On April 19, 1793, President George Washington convened his department secretaries for a cabinet meeting that would ultimately lodge the authority for foreign diplomacy in the executive branch rather than Congress. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of War Henry Knox, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph gathered in Washington’s private study on the second floor of the President’s House at Sixth and Market (or High) Street in Philadelphia. France had declared war on Great Britain and the Netherlands two months before and Washington and the secretaries had to figure out how to deal with the growing international crisis. Their efforts to keep the new nation out of the escalating war became known as the Neutrality Crisis. The administration’s response over the next year permanently shaped the executive branch, the cabinet, and the president’s authority over diplomacy.
The day before the meeting, Washington had circulated thirteen questions for the secretaries’ consideration. There were three main subjects of discussion. First, would the United States enter the war as France’s ally as suggested by the treaty of defense that remained from the Revolutionary War? Second, if the US remained neutral, how would its leaders enforce neutrality domestically or deal with warring European superpowers? Third, how would they treat Citizen Edmond-Charles Genêt, the new French minister who was currently sailing from France?
While these questions had myriad legal ramifications, they boiled down to this one issue—what was the proper relationship of the United States to France? While the two countries had been allies during the Revolutionary War, now the US depended on a close trade relationship with Britain to sustain its economy. The nation also couldn’t afford, either physically or economically, to enter into another costly war so soon after the Revolution. Furthermore, the government in France was unreliable at best. In 1789, the French people had declared their own revolution. Over the next few years, increasingly radical forces seized power and sentenced the royal family, elites, and thousands of individuals suspected of not being sufficiently “republican” to the guillotine. Heads rolled. Many Americans, including Washington, Hamilton, and Knox, hesitated to support a French government that had executed the former king and could be ousted itself at any moment.
On the morning of April 19, Washington’s cabinet initially made progress on these issues. Despite his ardent pro-French sympathies, even Jefferson agreed the United States had to remain neutral. Their consensus broke down, however, when the discussion turned to how they would implement neutrality. By this point in Washington’s presidency, Jefferson and Hamilton already hated each other. They had diametrically opposed visions for the future of the nation: Hamilton wanted to support industry, merchants, and urban centers, while Jefferson believed the ideal citizen was a yeoman farmer. As a result, they both became convinced the other was trying to ruin the new republic. Their conflicting views extended to the issues facing the cabinet. Jefferson favored a pro-French neutrality that would permit the warring nation to purchase goods, arm ships, and use American debt payments to buy ammunition and other contraband. Hamilton advocated for a strict neutrality that seemed fair on its face, but would end up benefitting Britain because of the close trade relationships between the two nations.
Washington recognized that they would not agree and decided to send the clashing secretaries home to cool off. They reconvened the next day, but quickly reached the same stalemate. Washington asked for their written opinions so he could considered the positions in private before making a decision. Over the next eight months, these issues consumed the cabinet.
The cabinet had met for the first time on November 26, 1791, over two-and-a-half years into Washington’s presidency. The cabinet officers met a handful of times over the next year, but dealt with most executive matters through correspondence or one-on-one individual meetings. In 1793, during the Neutrality Crisis, the cabinet met fifty-one times. The secretaries met up to five times per week, sometimes several hours per day, often in the middle of the stifling Philadelphia summer in the days long before air conditioning.
In early August they gathered to discuss Genêt’s recent behavior. Genêt had flagrantly disregarded American neutrality and had spent the last few months arming ships in the Port of Philadelphia to attack the British. When Jefferson warned him to cease his activities, Genêt challenged the president’s authority to determine foreign policy and threatened to appeal to the American people. The cabinet learned of Genêt’s threats and were outraged—the French minister had publicly disrespected the administration’s neutrality policy and Washington. The secretaries determined to request Genêt’s recall from France, which was the first time the US had requested the recall of a foreign minister. When France agreed to Genêt’s recall, it tacitly acknowledged the United States’ right to establish its own foreign policy and demand that the policy be respected by representatives of other nations.
The president and the cabinet also seized the initiative to craft the nation’s foreign policy while Congress was away on a lengthy recess. The cabinet drafted a series of rules of neutrality to guide other federal and state officials. When Congress finally returned many months later and followed Washington’s lead, the president became the de facto leader on diplomatic issues. Congress codified the cabinet’s neutrality rules in June 1794. These rules became standard for the nation during periods of neutrality up until the Civil War.
Finally, 1793 also had important ramifications for political tensions and the makeup of Washington’s cabinet. Jefferson and Hamilton already hated each other at the beginning of the year, and their confinement in Washington’s study for lengthy cabinet meetings in the grueling summer heat did not improve their relationship. Jefferson “retired” at the end of the year and committed himself to defeating Hamilton’s agenda from outside the administration. Partisan tensions accelerated during the remaining years of Washington’s presidency and set the roots of the nation’s first political parties.