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Chapter 4. “Strange, that Monroe should warn us against Jacobins!”: The Problem of Popular Sovereignty in Thermidorian Parisand Federalist America, 1794–1796
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88 4 “Strange, that Monroe should warn us against Jacobins!” the problem of popular sovereignty in thermidorian paris and federalist america, 1794–1796 When the new American minister, James Monroe, appeared before the National Convention on 14 August 1794, it seemed as if no time had passed since Barlow’s speech two years earlier. Outside the meeting hall of theConvention,Monroefoundgatheredalargecrowdoffriendlyspectators. According to the merchant captain Joshua Barney, on whose ship Monroe had crossed the Atlantic, upon Monroe’s entrance the Convention erupted in applause and shouts of “Live the Convention, Live the United States of America, our brave Brothers.”. Like Barlow in 1792, Monroe felt overwhelmed “with a degree of sensibility which I cannot express.” Throughout his tenure as minister in Paris, between 1794 and 1796, Monroe was determined to hang on to the spirit of his initial reception by the Convention, no matter how little it accorded with the actual state of Franco-American relations and of his own relationship with the French and U.S. governments.1 Monroe assured his audience that, despite the violent events of the last year, France was still on the path of republican progress established by her American brothers: “America had her day of oppression, difficulty, and war, but her sons were virtuous and brave and the storm which long clouded her political horizon has passed and left them in the enjoyment of peace, liberty, and independence. France, our ally and our friend and who aided us in the 89 “Strange, that Monroe should warn us against Jacobins!” contest,hasnowembarkedinthesamenoblecareer.”LikeJeffersonandBarlow , Monroe accepted bloodshed as the inevitable price of nation-building. Although he presented America as having already attained “peace, liberty, and independence,” the fact that Monroe found the situations of France and the United States in 1794 at all comparable indicated that he in fact considered the American republic to be far from securely established. The official newspaper Moniteur reported that the French deputies received these words with “a lively sensibility and bursts of applause.” The president of the Convention, Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai, “in the midst of universal raptures of joy,” gave Monroe the fraternal kiss and ordered his address printed in French and English. The bond between France and America, Merlin announced, was “not merely a diplomatic alliance,” it was “the sweetest fraternity,” and “this union shall be forever indissoluble .”2 Monroe was blissfully unaware that the French deputies had their own motives for this rapturous welcome. The American minister had arrived in Paris only five days after the downfall of Robespierre on 9 Thermidor II (27 July 1794). The government was in such disarray that there was no one to officially receive him, forcing Monroe to present his credentials directly to the National Convention. The deputies regarded Monroe’s appearance before the Convention primarily as an occasion for a demonstration of consensus on an uncontroversial issue, and as a ceremonial evocation of unity after a long period of fratricidal violence. It had little connection with French attitudes toward Monroe as an individual or with Franco-American diplomatic relations, a subject of very little concern to the government at this moment. Two years of war and one year of Terror had claimed countless lives and nearly destroyed whatever sense of unity, trust, and common aspirations remained in France after five years of permanent revolution. Now, after the fall of Robespierre, the Convention was caught between the competing imperatives of avenging the crimes of the Terror and forgiving and forgetting for the sake of national unity. Most of all, many deputies wished to end the revolution, establish the authority of the national government, and secure it against challenges from radicals and counterrevolutionaries.3 Monroe’s emotional investment in the friendship between the two republics would continue to contrast sharply with French officials’ preoccupation with more pressing domestic matters. Even worse, Monroe’s speech did not reflect the attitudes of his own [44.211.24.81] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 10:42 GMT) 90 Cosmopolitan Patriots government. President Washington had chosen the Francophile Monroe as minister to prevent further deterioration in relations with France in light of the ongoing American treaty negotiations with Britain. In spite of American neutrality, British war vessels had begun in the summer of 1793 to seize American merchant ships headed to France, bringing the United States and its former mother country to the brink of war. Alexander Hamilton sought to use this crisis for a rapprochement with Britain, and in the spring of 1794...