Papers of John Adams, volume 20
d.1791.
As the information contained in the enclosed extracts from a letter
of Mr. Short’s lately arrived, has some relation to a
subject now before the Senate, I have thought it my duty to communicate them,1 and have the honor to be with sentiments of the
most profound respect and attachment. / Sir / Your most obedient and / most humble
Servant:
FC and enclosure (DLC:Jefferson Papers); internal address: “The President of the Senate.”
Jefferson enclosed extracts of a 21 Oct. 1790 letter from William
Short outlining the state of Franco-American trade. According to Short, the French
National Assembly balked at paying the same foreign tonnage duties to the United
States that had been levied on Great Britain since 20 July. French legislators were
also reconsidering the favorable treatment previously granted to American imports of
tobacco and whale oil. On 18 Jan. 1791 Jefferson edited and used Short’s intelligence
to communicate this news in a formal report to the president, along with his
recommendation to heed the French appeals. George Washington transmitted Jefferson’s
report to the Senate on 19 January. It was referred to 469 committee on 27 Jan. and was still under
consideration when Jefferson sent this information, a key source of his report,
separately to JA. The resulting debate exposed supporters of British and
French interests alike in Congress. But any meaningful step toward formulating an
American policy in response was preempted in June, when the National Assembly
terminated all past favors awarded to American-built ships, tobacco, and whale oil
(Jefferson, Papers
, 18:544, 546, 555, 565, 570; 19:238–239;
U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour.
, 1st Cong., 3d sess., p. 66, 72).