View source for Genet and the French Revolution in America

<U>The Long Affair: Thomas Jefferson And The French Revolution</U> serves a great source to understanding the American response to the French Revolution.  Chapter Five in particular looks at a dignitary, Charles-Edmond Genet, that the French Executive Council sent to the United States in the middle of the French Revolution and the reactions that his presence elicits from the American people.  As a scholarly writing, it draws together not only historical evidence but also pulls together the writings from different political scientists and historians who are well-versed in the subject.  By combining all these resources, we're given a well formed view into what it must have been like to be an American during the French Revolution.  Jefferson, being a staunch supporter of the French, was always working hard to promote a high public opinion of the French Revolution but in the end, Genet proves to be too revolutionary even for him.  The book makes use of letters written by Jefferson, Genet, and other politicians of the time to show the political balancing that occurred as Jefferson and other Republicans worked to have the Executive Council remove Genet and not lose the belief in the French Revolution that he had helped to create.

Cruise O'Brien, Conor. <U>The Long Affair: Thomas Jefferson And The French Revolution</U>. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1996.