Everything about Edmond-charles Genet totally explained
Edmond-Charles Genêt (
January 8,
1763 –
July 14,
1834), also known as
Citizen Genêt, was a
French ambassador to the
United States during the
French Revolution.
Early life
Genêt was born in
Versailles in 1763. He was the ninth child and only son of a French civil servant, Edme Jacques Genet (September 11, 1726 - September 11, 1781) head clerk in the ministry of foreign affairs. The elder Genet analyzed British naval strength during the Seven Years' War and monitored the progress of the
American Revolutionary War. Genêt was a prodigy who could read French, English, Italian, Latin, Swedish, and German by the age of 12.
At 18, Genêt was appointed court translator, and in 1788 he was sent to the French embassy in
Saint Petersburg. Over time, Genêt became disenchanted with the
ancien regime, learning to despise not just the French monarchy but all monarchical systems, including Tsarist Russia under
Catherine the Great. In 1792, Catherine declared Genêt
persona non grata, calling his presence "not only superfluous but even intolerable." The same year, the
Girondists rose to power in France and appointed Genêt to the post of minister to the United States.
Citizen Genêt Affair
The
Citizen Genêt affair began in
1793 when he was dispatched to the
United States to promote American support for
France's wars with
Spain and
Britain.
Genêt arrived in
Charleston,
South Carolina on the warship
Embuscade on
April 8. Instead of traveling to the then-capital of
Philadelphia to present himself to
U.S. President George Washington for accreditation, Genêt stayed in South Carolina. There he was greeted with enthusiasm by the people of Charleston, who threw a string of parties in his honor.
Genêt's goals in South Carolina were to recruit and arm American
privateers which would join French expeditions against the British. He commissioned four privateering ships in total: the
Republicaine, the
Anti-George, the
Sans-Culotte, and the
Citizen Genêt. Working with French consul Michel-Ange Mangourit, Genêt organized American volunteers to fight Britain's Spanish allies in
Florida. After raising a militia, Genêt set sail toward Philadelphia, stopping along the way to marshal support for the French cause and arriving on
May 18. He encouraged
Democratic-Republican Societies, but President Washington denounced them and they quickly withered away.
His actions endangered American neutrality in the war between France and Britain, which Washington had pointedly declared in his
Neutrality Proclamation of April 22. When Genêt met with Washington, he asked for what amounted to a suspension of American neutrality. When turned down by
Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and informed that his actions were unacceptable, Genêt protested. Meanwhile, Genêt's privateers were capturing British ships, and his militia was preparing to move against the Spanish.
Genêt continued to defy the wishes of the United States government, capturing British ships and rearming them as privateers. Washington sent Genêt an 8,000-word letter of complaint on Jefferson's and Hamilton's advice–one of the few situations in which the
Federalist Hamilton and the
Democratic-Republican Jefferson agreed. Genêt replied obstinately.
The
Jacobins, having taken power in France by January 1794, sent an arrest notice which asked Genêt to come back to France. Genêt, knowing that he'd likely be sent to the
guillotine, asked Washington for asylum. It was Hamilton–Genêt's fiercest opponent in the cabinet–who convinced Washington to grant him safe haven in the United States.
Later life and death
Genêt moved to New York State and married Cornelia Clinton in
1794, the daughter of New York Governor
George Clinton. She died in
1810 and in
1818 Genêt married Martha Brandon Osgood, the daughter of
Samuel Osgood, the United States' first
Postmaster General.
Genêt lived on a farm he called Prospect Hill located in
East Greenbush, New York overlooking the
Hudson River. Living the life of a gentleman farmer, he wrote a book about inventions.
He died on July 14,
1834 and is buried in the churchyard behind the Greenbush Reformed Church, about 2 miles east of his farm.
Further Information
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