NAVIGATING NEUTRALITY : early american governance in the turbulent atlantic

2021·2.6 MB·English

by  MOATS, SANDRA A

Navigating Neutrality
The Revolutionary Age
Francis D. Cogliano and Patrick Griffin, Editors
Navigating Neutrality
Early American Governance in the Turbulent Atlantic
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Sandra Moats
University of Virginia Press
Charlottesville and London
University of Virginia Press
© 2021 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia
All rights reserved
First published 2021
ISBN 978-0-8139-4644-3 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-8139-4645-0 (ebook)
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this title.
Cover image: USS Constellation firing upon L’Insurgente,
by Rear Admiral John William Schmidt. (Wikimedia / Naval History
and Heritage Command, National Archive ID# 428-KN-2882)
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For Anna Stadick and in memory of Joyce Appleby
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Contents
List of Illustrations xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction
“The Mischiefs of Foreign Intrigue” 1
Chapter 1
“Highway Robbery under the Protection of the Law”:
American Privateers in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic 9
Chapter 2
“Free Ships Make Free Goods”:
Revolutionary Experiments in Neutrality 24
Chapter 3
“The Contests of European Nations”:
George Washington and Neutrality 41
Chapter 4
“Americans in Politics”:
Crafting a Neutral Proclamation 59
Chapter 5
“To Keep This Country in Peace”:
French Violations and Executive Actions 78
Chapter 6
“A Rank Due to the United States”:
Enforcing Neutrality across the Federal Government 103
Chapter 7
“My Object Is to Prevent War”:
Enforcing Neutrality across the Globe 127