“The English Papers bring their Lies very fresh”: Early American State-building and Thomas Jefferson’s Information War in Europe, 1784–1793

This article argues that the early United States engaged Great Britain in information warfare with the aim of challenging alleged disinformation about the new republic’s reputation. An Anglophobe, Thomas Jefferson bemoaned British “lies” and sought to combat them by vindicating republican government to a skeptical world, first as a diplomat in Europe during the 1780s, and then, drawing upon those experiences, as secretary of state during the 1790s. With the inauguration of the new federal government in 1789, Jefferson interpreted the Foreign Intercourse Act of 1790, its associated Contingency Fund, and an enlarged diplomatic corps as means to continue his efforts against Britain’s alleged “lies.” Ultimately, those efforts enhanced the new American state’s capacity to influence Europe, revealing a newly energetic and conspicuous republic overseas.