Cosmopolitan Patriots

This truly transnational history reveals the important role ofAmericans abroad in the Age of Revolutions, as well as providing an early example ofthe limits of American influence on other nations. From the beginning of the FrenchRevolution to its end at the hands of Napoleon, American cosmopolitans like ThomasJefferson, Gouverneur Morris, Thomas Paine, Joel Barlow, and James Monroe draftedconstitutions, argued over violent means and noble ends, confronted sudden regimechanges, and negotiated diplomatic crises such as the XYZ Affair and the LouisianaPurchase. Eager to report on what they regarded as universal political ideals andpractices, Americans again and again confronted the particular circumstances of aforeign nation in turmoil. In turn, what they witnessed in Paris caused theseprominent Americans to reflect on the condition and prospects of their own republic.Thus, their individual stories highlight overlooked parallels between thenation-building process in both France and America, and the two countries' commonstruggle to reconcile the rights of man with their own nationalidentities.Jeffersonian America