Edmond-Charles Genêt

Edmond-Charles Genêt
Jean Baptiste Ternant
Succeeded by	Jean Antoine Joseph Fauchet
Personal details
Born	Edmond Charles Genêt (1763-01-08)January 8, 1763 East Greenbush, New York , U.S.
Spouses	Cornelia Tappen Clinton ​ ​ (m. 1794; died 1810)​ Martha Brandon Osgood ​ ​ (m. 1814)​
Relations	Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan (sister)
Parent	Edmond Jacques Genêt
Signature

Edmond-Charles Genêt (January 8, 1763 – July 14, 1834), also known as Citizen Genêt, was the French envoy to the United States appointed by the Girondins during the French Revolution. His actions on arriving in the United States led to a major political and international incident, which was termed the Citizen Genêt affair. Because of his actions, President George Washington asked the French government to recall him. The Montagnards, having risen to power at the same time, replaced Genêt and issued a warrant for his arrest. Fearing for his life, Genêt asked for asylum in America, which was granted by Washington. Genêt stayed in the United States until his death. Historian Carol Berkin argues that the Genêt affair bolstered popular respect for the president and strengthened his role in dealing with foreign affairs.^[1]

Early life and education

Genêt was born in

Genêt was a prodigy who could read French, English, Italian, Latin, Swedish, Greek,[3] and German by the age of 12.

Career

At 18, Genêt was appointed court translator, and in 1788 he was sent to the French embassy in Saint Petersburg to serve as

The Citizen Genêt affair began in 1793 when he was dispatched to the United States to promote American support for France's wars with Spain and Britain.

Genêt arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, on the French frigate Embuscade on April 8. Instead of traveling to the then-capital of Philadelphia to present himself to U.S. President George Washington for accreditation, Genêt stayed in South Carolina. There he was greeted with enthusiasm by the people of Charleston, who threw a string of parties in his honor.

Genêt's goals in South Carolina were to recruit and arm American

His actions endangered American neutrality in the war between France and Britain, which Washington had pointedly declared in his Neutrality Proclamation of April 22. When Genêt met with Washington, he asked for what amounted to a suspension of American neutrality to support the cause of France. When turned down by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and informed that his actions were unacceptable, Genêt protested.^[5] Meanwhile, Genêt's privateers were capturing British ships, and his militia was preparing to move against the Spanish.

Genêt continued to defy the wishes of the United States government, capturing British ships and rearming them as privateers. Washington sent Genêt an 8,000-word letter of complaint on Jefferson's and Hamilton's advice – one of the few situations in which the

The Mountain, having taken power in France by January 1794, issued an arrest warrant for Genêt. Genêt, knowing that he would likely be sent to the guillotine, asked Washington for asylum. Hamilton, Genêt's fiercest opponent in the cabinet, convinced Washington to grant him safe haven in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

Later life

After obtaining asylum in the United States from Washington, Genêt moved to New York State. On June 26, 1808, Genêt wrote an article, "Madison as a 'French Citizen,'" for the New York Register in an attempt to promote the prospects of his father-in-law, the incumbent Vice President George Clinton, over James Madison in the presidential election of 1808. Noting the honorary French citizenship afforded to Madison in 1792, Genêt reasoned that the Embargo Act of 1807 had been intended by Secretary of State Madison to aid Napoleon in the enforcement of the Berlin Decree, especially seeing that American trade with Britain was more important than that with France. Playing to a northeastern audience, Genêt continued that, judging by Jefferson's glorification of an agricultural lifestyle in Notes on the State of Virginia, the Embargo was also acting as a covert means to destroy New England's commercial heritage. As such, New Englanders would be forced to turn to agriculture, and Virginia's dominance of American politics would continue.^[7]

Personal life

Genêt married Cornelia Tappen Clinton (1774–1810) in 1794, the daughter of New York Governor

• Edmond Charles Genet (1797–1802), who died young.
• Henry James Genet (1800–1872), a member of the State Assembly in 1832 who married Martha Elizabeth Taylor (1809–1896).^[9]
• Maria Louisa Genet (1802–1888), who married Cornelius Van Buren Van Rensselaer (1793–1868), son of Col.
  Nicholas Van Rensselaer.^[a]
• Charles Alexander Genet (1805–1838)
• Cornelia Tappen Genet (1808–1877), who married Andrew Conkey Getty (1810–1891).[14]

His wife Cornelia died in 1810, and on July 31, 1814, Genêt remarried to Martha Brandon Osgood (1787–1853), the daughter of Samuel Osgood, the United States' first Postmaster General.^[15] Together, they were the parents of:^[16]

• Henriette Campan Genet (1815–1826), who died young.
• Edmond Charles Genet (b. 1816), who died young.
• Samuel Osgood Genet (1819–1824), who died young.
• Edme Jacques Genet (1821–1891), who married Magdelene Van Rensselaer Witbeck (1813–1900).^[17] They had no children.^[18]
• George Clinton Genet (1824–1904), who married Augusta Georgia Kirtland (1838–1911).^[19] They had no children.^[20]

He died on July 14, 1834, and is buried in the churchyard behind the Greenbush Reformed Church, about two miles east of his farm.

Descendants

• An elementary school in East Greenbush, New York, is named Citizen Genet Elementary School, formerly Genet Middle School.^[22]
• Genêt is portrayed by Cyril Descours in Episode V of the 2008 miniseries John Adams.^[23]

See also

• Franco-U.S. relations

References

Notes