On April 22, 1793, George Washington issued his Proclamation of Neutrality. A response to the onset of war in Europe between the new French Republic and other European countries, the treaty kept the fledgling United States out of the war and sustained the still-fragile Union. Ultimately, the manner in which Washington asserted his presidential authority established the lasting precedent of executive dominance in the formulation and discharge of foreign policy. The proclamation was arrived at after intense deliberation by Washington’s cabinet, which was split between pro-French members (Thomas Jefferson and Edmund Randolph) and pro-British ones (Alexander Hamilton and Henry Knox). The carefully formulated and shrewdly promulgated Proclamation of Neutrality was criticized by Jefferson, but it proved to be a prudent move by Washington. The president reiterated and expanded upon the principles found in the proclamation three years later in his farewell address.

Full text of the Proclamation of Neutrality:

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

A PROCLAMATION

Whereas it appears that a state of war exists between Austria, Prussia, Sardinia, Great Britain, and the United Netherlands, of the one part, and France on the other; and the duty and interest of the United States require, that they should with sincerity and good faith adopt and pursue a conduct friendly and impartial toward the belligerant Powers;

I have therefore thought fit by these presents to declare the disposition of the United States to observe the conduct aforesaid towards those Powers respectfully; and to exhort and warn the citizens of the United States carefully to avoid all acts and proceedings whatsoever, which may in any manner tend to contravene such disposition.

And I do hereby also make known, that whatsoever of the citizens of the United States shall render himself liable to punishment or forfeiture under the law of nations, by committing, aiding, or abetting hostilities against any of the said Powers, or by carrying to any of them those articles which are deemed contraband by the modern usage of nations, will not receive the protection of the United States, against such punishment or forfeiture; and further, that I have given instructions to those officers, to whom it belongs, to cause prosecutions to be instituted against all persons, who shall, within the cognizance of the courts of the United States, violate the law of nations, with respect to the Powers at war, or any of them.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my hand. Done at the city of Philadelphia, the twenty-second day of April, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the seventeenth.

GEORGE WASHINGTON
April 22, 1793