adhered to the idea that America should endeavor to stay out of war at all times, and did

everything in their power to evade declaring and entering into war. Throughout their

reigns, war was ubiquitous in Europe, and many countries (especially Britain and France)

made numerous attempts to obtain and secure America's support. Washington and

Adams both believed that America should not side with any foreign country during times

of war making the fundamental purport of America's first foreign policy the elusion of

war at all costs. This policy was manifested throughout Washington and Adams'

involvement in, and reactions to the following affairs: the Citizen Genet controversy, the

One of Washington's initial attempts to pursue this policy was his counteraction

to the Genet Affair. In 1793, George Washington proclaimed neutrality, thus declaring

America an uninvolved, nonpartisan country in times of war. Simultaneously, Edmond

Charles Genet was sent to the United States as a special representative from France to

implore support in the French Revolution. Genet had previously resolved that the

negative aspects of the treaty, Washington believed that it was valuable for the United

and vowed to open up their colonies in Asia to American ships. The US, however,

pressed for war, but Adams did not want to declare war and go against his foreign policy.

foreign policy. The risks taken by both presidents, and the end results of the Genet

the west, promised to compensate American ship owners for seizures in the West Indies

minister, sent an agent, later called X, to demand that the Americans pay tributes to

Some common words found in the essay are:
Washington Adams, French Revolution, John Adams, Hamilton American, North America, Indies American, Talleyrand French, Navy Department, Carolina Genet, Jay Treaty, foreign policy, jay treaty, avoid war, washington adams, xyz affair, john adams, america's foreign policy, america's foreign, war costs, controversy jay treaty, controversy jay, times war, genet controversy jay, jay treaty xyz, support french revolution,
Approximate Word count = 996
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)