Thomas Jefferson Foundation (www.
monticello.org).
Son of the “Squirearchy”
Short’s forefather, also named
William, immigrated to Virginia in
1635 as an indentured servant. He
eventually became a landowner, and
his grandson, the third William Short
of Virginia, had by 1741 ascended to
the “squirearchy,” with 40 slaves and a
grist mill. The sixth William Short of
Virginia, our subject, was born in 1759.
He had a classical education (Latin,
Greek, math and philosophy) at William & Mary, where he was a founding
member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1777,
becoming its second president the following year. He was also a member of
the Virginia militia, but there is no evidence that he participated in any combat during the American Revolution.
After graduation in 1779, he stayed on
in Williamsburg to study law under
George Wythe. (John Marshall was a
fellow student.) He passed the bar in
1781 — Jefferson was one of his examiners — and moved to the new capital, Richmond, to practice law.
With Jefferson’s help, Short was
elected to the prestigious Virginia Executive Council of State in 1783, a position that often led to the governor’s
office — both Madison and Monroe
were members of the council early in
their careers. He soon became disillusioned with politics, however, and after
Jefferson’s 1784 appointment as a
“treaty commissioner” in Paris, Short
was delighted to accept an invitation to
become his private secretary.
Jefferson’s Secretary
Jefferson replaced John Jay as one
of three treaty commissioners, along
with Ben Franklin and John Adams.
The Treaty of Paris between the
United States and Britain, ending the
Revolutionary War and securing U.S.
independence, had been signed on
Sept. 3, 1783. However, several issues
remained unresolved, and there were
At 25, William Short
had no international
experience and, in fact,
had never been outside
his native Virginia.
ongoing negotiations with the French,
Spanish and Dutch to conduct. So the
U.S. treaty commissioners remained in
place for two more years.
Franklin was concurrently minister
to France, and Adams was concurrently minister to Great Britain, so in
their ministerial capacities they were
each authorized an official secretary.
Jefferson, however, was not authorized
a secretary as treaty commissioner, so
he had to hire Short with his own funds
(at an annual salary of $1,000 plus
room and board). Because Short did
not speak French well, Jefferson first
sent him to live for six months with a
French family in a rural village, where
he became fluent.
Franklin returned to the United
States in 1785, and Jefferson replaced
him as minister to France. Thus
Short’s official diplomatic career began
that October when Congress approved
his appointment as Jefferson’s secretary. He remained in this capacity until
1789, when Jefferson departed and left
Short in charge of the mission.
After Jefferson became Secretary of
State in 1790, he secured Short’s commission as permanent chargé d’af-faires, the first chargé appointed by the
U.S. government. He was 31. His new
position was nonetheless a setback for
Short, as he had hoped to be designated minister.
Diplomat Meets Duchess
At this time Paris was a crucially im-
portant diplomatic post for the United
States, and this put Short, as secretary
and then chargé, at the heart of American diplomacy. He was especially successful in helping to open markets to
U.S. exports, and also reported ably on
the upheavals of the French Revolution, predicting accurately that mob
rule would be replaced by a despot.
Soon after he joined Jefferson in
Paris in 1785, following his language
training, Short met the woman who
became the love of his life: Rosalie, the
Duchesse de la Rochefoucauld. Beautiful, charming, well-educated and 23
years old, she was in an unhappy marriage of convenience to her 53-year-old
uncle, Duc Louis Alexandre de la
Rochefoucauld. When she met the 26-
year-old Short at a house party at her
country chateau, the two were immediately attracted to one another. They
became dancing partners and friends;
friendship developed into romance;
and before long they were lovers.
Extramarital affairs were not unusual among the French aristocracy of
that era, and the duke was willing to
tolerate the relationship between his
wife and Short so long as they were discreet, which they were. Rosalie’s letters, which Short preserved, as well as
his seven-year quest (after the duke’s
death) to make her his wife, indicate
their love was strong.
U.S. Fiscal Agent
When Short was appointed chargé
in Paris, he was simultaneously named
by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton (on President George Washington’s instruction, no doubt as recommended by Jefferson) as the sole U.S.
fiscal agent in Europe. It was in that
capacity that he rendered his greatest
service to his country: negotiating several critical loans at favorable rates,
mainly from Dutch bankers (then the
most important moneylenders in the
world). The loans were used both for
domestic investment and to pay off
higher-interest loans from France and
