“while Jefferson, like Hamilton, was eager for war with France”
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Screeeeeeech! Stop right there Mr.
Jefferson had a dreamlike attachment to seemingly every aspect of the so-called “French Revolution”. Even the bloodthirsty nature of the mobs.
Hamilton’s obsession AGAINST the nation of France is well-documented and well-known.
Explain if you would please the 180 degree change in perspective you appear to be attributing to Jefferson with respect to France between about 1793 and about 1803.
Jefferson may have been an opportunist, or sincere. During the Adams administration revolutionary France thought that the United States owed them support in their conflict with Britain. Adams was adamant about keeping the U.S. out of war with any European power, even though he raised an Army to fight France, if necessary. (The War of 1812 showed that he was correct.) Revolutionary France allowed French privateers to raid American Commerce, and there was the matter of the XYZ affair, which soured Americans against France. Napoleon, after the Haitian revolution, was eager to unload holdings in the Americas, and claimed that the previous unpleasantness was a family squabble, before selling Louisiana to the Jefferson administration.