When the United States Spoke French: Five Refugees Who Shaped a Nation

Product Description

“A bright, absorbing account of a short period in history that still resounds today.” —Kirkus Reviews

Beautifully written and brilliantly argued,
When the United States Spoke French offers a fresh perspective on the tumultuous years of America as a young nation, when the Atlantic world’s first republican experiments were put to the test. It explores the country’s formative period from the viewpoint of five distinguished Frenchmen who took refuge in America after leaving their homes and families in France, crossing the Atlantic, and landing in Philadelphia. Through their stories, we see some of the most famous events of early American history in a new light—from the battles with Native Americans on the western frontier to the Haitian Revolution, the Whiskey Rebellion to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

Review

The Wall Street Journal:“[A] fascinating account of French involvement in the economic and cultural life of the young American Republic…. Mr. Furstenberg has the vision to encompass a broad pageant in this splendid book, which combines erudition and great flair.”
Seattle Times:”Furstenberg opens a window into a lost world of glittering Philadelphian dinner parties, rough backwoodsmen speaking French and homesick émigrés. It’s a fascinating portrait of the diplomatic intrigue between France and England for power and position, with the United States displaying a disconcertingly astute aptitude for playing them off against each other. 
When the United States Spoke French is essential reading for understanding the complex relationship between France and the United States that, to this day, endures.”
JHU Gazette:”A fascinating examination of the United States at a pivotal moment in history that is as broadly sweeping and narratively captivating as a historical novel.”
Publishers Weekly:“A lush social and cultural history of French influences…riveting.”
Kirkus Reviews:“Furstenberg expands the historical outlook of the 18th century’s great upheavals and shows the global effects of the Enlightenment. The author studies five former members of the French Assemblée Constituante who became refugees in Philadelphia…Though they were here to escape and to advance their personal fortunes, along the way, they helped the young country survive…[
When the United States Spoke French is] a bright, absorbing account of a short period in history that still resounds today.”

About the Author

FRANÇOIS FURSTENBERG is an associate professor of history at Johns Hopkins University and the author of In the Name of the Father: Washington’s Legacy, Slavery, and the Making of a Nation. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Part 1THE UNITED STATES SPEAKS FRENCH
On a chilly morning in January 1793, an unusually distinguished crowd gathered in the courtyard of the Walnut Street Prison, Philadelphia’s largest enclosed square. The gathering included George Washington, the president of the United States; John Adams, the vice president; and Thomas Jefferson, the secretary of state. James Madison, the leader of the House of Representatives, was probably there, along with James Monroe—the nation’s first five presidents all assembled in this one space along with hundreds of Philadelphians to watch America’s first flight, undertaken by a Frenchman, Jean-Pierre Blanchard. Tickets for the event—five dollars for the best spots—had sold at Oeller’s Hotel, a bastion of Philadelphia’s French community, where supporters of the French Revolution had recently staged what the Gazette of the United States called “a splendid entertainment,” in honor of the spectacular French victory at Valmy against Prussian and Austrian armies. But it was not just Philadelphians who were excited that day. Americans up and down the Atlantic seaboard read the details expectantly; New Yorkers even held out a faint hope that, “if the wind should break fair,” Blanchard might make it as far as their city.1
The Waln