In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

179 In 1791 Thomas Jefferson accepted a gift from Louis XVI, a miniature portrait of the king set in “brilliants,” marking the end of his tenure as the U.S. minister to France. What might seem a banal, even innocuous ceremonial gesture preoccupied Jefferson, who at first refused to accept the gift. His own distaste for this aspect of diplomatic culture was in step with a clause in the U.S. Constitution prohibiting representatives of the federal government from accepting “any present,Emolument,Office,or Title,of any kind whatever,from any King,Prince,or Foreign State.” Furthermore, Jefferson’s service in France coincided with the first years of the French Revolution.In 1789 he had corresponded with the marquis de Lafayette about the drafting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and he had hosted dinners for French republicans and philosophes during which the future roles of the king and that of the National Assembly were discussed and largely determined . Nonetheless, in 1791 Louis XVI still presided, however ceremoniously , over France, the nation that had stood as the crucial European ally of the United States during the American Revolution. It quickly became evident that as a matter of form and protocol, gift exchange could not be avoided. Caught between the obligations of custom and the constitutional prohibition he had hoped would shield him from participation in gift exchange, Jefferson proceeded in a manner both calculated and tortured. In brief, once Thomas Jefferson, by this point secretary of state, resigned himself to the necessity of receiving and bestowing gifts, he requested that Louis XVI’s present be delivered to William Short, his secretary, who had remained in Paris. Jefferson then instructed Short, in a letter written in cipher, to remove the diamonds, sell them, then rewrap the portrait and have it sent to him via a secure envoy. He required of Short the utmost secrecy, fearing above all that any detail of the affair would make its way into British newspapers. The money raised from the sale of the Negotiating Gifts Jefferson’s Diplomatic Presents martha elena rojas s Martha E. Rojas 180 diamonds was used to pay for the presents Jefferson was in turn obliged to bestow upon two of the king’s attendants at court in fulfillment of the diplomatic custom. Jefferson further specified that whatever sum remained be paid toward expenses incurred by the U.S. embassy in Paris during his tenure. The history of this miniature portrait is but one episode in a series of Jefferson’s carefully considered yet awkward attempts to cope with the problem of the diplomatic present, as vexing for him as for the government of the new United States. Jefferson’s insistence on secrecy, his determination to proceed without the scrutiny of Congress (the Constitution allowed for presents with the consent of Congress,an exception that curiously rendered them forbidden yet sometimes permissible objects), and his fear of being exposed by the British press suggest that Jefferson,in accepting,altering,and liquidating the bejeweled portrait, felt something like shame. Capable of provoking secrecy, embarrassment, and concerns over reputation , gift exchange might best be conceived as a cultural practice with social as well as psychological effects within the political culture of the early republic. In this essay I explore this aspect of gift giving within the repertoire of the symbolic diplomacy of the new United States, as well as the anxiety occasioned by the need to determine objects that would serve as U.S. diplomatic gifts. Because diplomatic presents often stood wholly in the place of language, these highly symbolic objects were subject to Jefferson’s intense scrutiny and interpretation.Though gift giving was a conventional aspect of diplomatic protocol, Jefferson, as the first secretary of state, imagined that he might evade the practice,much as John Jay had done as secretary for foreign affairs before him. In most cases, and like his predecessors, Jefferson ultimately followed customary practices, though not before requesting information, weighing options, deliberating about what a particular object would communicate about the nation and its people, and selecting a type of gift that made clear that the United States, while governed by fundamentally novel and distinct principles, belonged to the community of nations.The notable exception pertains to the management of affairs with North Africa. Jefferson ’s resentment about giving cash and other presents...

Share