canada, Lord Dorchester, had told a gathering of Indian tribes that war was likely within a year. See Ritcheson, Aftermath ofRevolution, chap. 13; and Jerald Combs, The Jay Treaty: Political Battleground of the Founding Fathers (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970), 121-22.
20 The American minister in London, Edward Pinckney, was so certain that war was immi- nent that he requested permission to move his family to France. See Deconde, Entangling Al- liance, 99 n. 93, and 13o-31; and Ritcheson, Aftermath ofRevolution, 304-306.
? ? The American, Mexican, Turkish, and Chinese Revolutions
send troops to the Maumee rapids in March 1794, a step that placed the two nations on the verge of war. 21
The Federalists still believed that war with England would be a disaster for the United States, and President George Washington dispatched John Jay to London in a final effort to reach a negotiated settlement. The so-called Jay Treaty resolved most of the disputed issues (though not the question of impressment), but the Cabinet kept the terms of the treaty secret until the Senate had ratified it, in order to deflect Republican criticism. Despite its limitations, the treaty preserved peace between the United States and Great Britain and led to a final British withdrawal from U. S. territory. 22 The agree- ment also opened the way for the rapid expansion of U. S. commerce, par- ticularly in the Atlantic carrying trade, and the U. S. economy entered a period of extraordinary growth. 23
The Federalists gained a second diplomatic triumph with an agreement with Spain known as Pinckney's Treaty. Spain had allied itself with France in 1795, and the Jay Treaty had fueled Spanish fears of an Anglo-American assault on their North American possessions. Spain was thus more willing to make concessions, and the treaty established a border with Spanish Florida along the thirty-first parallel and gave U. S. settlers the right to de- posit goods for shipment from New Orleans. The Federalists also per- suaded the Indians along the northwestern frontier to cede most of Ohio and parts of Indiana through the Treaty of Greenville in August 1795. To- gether with the withdrawal of British forces obtained via the Jay Treaty, this agreement heralded a major shift in the balance of power in the Northwest and greatly facilitated U. S. expansion there. 24
Finally, the Federalist period also witnessed a new crisis in relations be- tween the French and Americans, which culminated in the so-called Quasi- War of 1797-1800. The neutrality proclamation and Genet's inept diplomacy had already strained Franco-American relations, and a misguided French at-
21 According to Charles Ritcheson, this step "brought war so close . . . that the preservation of peace involved acts of almost miraculous self-restraint on both sides. " See Aftermath ofRev- olution, 31o-1).
22 See Combs, Jay Treaty; Samuel Flagg Bemis, Jay's Treaty: A Study in Commerce and Diplo- macy (New Havelll: Yale University Pres:;, 1962); and Varg, Foreign Policies of the Founding Fa- thers, chap. 6. It is easy to imagine a different outcome to the Anglo-American confrontation. At the Battle of Fallen Timbers in August 1794- for example, the U. S. forces gained a decisive victory when the commander of a nearby British fort refused to allow the fleeing Indians to enter his stockade. Elkins and McKitrick suggest that "the spark of war might have been struck then and tlhere," and Ritcheson concludes that "quite obviously an armed clash be- tween British and American troops was avoided by a hairsbreadth. " Elkins and McKitrick, Age ofFederalism, 43S-39; and Ritcheson, Aftermath ofRevolution, 320.
23 See Douglass C. North, The Economic Growth of the United States, 179o-186o (New York: W. W. Norton, 1966), 25, 30, 53; and Horsman, Diplomacy ofthe New Republic, 63-{;4.
24 See Bemis, Pinckney's Treaty; and Reginald Horsman, Expansion and American Indian Pol- icy, 1 783- 1 8 1 2 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), esp. 9S-102.
? ? ? ? Revolution and War
tempt to aid the Republicans in the election of 17? had reinforced U. S. suspi- cions and helped the Federalists retain power. Jacobin excesses had under-? mined U. S. sympathies for France, while the French government saw the Jay Treaty as yet anotherbetrayal of the Franco-American alliance. In March 1797, the French Directory declared that neutral vessels carrying British goods would be subject to seizure, a step that directly threatened U. S. maritime in- terests. President John Adams sent a diplomatic mission to France to negoti- ate a settlement, but the foreign minister, Charles Talleyrand, refused to see them and sent three agents (known to posterity as X, Y, and Z), to arrange a bribe of $250,000 for himself and a loan of $12 million for the French govern- ment as preconditions for begingnin negotiations. The U. S. commissioners re- jected the terms and the mission accomplished nothing, but news of Talleyrand's actions ignited a storm of protest in the United States, where de- mands grew for a declaration of war. Congress authorized the construction of twelve new warships and initiated plans to increase the regular army as well. Some Federalist leaders tried to use the crisis to discredit the Republican cause, while others entertained hopes of an Anglo-American campaign against the French and Spanish possessions in the Western Hemisphere. 25
These measures were justified by fears of French subversion or invasion. , magnified by the internal struggle between Federalists and Republicans. Prominent Federalists continued to fear a Republican uprising on behalf of France, while Jefferson and the Republicans saw the Federalists as closefr monarchists who were betraying the sacred principles of the revolution. 26 The fear of French subversion also led to the passage of the controversiall Alien and Sedition laws in the summer of 1798. Although less severe than similar laws in Europe, these measures included a ban on the publication of "false, scandalous, and malicious writing . . . against the government" and marked a noteworthy departure from the initial revolutionary commitment to liberty and free speech. 27
25 On these events, see Elkins and McKitrick, Age ofFederalism, 645; William Stinchcombe, The XYZ Affair (Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 198o); Alexander DeConde, The Quasi- War: The Politics and Diplomacy of the Undeclared War with France, 1 797-1801 (New York: Scrib- ner's, 1966), chap. 2; and Gilbert Lycan, Alexander Hamilton and American Foreign Policy: A Designfor Greatness (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970), 381-90.
26 Thus Hamilton wrote Washington in May 1798, "It is more and more evident that the powerful faction which has for years opposed the government, is determined to go every length with France. . . . They are ready to new? model our Constitution under the influence or coercion of France, and . . . in substance . . . to make this country a province of France. " For his part, Jefferson accused the Federalists of seeking "to keep up the inflammation of the public mind" and argued that "it was the irresistible influence and popularity of General Washing- ton played off by the cunning of Hamilton, which turned the government over to anti-re- publican hands. " Quoted in Lycan, Hamilton, 36<H;3; and see also Elkins and McKitrick, Age ofFederalism, 583-84.
27 Federalist fears of France were not without some basis, as the Directory did have ambi- tions in the Western Hemisphere and the French negotiators had told their U. S. counterparts,
? ? ? ? ? The American, Mexican, Turkish, and Chinese Revolutions
Despite the widespread belief that war with France was inevitable, a combination of Republican opposition, military weakness, and divisions within Federalist ranks prevented a further escalation of the conflict. Adams was committed to defending U. S. maritime rights and preserving its commercial ties with England, but he recognized that public support for war was lacking and he preferred to place the onus for war on France. 28 Thus, the conflict was limited to an undeclared naval war, and a rapid in- crease in U. S. naval power quickly ended the French threat to U. S. ship- ping. Talleyrand offered to resume negotiations, Adams sent a new mission to France, and the Convention of Mortefontaine in September t8oo ended the Quasi-War by abrogating the moribund alliance and restoring most-fa- vored commercial relations. 29 It also marked the Federalists' last diplomatic
achievement, as splits within the party and a personal rivalry between Adams and Hamilton enabled Jefferson and the Republicans to capture the presidency in t8ot.
The Era of Republican Expansion, 1801-1812. Where the Federalists be- lieved that U. S. weakness required a willingness to compromise with more powerful states (such as England), Jefferson's party was convinced that the United States could achieve its aims independently. And where the Federal- ists sought a strong central state and a more powerful military establish- ment, the Republicans saw a strong military as a threat to liberty and believed that the lure of U. S. commerce would allow the country to preserve its interests without recourse to war. 30
At the same time, Jefferson was committed to a program of national ex- pansion. He regarded the acquisition of additional territory as essential to the United States' retaining its agrarian character, and the creation of "sister republics" throughout North America would also prevent the European
"With the French party in America, . . . [we would be able] to throw the blame that will attend the rupture of negotiations on [you] . . . and you may assure yourselves that this wi! R be done. " As Buel notes, however, "Talleyrand and his agents could no? have done more to un- dermine the Republican position than if they had been in the Federalists' pay. " Quoted in Buel, Securing the Revolution, 163, and also see 172-'74?
28 In July, Congress defeated a motion to permit the seizure of armed and unarmed French vessels by a vote of 52 to 31, which DeConde describes as "in a sense, the closest the House came to taking a test vote on full-scale war. " A motion permitting the seizure of armed ves- sels and the commissioning of privateers passed on July 9? Quasi-War, 106-108.
29 On the naval aspects of the Quasi-War, see Elkins and McKitrick, Age of Federalism, 644-54. The Convention of Mortefontaine is reprinted in DeConde, Quasi-War, 351-72.
30 According to Tucker and Hendrickson, "Rather than adjusting to 'the general policy of Nations,' Jefferson and Madison sought to overturn it. " Empire of Liberty, 18-21, 35, 39-43? On Jefferson's attitudes toward the use of force, see Reginald C. Stuart, The Half-Way Pacifist: Thomas Jefferson's View of War (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978).
? ? ? Revolution and War
powers from threatening the new republic directly or contaminating it with aristocratic ideals. 31
Jefferson's foremost accomplishment as president was the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory in 1803. Both the Directory and Napoleon had con- templated reestablishing an empire in North America, and France obtained the retrocession of Louisiana from Spain with the secret Treaty of San Ilde- fonso in October 1800. Jefferson responded by accelerating the acquisition of Indian lands east of the Mississippi River and by threatening to align with England in the event that France reoccupied New Orleans. 32 When Spain re- stricted U. S. use of the port of New Orleans, Jefferson sent James Monroe to Paris to purchase New Orleans and the Floridas. The Peace of Amiens was unraveling by the time Monroe arrived, and Napoleon now offered to sell the entire Louisiana Territory to the United States. The negotiations were completed in April 1803. Jefferson relaxed his earlier views on the limits of executive power and forced the treaty through the Senate rather than sub- mit it for public approval via a constitutional amendment. It was an unmis? takable triumph: the United States gained control over the mouth of the Mississippi and roughly doubled its total territory. 33
Jefferson's expansionism turned next to the Spanish territories in Florida. Based on a dubious reading of previous agreements, the United States laid claim to the region between New Orleans and the Perdido River, but the claims collapsed when France backed the Spanish position. 34 Jefferson tried to convince Spain to abandon the region, through a "campaign of persua- sion, bribery, and threat," but his hopes that Spain would follow the French lead and abandon North America proved overly optimistic and the Floridas were still in Spanish hands when he left office in t8o8. 35
31 See Tucker and Hendrickson, Empire of Liberty, 29-31, 96-98, 15? 2; and Horsman, Diplomacy ofthe New Republic, 12-13.
32 In a letter to the U. S. minister in France (intended for French eyes as well), Jefferson wrote, "There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and ha- bitual enemy. It is New Orleans. " He added, "The day that France takes possession of New Orleans . . . from that day on we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation. " Even if intended solely as a warning, it was a remarkable statement for a confirmed Anglophobe and Francophile. Quotations from Dumas Malone, Jefferson the President: First Term, 1801-1805 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1970), 254-57; and Tucker and Hendrickson, Empire of Lib- erty, 98.
33SeeAlexanderDeConde,ThisAffairofLouisiana(NewYork:Scribner's,1976),tSo-8-6; Tucker and Hendrickson, Empire ofLiberty, 122-35, 163-71; and Malone, Jefferson the President: First Term, chaps. 15-16.
34 See Tucker and Hendrickson, Empire ofLiberty, 137-41.
35 The quotation is from Stuart, Halfway Pacifist, 40; and see also Tucker and Hendrickson, Empire ofLiberty, ? 39-41; DeConde, This Affair ofLouisiana, 215-40; Malone, Jefferson the Presi- dent: First Term, 343-47, and Jefferson the President: Second Term, 1805-1809 (Boston: Little, Brown, t974? 45-55, 62-77, 91-94?
? ? ? The American, Mexican, Turkish, and Chinese Revolutions
The central problem of Jefferson's second term, however, was a renewed maritime conflict with England. Prior to 1805, England had permitted U. S. vessels to transport goods from the French West Indies to France provided they first stopped in a U. S. port (a procedure known as the "broken voy- age"). As the war with France intensified, however, many Britons began to see this policy as an unwarranted boon to the French war effort and a threat to English commerce. English appeals courts declared these cargoes liable to seizure in 1805; the Royal Navy's policy of stopping U. S. merchant vessels in order to impress British subjects caused further U. S. resentment; and ef-
forts to resolve the dispute by negotiation were unsuccessful. Anglo-Amer- ican relations deteriorated further in June 1807, when an English warship fired upon and boarded the USS Chesapeake and removed four seamen, trig- gering a storm of popular protest and renewed calls for war. 36
Yet Jefferson's own aversion to the use of force and the Republicans' long- standing belief in the coercive power of U. S. commerce soon dampened the momentum for war. Instead, Jefferson decided to employ "peaceable coer- cion" in the form of an economic embargo.
eign perceptions of threat further, and these various forces combined to leave Iran isolated for most of the 1980s.
As the theory suggests, uncertainty and lack of information damaged Iran's relations with most other states. As Iran and its neighbors began to form more accurate estimates of each other's capabilities and intentions, however, the belief that the revolution might soon spread began to fade. Al- though Khomeini's ideological legacy and the enduring rivalry among his successors have prevented an explicit repudiation of Iran's revolutionary program, efforts to establish more normal foreign relations have already begun and are likely to increase.
[268]
? [6]
The American, Mexican, Turkish, and Chinese Revolutions
"As revolutions have begun, it is natural to expect that other revolutions
will follow. "
-Thomas Paine, 1791
What were the international effects of the American, Mexican, Turkish, and Chinese revolutions? Although the evidence presented here is not de- finitive, these four cases support the basic claim that revolutions intensify security competition and increase the risk of war. Each of them exhibited some or all of the destabilizing dynamics found in the three previous cases, and each state approached the brink of war at least once.
Yet three of these revolutions did not lead to all-out war. The absence of war following the American, Mexican, and Turkish revolutions is best ex- plained by the participants' awareness that the use of force was likely to be costly and difficult. These revolutions did not foster powerful fears of con- tagion, and each took place in geopolitical circumstances that further dis- couraged the use of force. In other words, the relationship between these revolutionary states and foreign powers was characterized by a powerful condition of defense dominance. Thus, even when serious conflicts arose, the use of force was seen as neither necessary nor appealing. By contrast, fear of contagion and counterrevolution was widespread after the Chinese Revolu- tion, whose international consequences were similar to those of the French,
Russian, and Iranian cases.
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
At first glance, the American Revolution seems an obvious exception to the main argument of this book. Contemporaries saw the War of American Independence and the creation of the United States as an event with poten-
?
? ? Revolution and War
tially far-reaching implications. 1 Unlike the other revolutions examined here, however, the new nation remained formally at peace with the other great powers for nearly three decades. By demonstrating that revolutions do not necessarily lead to war, therefore, this case presents an anomaly re- quiring explanation.
Closer examination suggests that the anomaly is not as significant as it first appears. Like other revolutionary leaders, U. S. statesmen were ob- sessed with questions of national security and combined awareness of their own vulnerability with a profound sense of optimism. 2 U. S. relations with other states suffered from misperceptions similar to those that have accom- panied other revolutions, and the resulting tensions were exacerbated by in- ternal divisions, the fear of subversion, and poor communication. Finally, although the revolution did not lead to war, the United States was involved in several "militarized disputes" and came very close to war on at least three occasions. The absence of open warfare was largely the result of geo- graphic isolation, favorable timing, and the unique worldview of the revo- lutionaries themselves; war would have been far more likely under any
other circumstances.
The Diplomacy ofthe "New Republic"
TheWarofIndependence(1775-1783). ThediplomacyoftheWarofInde- pendence supports several familiar propositions about the international ef- fects of revolutionary change. Foreign powers saw the revolution largely in terms of the balance of power; France supported the rebellious colonies in order to weaken England and avenge the losses it had suffered in the Seven Years War, and Spain took advantage of England's defeat to improve i. ts
own position in the Western Hemisphere. 3
The war also offers an example of a revolutionary movement modifying its initial preferences in response to external pressure. As the Model Treaty adopted by the Continental Congress in 1776 suggests, the Founding Fa- thers hoped to avoid foreign commitments and confine relations with for- eign powers to the realm of commerce. The pressure of war forced them to abandon this idealistic stance, however, and the American Confederation
1 For a persuasive argument that the American Revolution was a "real" revolution, see Gordon S. Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992).
2 As E. Wayne Carp notes, "In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that war, threats of war, and domestic insurrections were the major preoccupations of Americans in the 17905. " "The Prob- lem of National Defense in the Early American Republic," in The American Revolution: Its Character and Limits, ed. Jack P. Greene (New York: New York University Press, 1987), 35?
3 See Richard W. Van Alstyne, Empire and Independence: The International History ofthe Amer- ican Revolution (New York: John Wiley, 1? 5), esp. chaps. 4 and 8.
? ? The American, Mexican, Turkish, and Chinese Revolutions
negotiated a formal treaty with France in 1778. 4 Yet an aversion to tradi- tional diplomacy was still widespread, and several prominent American leaders recommended that the new nation forgo regular diplomatic rela- tions with the other great powers. 5
Diplomacr;undertheConfederation(1783-1789). TheTreatyofParisin1783 acknowledged the formal independence of the American Confederation, and three main issues dominated its diplomacy for the rest of the decade. First, the colonists had expected the lure of American commerce to give them considerable leverage over the European powers, but trade with France remained modest, and England monopolized trade with its former colonies by denying U. S. vessels access to its home ports, Canada, or the West Indies. Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress lacked the au-
thority to impose retaliatory restrictions, and the separate colonies soon found themselves in a damaging economic competition. 6 A second issue was payment for losses suffered during the War of Independence; the Treaty of Paris obliged the former colonies to compensate loyalists and British citi- zens for lost property, but the new Congress lacked the power to collect the necessary funds. As a result, Britain refused to withdraw from its network of forts along the northwestern frontier and continued to support a number of Indian tribes who were actively resisting the westward expansion of the new nation. Third, the United States and Spain were engaged in a pro- tracted border dispute over Florida and the Mississippi Valley, and the fed-
eral government was too weak to force Spain into a more conciliatory position. 7 U. S. weakness was further underscored by the predations of the
4 The principml architect of the Model Treaty, John Adams, had previously stated, "I am not for soliciting any political connection, or military assistance . . . from France. I wish for noth- ing but commerce. " Quoted in Lawrence S. Kaplan, Colonies into Nation: American Diplomacy 1763-18oz (New York: Macmillan, 1972), 91; and see also William Stinchcombe, "John Adams and the Model Treaty," in The American Revolution and "A Candid World," ed. Lawrence S. Ka- plan (Kent: Kent State University Press, 1977); 70.
5 Felix Gilbert argues that the Founding Fathers rejected balance-on-power diplomacy in favor of an idealistic internationalism based on the writings of the French philosophes, but more recent research suggests that U. S. leaders placed great importance on the balance of power and paid scant attention to the philosophes' opinions. See Felix Gilbert, To the Farewell Address: Ideas ofEarly American Foreign Policy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961); James Hutson, John Adams and the Diplomacy of the American Revolution (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1980), "Intellectual Foundations of Early American Diplomacy," Diplo- matic History 1, no. 1 (1977), and "Early American Diplomacy: A Reappraisal," in Kaplan, American Revolution and "A Candid World," 49?
6 See Charles R. Ritcheson, Aftermath ofRevolution: British Policy toward the United States, 1783-1795 (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1969), 18-45; Reginald Horsman, TheDiplomacyofthe New Republic, 1776-1815 (Arlington Heights, Ill. : Harlan Davidson, 1985), 29-31; and Kaplan, Colonies into Nation, 158-63.
7 The dispute had important implications for U. S. economic development, as Spain's con- trol of New Orleans allowed it to prevent U. S. settlers from shipping goods via the river. See
? ? ? Revolution and War
Barbary pirates, who began attacking U. S. shipping once English protection was withdrawn. 8
These issues cast doubt on the long-term viability of the republican ex- periment. The belief that republics were inherently unstable and suitable only for small nations such as Switzerland convinced many contemporaries that the Confederation would soon collapse, and U. S. leaders were increas- ingly worried about the threat of foreign subversion. 9 These pressures helped convince the thirteen former colonies to replace the Articles of Con- federation with a constitution that would grant the federal government sig- nificantly more authority. 10
The Federalist Era: 1789-1801. U. S. foreign policy acquired greater force and coherence under the new Constitution, but it also became the main issue dividing the emerging Federalist and Republican factions. 11 Led by Alexander Hamilton, the Federalists wanted to create a strong central state that could curb local factionalism and preserve U. S. independence in a world of hostile powers. Convinced that British capital and commerce were essential to establishing U. S. credit and restoring the U. S. economy, Hamil- ton opposed schemes for commercial retaliation against England and sought to downplay the alliance with France. 12
By contrast, the Republican faction, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, sought to preserve a predominantly agrarian republic and fa- vored a close alliance with France. Viewing commerce as a potent diplo- matic weapon, they called for discriminatory duties against states that refused to sign commercial treaties, and they believed the United States
Samuel F. Bemis, Pinckney's Treaty: America's Advantagefrom Europe's Distress, 1783-1800 (New Haven: Yale Uruiversity Press, 196o); and Arthur P. Whitaker, The Spanish-American Frontier, 1783-1795: The Westward Movement and the Spanish Retreat in the Mississippi Valley (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1927), esp. B-10.
8 See H. G. B;unby, The Prisoners ofAlgiers: An Account of the Forgotten American-Algerian War, 1 785-1797 (London: Oxford University Press, 1966); and Horsman, Diplomacy of the New Republic, 3o-31.
9 See Ritcheson, Aftermath ofRevolution, 33-35.
10 As Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 1 1 , "Under a vigorous national government, the nat- ural strength and resources of the country, directed to a common interest, would baffle all the combinations of European jealousy to restrain our growth. " Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, The Federalist (New York: Modem Library, 1937), 65. See also Frederick W. Marks,IndependenceonTrial:ForeignAffairsandtheMakingoftheConstitution (BatonRouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1973).
11 The competing visions of the Federalists and Republicans are summarized in Alexander DeConde, Entangling Alliance: Politics and Diplomacy under George Washington (Durham: Duke University Press, 1956), 3 1-65; Paul Varg, Foreign Policies of the Founding Fathers (Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1963), 73-80; and Richard Buel, Jr. , Securing the Revolution: Ideology in American Politics, 1 789-1815 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1972), 29-49?
12 For a detailed description of Hamilton's "grand design," see Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, TheAgeofFederalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 92-132.
? ? ? The American, Mexican, Turkish, and Chinese Revolutions
could develop its economy without close ties to the former imperial power. Thus, where Hamilton saw Anglo-American commerce as an indispensable source of revenue and manufactured goods, to Jefferson and Madison it was a source of potential corruption and a threat to Republican ideals. Republi- cans also saw Hamilton's blueprint for a strong central state as a threat to liberty, and they generally opposed efforts to increase U. S. military pre- paredness. 13
The differences between the Republican and Federalist prescriptions for U. S. foreign poHcy were compounded by the revolution in France and the outbreak of war in Europe. Jefferson and the Republicans saw the upheaval in France as another triumph for the cause of liberty, but Hamilton and the Federalists soon came to regard it as a threat to U. S. interests. 14 The Franco- American treaty of 1778 called for the United States to guarantee French possessions in the New World and authorized either power to dispose of prize vessels in the other's ports. But support for France would invite Eng- lish retaliation and disrupt the commercial ties that lay at the heart of Hamilton's financial system. Despite Republican misgivings, therefore, the United States formally proclaimed its neutrality in April 1793. 15
France saw U. S. neutrality as a betrayal of the 1778 alliance. Relations were strained further by the activities of Edward Charles Genet, the new French minister to the United States. Genet had received a tumultuous wel- come upon his arrival in Philadelphia in April 1793, and he promptly com- missioned a dozen U. S. ships to operate as privateers against English shipping. These acts were in clear violation of U. S. neutrality laws, but Genet answered requests to cease his activities by threatening to appeal di- rectly to the American people. Even Francophiles such as Jefferson were ap- palled by Genet's conduct, and the Cabinet issued a formal request for his recall in August 1793. 16
13 See Elkins and McKitrick, Age ofFederalism, 7<)-89, 133-63, 195-257, 315; and Robert C. Tucker and David Hendrickson, Empire ofLiberty: The Statecraft ofThomas Jefferson (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1990), chaps. 2-5.
14 As U. S. minister to France, Jefferson helped draft the Declaration of the Rights of Man
and described the French Revolution as "the first chapter of the history of European liberty. " John Marshall declared that human liberty depended "in a great measure on the success of the French Revolutio11,1 " and even Hamilton later remarked that the French had "sullied a cause once glorious a1nd that might have been triumphant. " Quoted in Michael Hunt, Ideol- ogy in American Foreign Policy (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987), 98; and Elkins and McKitrick, Age ofFederalism, 31cr11, 360; and also see Dumas Malone, Jefferson and the Ordeal ofLiberty (Boston: LittEe, Brown, 1962), 48.
1 5 S e e M a l o n e , J effe r s o n a n d t h e O r d e a l of L i b e r t y , e s p . 6 8 - 7 5 ; D e c o n d e , E n t a n g l i n g A l l i a n c e , 87--91; 186--<}7; and Charles Marion Thomas, American Neutrality in 1793: A Study in Cabinet Government (New York: AMS Press, 1967), chap. 1.
1 6 See DeConde, Entangling Alliance, 284-85; Harry Ammon, The Genet Mission (New York: W. W. Norton, 1973), 141-45; and Eugene R. Sheridan, "The Recall of Edmond Charles Genet," Diplomatic History 18, no. 4 (1994).
.
? ? Revolution and War
These events accelerated the polarization between Federalists and Re- publicans. Jefferson and his associates saw U. S. neutrality as de facto sup- port for England and suspected the Federalists of seeking to establish a monarchy. 17 Hamilton and the Federalists were alarmed by the Republicans' pro-French sympathies, the surge of popular support for France, and Genet's overt attempts to encourage and exploit these sentiments. Thus, while Republicans brooded over "Anglomane" plans to subvert the Consti- tution and establish a monarchy, Federalists feared a Republican plot to em- broil the United States in a war with England and establish a "popular
? democracy" in league with France. 18
Ironically, the decision to remain neutral did not prevent Anglo-American relations from approaching war the following year. The central issue was a conflict over maritime policy, the catalyst being the English Order-in-Coun- cil of November 6, 1793, imposing a blockade over the French West Indies. The Royal Navy's policy of halting U. S. vessels in order to impress former English citizens intensified anti-British feeling, and confrontations between English and U. S. forces along the northwestern frontier further complicated Anglo-American relations. 19 Although London relaxed the November order in January, sympathy for France increased, and many Americans now be- lieved that a war with England was both likely and desirable. 20 Tensions rose higher when fears of a U. S. attack led English officials in Canada to
1 7 In May 1793, Jefferson described his domestic opponents as "zealous apostles of Eng- lish despotism" and France's enemies as "the confederacy of princes against liberty. " After resigning as secretary of state, he warned a friend, "There are in the U. 5. some characters of opposite principles . . . all of them hostile to France and looking to England as the staff of their hope. " Such men, he asserted, saw the Constitution "only as a stepping stone to monarchy. " Quoted in DeConde, Entangling Alliance, 56; and Elkins and McKitrick, Age of Federalism, 317.
18 Hamilton regarded the Republicans as "deeply infected with those horrid principles of Jacobinism, which, proceeding from one excess to another, have made France a theater of blood. " He also suggested that their zeal for France was "intended by every art of misrepre- sentation and deception to be made the instruments first of controlling, finally of overturn- ing the Government of the Union. " The Federalists blamed Genet for the growth of
"Democratic Societies" during this period, which they mistakenly regarded as products of French subveFsion. Quoted in Buel, Securing the Revolution, 69; and Elkins and McKitrick, Age of Federalism, 360, 456; and also see Robert R. Palmer, The Age of the Democratic Revolution: A Political History of Europe and America, J 76o-1Boo (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1959'-64), 2:529-31.
1 9 I n the sprring o f 1794, Governor George Clinton o f New York reported that the British governor of Canada, Lord Dorchester, had told a gathering of Indian tribes that war was likely within a year. See Ritcheson, Aftermath ofRevolution, chap. 13; and Jerald Combs, The Jay Treaty: Political Battleground of the Founding Fathers (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970), 121-22.
20 The American minister in London, Edward Pinckney, was so certain that war was immi- nent that he requested permission to move his family to France. See Deconde, Entangling Al- liance, 99 n. 93, and 13o-31; and Ritcheson, Aftermath ofRevolution, 304-306.
? ? The American, Mexican, Turkish, and Chinese Revolutions
send troops to the Maumee rapids in March 1794, a step that placed the two nations on the verge of war. 21
The Federalists still believed that war with England would be a disaster for the United States, and President George Washington dispatched John Jay to London in a final effort to reach a negotiated settlement. The so-called Jay Treaty resolved most of the disputed issues (though not the question of impressment), but the Cabinet kept the terms of the treaty secret until the Senate had ratified it, in order to deflect Republican criticism. Despite its limitations, the treaty preserved peace between the United States and Great Britain and led to a final British withdrawal from U. S. territory. 22 The agree- ment also opened the way for the rapid expansion of U. S. commerce, par- ticularly in the Atlantic carrying trade, and the U. S. economy entered a period of extraordinary growth. 23
The Federalists gained a second diplomatic triumph with an agreement with Spain known as Pinckney's Treaty. Spain had allied itself with France in 1795, and the Jay Treaty had fueled Spanish fears of an Anglo-American assault on their North American possessions. Spain was thus more willing to make concessions, and the treaty established a border with Spanish Florida along the thirty-first parallel and gave U. S. settlers the right to de- posit goods for shipment from New Orleans. The Federalists also per- suaded the Indians along the northwestern frontier to cede most of Ohio and parts of Indiana through the Treaty of Greenville in August 1795. To- gether with the withdrawal of British forces obtained via the Jay Treaty, this agreement heralded a major shift in the balance of power in the Northwest and greatly facilitated U. S. expansion there. 24
Finally, the Federalist period also witnessed a new crisis in relations be- tween the French and Americans, which culminated in the so-called Quasi- War of 1797-1800. The neutrality proclamation and Genet's inept diplomacy had already strained Franco-American relations, and a misguided French at-
21 According to Charles Ritcheson, this step "brought war so close . . . that the preservation of peace involved acts of almost miraculous self-restraint on both sides. " See Aftermath ofRev- olution, 31o-1).
22 See Combs, Jay Treaty; Samuel Flagg Bemis, Jay's Treaty: A Study in Commerce and Diplo- macy (New Havelll: Yale University Pres:;, 1962); and Varg, Foreign Policies of the Founding Fa- thers, chap. 6. It is easy to imagine a different outcome to the Anglo-American confrontation. At the Battle of Fallen Timbers in August 1794- for example, the U. S. forces gained a decisive victory when the commander of a nearby British fort refused to allow the fleeing Indians to enter his stockade. Elkins and McKitrick suggest that "the spark of war might have been struck then and tlhere," and Ritcheson concludes that "quite obviously an armed clash be- tween British and American troops was avoided by a hairsbreadth. " Elkins and McKitrick, Age ofFederalism, 43S-39; and Ritcheson, Aftermath ofRevolution, 320.
23 See Douglass C. North, The Economic Growth of the United States, 179o-186o (New York: W. W. Norton, 1966), 25, 30, 53; and Horsman, Diplomacy ofthe New Republic, 63-{;4.
24 See Bemis, Pinckney's Treaty; and Reginald Horsman, Expansion and American Indian Pol- icy, 1 783- 1 8 1 2 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), esp. 9S-102.
? ? ? ? Revolution and War
tempt to aid the Republicans in the election of 17? had reinforced U. S. suspi- cions and helped the Federalists retain power. Jacobin excesses had under-? mined U. S. sympathies for France, while the French government saw the Jay Treaty as yet anotherbetrayal of the Franco-American alliance. In March 1797, the French Directory declared that neutral vessels carrying British goods would be subject to seizure, a step that directly threatened U. S. maritime in- terests. President John Adams sent a diplomatic mission to France to negoti- ate a settlement, but the foreign minister, Charles Talleyrand, refused to see them and sent three agents (known to posterity as X, Y, and Z), to arrange a bribe of $250,000 for himself and a loan of $12 million for the French govern- ment as preconditions for begingnin negotiations. The U. S. commissioners re- jected the terms and the mission accomplished nothing, but news of Talleyrand's actions ignited a storm of protest in the United States, where de- mands grew for a declaration of war. Congress authorized the construction of twelve new warships and initiated plans to increase the regular army as well. Some Federalist leaders tried to use the crisis to discredit the Republican cause, while others entertained hopes of an Anglo-American campaign against the French and Spanish possessions in the Western Hemisphere. 25
These measures were justified by fears of French subversion or invasion. , magnified by the internal struggle between Federalists and Republicans. Prominent Federalists continued to fear a Republican uprising on behalf of France, while Jefferson and the Republicans saw the Federalists as closefr monarchists who were betraying the sacred principles of the revolution. 26 The fear of French subversion also led to the passage of the controversiall Alien and Sedition laws in the summer of 1798. Although less severe than similar laws in Europe, these measures included a ban on the publication of "false, scandalous, and malicious writing . . . against the government" and marked a noteworthy departure from the initial revolutionary commitment to liberty and free speech. 27
25 On these events, see Elkins and McKitrick, Age ofFederalism, 645; William Stinchcombe, The XYZ Affair (Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 198o); Alexander DeConde, The Quasi- War: The Politics and Diplomacy of the Undeclared War with France, 1 797-1801 (New York: Scrib- ner's, 1966), chap. 2; and Gilbert Lycan, Alexander Hamilton and American Foreign Policy: A Designfor Greatness (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970), 381-90.
26 Thus Hamilton wrote Washington in May 1798, "It is more and more evident that the powerful faction which has for years opposed the government, is determined to go every length with France. . . . They are ready to new? model our Constitution under the influence or coercion of France, and . . . in substance . . . to make this country a province of France. " For his part, Jefferson accused the Federalists of seeking "to keep up the inflammation of the public mind" and argued that "it was the irresistible influence and popularity of General Washing- ton played off by the cunning of Hamilton, which turned the government over to anti-re- publican hands. " Quoted in Lycan, Hamilton, 36<H;3; and see also Elkins and McKitrick, Age ofFederalism, 583-84.
27 Federalist fears of France were not without some basis, as the Directory did have ambi- tions in the Western Hemisphere and the French negotiators had told their U. S. counterparts,
? ? ? ? ? The American, Mexican, Turkish, and Chinese Revolutions
Despite the widespread belief that war with France was inevitable, a combination of Republican opposition, military weakness, and divisions within Federalist ranks prevented a further escalation of the conflict. Adams was committed to defending U. S. maritime rights and preserving its commercial ties with England, but he recognized that public support for war was lacking and he preferred to place the onus for war on France. 28 Thus, the conflict was limited to an undeclared naval war, and a rapid in- crease in U. S. naval power quickly ended the French threat to U. S. ship- ping. Talleyrand offered to resume negotiations, Adams sent a new mission to France, and the Convention of Mortefontaine in September t8oo ended the Quasi-War by abrogating the moribund alliance and restoring most-fa- vored commercial relations. 29 It also marked the Federalists' last diplomatic
achievement, as splits within the party and a personal rivalry between Adams and Hamilton enabled Jefferson and the Republicans to capture the presidency in t8ot.
The Era of Republican Expansion, 1801-1812. Where the Federalists be- lieved that U. S. weakness required a willingness to compromise with more powerful states (such as England), Jefferson's party was convinced that the United States could achieve its aims independently. And where the Federal- ists sought a strong central state and a more powerful military establish- ment, the Republicans saw a strong military as a threat to liberty and believed that the lure of U. S. commerce would allow the country to preserve its interests without recourse to war. 30
At the same time, Jefferson was committed to a program of national ex- pansion. He regarded the acquisition of additional territory as essential to the United States' retaining its agrarian character, and the creation of "sister republics" throughout North America would also prevent the European
"With the French party in America, . . . [we would be able] to throw the blame that will attend the rupture of negotiations on [you] . . . and you may assure yourselves that this wi! R be done. " As Buel notes, however, "Talleyrand and his agents could no? have done more to un- dermine the Republican position than if they had been in the Federalists' pay. " Quoted in Buel, Securing the Revolution, 163, and also see 172-'74?
28 In July, Congress defeated a motion to permit the seizure of armed and unarmed French vessels by a vote of 52 to 31, which DeConde describes as "in a sense, the closest the House came to taking a test vote on full-scale war. " A motion permitting the seizure of armed ves- sels and the commissioning of privateers passed on July 9? Quasi-War, 106-108.
29 On the naval aspects of the Quasi-War, see Elkins and McKitrick, Age of Federalism, 644-54. The Convention of Mortefontaine is reprinted in DeConde, Quasi-War, 351-72.
30 According to Tucker and Hendrickson, "Rather than adjusting to 'the general policy of Nations,' Jefferson and Madison sought to overturn it. " Empire of Liberty, 18-21, 35, 39-43? On Jefferson's attitudes toward the use of force, see Reginald C. Stuart, The Half-Way Pacifist: Thomas Jefferson's View of War (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978).
? ? ? Revolution and War
powers from threatening the new republic directly or contaminating it with aristocratic ideals. 31
Jefferson's foremost accomplishment as president was the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory in 1803. Both the Directory and Napoleon had con- templated reestablishing an empire in North America, and France obtained the retrocession of Louisiana from Spain with the secret Treaty of San Ilde- fonso in October 1800. Jefferson responded by accelerating the acquisition of Indian lands east of the Mississippi River and by threatening to align with England in the event that France reoccupied New Orleans. 32 When Spain re- stricted U. S. use of the port of New Orleans, Jefferson sent James Monroe to Paris to purchase New Orleans and the Floridas. The Peace of Amiens was unraveling by the time Monroe arrived, and Napoleon now offered to sell the entire Louisiana Territory to the United States. The negotiations were completed in April 1803. Jefferson relaxed his earlier views on the limits of executive power and forced the treaty through the Senate rather than sub- mit it for public approval via a constitutional amendment. It was an unmis? takable triumph: the United States gained control over the mouth of the Mississippi and roughly doubled its total territory. 33
Jefferson's expansionism turned next to the Spanish territories in Florida. Based on a dubious reading of previous agreements, the United States laid claim to the region between New Orleans and the Perdido River, but the claims collapsed when France backed the Spanish position. 34 Jefferson tried to convince Spain to abandon the region, through a "campaign of persua- sion, bribery, and threat," but his hopes that Spain would follow the French lead and abandon North America proved overly optimistic and the Floridas were still in Spanish hands when he left office in t8o8. 35
31 See Tucker and Hendrickson, Empire of Liberty, 29-31, 96-98, 15? 2; and Horsman, Diplomacy ofthe New Republic, 12-13.
32 In a letter to the U. S. minister in France (intended for French eyes as well), Jefferson wrote, "There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and ha- bitual enemy. It is New Orleans. " He added, "The day that France takes possession of New Orleans . . . from that day on we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation. " Even if intended solely as a warning, it was a remarkable statement for a confirmed Anglophobe and Francophile. Quotations from Dumas Malone, Jefferson the President: First Term, 1801-1805 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1970), 254-57; and Tucker and Hendrickson, Empire of Lib- erty, 98.
33SeeAlexanderDeConde,ThisAffairofLouisiana(NewYork:Scribner's,1976),tSo-8-6; Tucker and Hendrickson, Empire ofLiberty, 122-35, 163-71; and Malone, Jefferson the President: First Term, chaps. 15-16.
34 See Tucker and Hendrickson, Empire ofLiberty, 137-41.
35 The quotation is from Stuart, Halfway Pacifist, 40; and see also Tucker and Hendrickson, Empire ofLiberty, ? 39-41; DeConde, This Affair ofLouisiana, 215-40; Malone, Jefferson the Presi- dent: First Term, 343-47, and Jefferson the President: Second Term, 1805-1809 (Boston: Little, Brown, t974? 45-55, 62-77, 91-94?
? ? ? The American, Mexican, Turkish, and Chinese Revolutions
The central problem of Jefferson's second term, however, was a renewed maritime conflict with England. Prior to 1805, England had permitted U. S. vessels to transport goods from the French West Indies to France provided they first stopped in a U. S. port (a procedure known as the "broken voy- age"). As the war with France intensified, however, many Britons began to see this policy as an unwarranted boon to the French war effort and a threat to English commerce. English appeals courts declared these cargoes liable to seizure in 1805; the Royal Navy's policy of stopping U. S. merchant vessels in order to impress British subjects caused further U. S. resentment; and ef-
forts to resolve the dispute by negotiation were unsuccessful. Anglo-Amer- ican relations deteriorated further in June 1807, when an English warship fired upon and boarded the USS Chesapeake and removed four seamen, trig- gering a storm of popular protest and renewed calls for war. 36
Yet Jefferson's own aversion to the use of force and the Republicans' long- standing belief in the coercive power of U. S. commerce soon dampened the momentum for war. Instead, Jefferson decided to employ "peaceable coer- cion" in the form of an economic embargo.
