The French Revolution

The text panel in front of you reads:

The summer after George Washington was inaugurated as the first president of the United States, the Bastille fell in Paris, heralding the start of the French Revolution. The turmoil in France reverberated through American politics during Washington’s presidency. Americans were sharply split between those who favored a rapprochement with Britain and those, including Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who favored revolutionary France.

As the French Revolution devolved into violence, Washington tried to maintain America’s neutrality. George III, across the Channel from France, did not have that option. The last years of his reign were defined by conflict, first with revolutionary France and then with Napoleon. In a coup, Napoleon became First Consul of France in November 1799, just before Washington died.

The display case to your left contains two objects:

1. Queen Charlotte Comments on the French Revolution

On learning of the start of the French Revolution, Queen Charlotte wrote her son, Prince Augustus, “France furnishes greater but Melancholy news. I often think that this cannot be the 18th Century in which we live at present, for Antient History can hardly produce any thing more Barbarous & Cruel than Our Neighbours in France.”

Exhibit Item(s)

• Queen Charlotte to Prince Augustus, August 1789 (reproduction). © His Majesty King Charles III 2025 (095.01.00). A two-page spread from a handwritten letter beginning with the words “the name of Hastings, and 2000 £ a year for this.”

To the right of the label is a quote that reads:

“The revolution which has been effected in France is of so wonderful a nature that the mind can hardly realise the fact . . . but I fear though it has gone triumphantly through the first paroxysm, it is not the last it has to encounter before matters are finally settled.”
—George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, October 13, 1789

2. “Pernicious little odious reptile”

The French Revolution, the subsequent rise to power of Napoleon, and Napoleon’s march across Europe were among the greatest challenges of George III’s reign. In this cartoon, George III describes a tiny Napoleon as “one of the most pernicious little odious reptiles that nature ever suffer’d to crawl upon the surface of the earth.” “Grildrig” and “Brobdingnag,” are from Jonathan Swift’s novel Gulliver’s Travels.

Exhibit Item(s)

• James Gilray. The King of Brobdingnag and Gulliver, 1803 (reproduction). British Cartoon Prints Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (130.01.00). A color political cartoon depicting King George holding a tiny Napoleon in his hand.