Thomas Jefferson: American Diplomat

Jefferson began his career as a diplomat in 1784 when he helped negotiate a trade agreement with Prussia; from 1785 to 1789 he was the United States ambassador to France; and from 1789 until his resignation in 1793, he was secretary of state. Jefferson was something of a Francophile; he liked the French and preferred them to the English, whom he thought arrogant and selfish. Although he thought America could continue to benefit from its relationship with France, it is a common misconception that Jefferson wanted to make the United States more like France. He did not. While he sympathized with the leaders of the early stages of the French Revolution, he was disgusted by the violence and turmoil of the Reign of Terror and was shocked and dismayed by the ascension of Napoleon Bonaparte to power. He admired French arts but did not think much of their science or philosophy. Jefferson was born with an English mind, and educated English minds were molded by the classics of Greece and Rome; it was the classics, not the French philosophes, that framed his philosophy.

As Washington’s choice for the first secretary of state under the Constitution, Jefferson accepted, but not without reservation. He continued to long for retirement from public service, but believed duty required him to be a good steward of the new Constitution, and also to watch the designs of the potential “monarchists” who had gained control of the central government during his long absence in France. Jefferson developed a clearer picture of American political life during this period. He became convinced that some Americans were attempting to subvert the principles of the Revolution, consolidate power, and trample on American liberty. His fears appeared justified when Hamilton presented his First Report on the Public Credit and advocated the establishment of a Bank of the United States.