Edmond Genêt

Edmond Genêt (1763-1834), French diplomat, appointed minister to the United States during George Washington's presidency. Edmond Charles Édouard Genêt was born in Versailles. At the age of 18 he succeeded his father as secretary interpreter at the ministry of foreign affairs. He was attached to the French embassy at Saint Petersburg from 1787 to 1792, when the Russian government, objecting to his liberal opinions, expelled him. He was then appointed French minister to the United States, taking up his duties in April 1793. Citizen Genêt, as he was called, began a campaign to involve the United States in the French Revolution. He raised troops for projected military operations against Spanish possessions in America and used U.S. ports for the equipping of privateers that attacked British shipping. President George Washington, who insisted on maintaining U.S. neutrality, eventually demanded his recall, and in 1794 the French government sent a new minister with orders to arrest Genêt and return him for trial. Believing that Genêt's life would thus be endangered, Washington refused his extradition. Genêt then settled on a farm on Long Island, N.Y., and later in Rensselaer County, N.Y., as a naturalized American citizen.