The Foreign Service Journal, March 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2016 55 the interests of rich countries are enhanced by promoting prog- ress in their poorer territories. These ideas have endured to this day as a central pillar of foreign aid policy. Works such as Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack and Auto- biography , Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia and Hamil- ton’s Report on Manufactures embody fundamental principles that have shaped U.S. approaches to the world for more than two centuries. They are often incorporated in modern foreign assistance legislation without anyone ever realizing their origins. The founders established institutions to advance liberty, equal- ity, representative government and the pursuit of happiness that continue to influence how Americans view international development and their role in the world. One of the earliest examples of American promotion of democracy overseas was the collaboration in Paris between Jef- ferson and General Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, in drafting the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citi- zen” in 1789. This historic document marked the beginnings of the French Revolution and was greatly influenced by the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the American Declaration of Indepen- dence. Jefferson’s belief that “this ball of liberty will roll round the world” was reflected in his proposals to spread “republican principles” to Russia, Poland, Greece and the emerging Latin American nations. In more recent years, they are seen in U.S. support for the Arab Spring and democratic transitions through- out the world. From his first encounters with Native Americans in what were then sovereign nations in the western region of North America, Jefferson advised: “We desire above all things, brother, to instruct you in whatever we know ourselves. We wish you to learn all our arts and to make you wise and wealthy.” He instructed his sec- retary, Meriwether Lewis, to arrange smallpox vaccinations for Indian tribes along the route of the Lewis and Clark expedition, expressing attitudes toward traditional people that would evolve into foreign assistance over the decades to come. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton supported aid to Saint Domingue (now Haiti) to address the consequences of the struggle for independence of that Caribbean island. Thousands of refugees fled to the United States in 1792 and 1793. Their plight led the U.S. Congress to establish a relief fund, thereby setting one of the earliest precedents for aid to foreign citizens. Today the State Department’s Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration carries out similar initiatives to ease the suffering of uprooted people around the world and integrate humanitar- ian principles into U.S. foreign policy. From 1798 to 1801, President John Adams and Haitian leader Toussaint L’Ouverture forged diplomatic ties that allowed Ameri- cans to support the creation of the world’s first Black Republic. As detailed in Diplomacy in Black and White (University of Georgia Press, 2014), the United States provided the revolution- aries with economic assistance, arms and naval backing. As the highest-ranking U.S. diplomat dispatched to Saint Domingue, Jefferson’s belief that “this ball of liberty will roll round the world” was reflected in his proposals to spread “republican principles” to Russia, Poland, Greece and the emerging South American nations. Benjamin Franklin (at left), John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (standing) review a draft of the Declaration of Independence. JEANLEONGEROMEFERRIS/LIBRARYOFCONGRESS