Republican Simplicity: The Diplomatic Costume Question, 1789-1867

REPUBLICAN SIMPLICITY: The Diplomatic Costume Question, 1789-1867 Robert Ralph Davis, Jr. Beginning with the New England Puritans and their determination to create a New Zion in the wilderness, most Americans were firmly convinced and even devoted to the idea that America was possessed of a special distinctiveness which clearly separated it from the Old World. Accordingly, they insisted that American institutions reflect this distinctiveness as much as possible. This idea assumed major proportions after the founding of the Republic in 1789. Having ostensibly repudiated the Old World, Americans set out to create a new order—a society and culture consistent with republican principles and American ideology. American society and culture during the early national period was based upon a number of essential "republican" propositions: that the United States represented the last best hope of mankind, that the agrarian ideal should predominate , and, perhaps most importantly, that America should adopt frugality and simplicity as a matter of course and as a badge of distinction which would clearly separate it from its ostentatious Old World heritage . One of the most vivid illustrations of the attempt to impart a sense of republican simplicity to American institutions involved the question of diplomatic costume etiquette. From the founding of the Republic until the eve of the Civil War, the problem of how American ministers and diplomats abroad should attire themselves preoccupied the minds of many men. Although attitudes in regard to the exact style of American diplomatic costumes fluctuated greatly and although presidential and State Department directives concerning diplomatic dress varied considerably throughout this period, one common theme emerges. Americans were a new breed of men, specially ordained by their Creator to carve a model society out of the wilderness and they should, on that account , dress their foreign representatives in a manner which would reflect the American qualities of republicanism and simplicity. Agreeing with Crevecoeur, who wrote as early as 1782 that the American "is a new man, who acts upon new principles,"1 most Americans also shared Washington's view that "a plain genteel dress is more admired and obtains more credit than lace and embroidery in the Eyes of the judicious 1 Cited in Rüssel Blaine Nye, The Cultural Life of the New Nation, 1776-1830 (New York, I960), p. 41. 19 20CIVIL WAR HISTORY and sensible."2 This attitude prevailed throughout the early national period. Its most salient expression, however, was to wait until the decade preceding the Civil War and its most eloquent spokesmen during this period was James Buchanan of Pennsylvania. The first official directive concerning the manner in which American representatives abroad should attire themselves came on August 26, 1790, when Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson advised that "the Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the United States are free to wear the uniform of their navy, if they chuse to do so." Jefferson explained that the particular uniform to which he referred was "a deep blue coat with red facings , lining and cuffs, the cuffs slashed and a standing collar; a red waistcoat (laced or not at the election of the wearer) and blue Breeches; yellow buttons with a foul anchor, and black cockades and small swords."3 When John Quincy Adams, who was in Berlin, learned of Jefferson's directive to American consular officials, he wrote to his father that "it would be a convenience to give a similar authority to [American] diplomatic agents." He reasoned that "it would save them much useless expense, which they can very ill afford, and enable them to appear without censure in a manner more conformable to republican simplicity, than in the court dresses which they are now obliged to use." Adams pointed out that most of the European governments prescribed special uniforms for their diplomats and that it might be wise for the American government to do likewise. He advocated "the use of an uniform more simple and differing only by an appropriate color from a common daily dress. The substitution of common broadcloth instead of silks and velvets , and lace embroidery, and all the finery of children, which a necessary attendance at courts requires, would I presume be agreeable to every American who now undergoes these metamorphoses...