Edmond-Charles Genêt

Edmond-Charles Genêt (born Jan. 8, 1763, Versailles, France—died July 14, 1834, Schodack, N.Y., U.S.) was a French emissary to the United States during the French Revolution who severely strained Franco-American relations by conspiring to involve the United States in France’s war against Great Britain.

In 1781 Edmond succeeded his father, Edmé-Jacques Genêt, as head of the translation department at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Soon after the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789, he was made chargé d’affaires to the French legation in Russia, but his enthusiasm for the Revolution antagonized the empress Catherine II the Great, who expelled him from Russia in July 1792. Genêt then identified himself with the moderate Girondin faction in the French Revolutionary government, and in April 1793 the Girondins secured his appointment as chargé d’affaires to the United States. He was instructed to seek repayment of part of the American debt to France or—at the very least—to obtain credit for purchasing the supplies needed for the war with Great Britain.

Nevertheless, Genêt soon exceeded his diplomatic authority. Hailed as “Citizen Genêt” by Americans who favoured the French cause, he conspired with those who opposed Pres. George Washington’s policy of neutrality. (See Citizen Genêt Affair.) His efforts to bring the United States into the war and his high-handed arming of privateers in American ports to operate against the British brought relations between the United States and France to the brink of war and risked the loss of France’s sole source of credit abroad. In August 1793 Washington, who was firmly committed to a policy of neutrality in the European conflict, requested that Genêt be recalled. Realizing that he faced arrest if he returned to France, Genêt chose to remain in the United States; he married the daughter of George Clinton, governor of New York, became a U.S. citizen, and settled down to farming.