A Mission to America: The Career of George Hammond as the first British Minister to the United States, 1791-1795

Mings, Toby (2025) A Mission to America: The Career of George Hammond as the first British Minister to the United States, 1791-1795. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

Preview

PDF Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

In 1785, John Adams was formally introduced to George III as the first American Minister to Great Britain. However, even as Adams and the King spoke of Britain and America’s shared language, similar religions, and “kindred blood”, an awkward question remained: where was the British Minister to the United States?

This thesis shall examine the story of George Hammond’s career as the first British Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States from 1791-95. Examining the context of Anglo-American relations at the time of his appointment, this paper shall attempt to explain the challenges faced by the Foreign Office in establishing permanent diplomatic presence in not only a republic, but a former British colony. From there, this paper shall examine the multiple challenges Hammond faced as British Minister, including establishing a permanent legation in America, his relationship with American policymakers, the French Revolution, the Crisis of 1794, and the Jay Treaty.

The career of George Hammond presents not only a fascinating example of the challenging processes which characterised diplomatic service, but also the perfect prism we through which we can understand British policy towards the United States in the 1790s. in doing so, this thesis will consider many fundamental questions. Was Hammond successful? How do you establish an embassy in both a republic and former British colony? What does Hammond’s career tell us about both Anglo-American relations following 1776, and British foreign policy at the end of the eighteenth century? In the end, far from being a footnote in the history of Anglo-American relations, Hammond proved integral to stabilising relations between Britain and the United States and preventing a second Anglo-American conflict before the War of 1812.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of History
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	11 Nov 2025 08:28
Last Modified:	11 Nov 2025 08:28
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/100944
DOI:

Downloads

Actions (login required)

View Item