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Published: 1st April 2012

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Joel Barlow was the early republic's most tenacious diplomat, a cheerful volunteer for difficult missions. His hard-won treaties with Algiers,Tunis, and Tripoli ended, at least briefly, the attacks of Barbary pirates on American shipping in the Mediterranean. And on the eve of the War of 1812,Madison sent him to France where he subsequently won important wartime concessions from Napoleon. Young Barlow wrote The Vision of Columbus, his would-be epic poem, while serving as an army chaplain fresh out of Yale University. He later sold western lands to French ?migr?s, ran for a seat in the French National Assembly, escaped the Terror, and ultimately made his fortune as a cargo broker. His ties with the Jeffersonian elite and long-time familiarity with the Paris political scene made him President Madison?s logical choice to keep the peace by trying to win enough concessions from France to demand the same of Britain. Peter Hill?s fast-paced biography, while closing in on the intricacies of Barlow?s diplomatic career, also portrays his subject as a conscious nation builder, a visionary who foresaw his country?s worldwide role in spreading democratic institutions, committing itself to free trade, and involving its federal government in the cause of public education. Hill brings to life a true Enlightenment man whose love of country, democracy, and learning reveals the soul of an age. AUTHOR: Peter P. Hill is professor emeritus of history at the George Washington University and the author of several books, including Napoleon?s Troublesome Americans: Franco-American Relations, 1804?1815 (Potomac Books, Inc., 2006) and French Perceptions of the Early American Republic, 1783?1793. He lives in Brunswick, Maine. SELLING POINTS: Analyzes Barlow's successful treaty-making with Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, 1796-97 Details his efforst to settle maritime claims against France, 1811-12 Highlights Barlow's life-long commitment to building on America's strengths 24 b/w photographs

Peter P. Hill is one of the great American diplomatic historians. This book demonstrates his continuing superb scholarship, making a critical and fascinating contribution to our understanding of the diplomatic minefield faced by Americans of the early Republic, and the important role played by the remarkable Joel Barlow. Melanie Randolph Miller, author of "Envoy to the Terror: Gouverneur Morris and the French Revolution"

ISBN: 9781597976824
ISBN-10: 1597976822
Audience: General
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 272
Published: 1st April 2012
Dimensions (cm): 22.9 x 15.0  x 2.8
Weight (kg): 0.517