Commonplace Book: For Liberty and Glory by James Gaines

In America, on the other hand, the French Revolution dominated both domestic and foreign affairs throughout Washington’s two terms as president.  Especially after the execution of Louis XVI and France’s declaration of war on England, it became one of the most divisive and defining elements of American politics, at just the time when the newly united states were struggling toward consensus on forms of government and their common character as a nation.  It was in the crucible of debate over whether to go the way of Britain or France that the citizens of the United States would discover what it was to be American. {pg 11)