William Short
✓ Source-basedrising1759-1849 Thomas Jefferson's private secretary when he was ambassador in Paris, from 1786 to 1789, later ambassador
William Short, a Virginia-born lawyer who disagreed with slavery, became an American diplomat during the first two decades of his country's existence before moving to Philadelphia and becoming a successful financier and philanthropist.
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About this person
William Short, a Virginia-born lawyer who disagreed with slavery, became an American diplomat during the first two decades of his country's existence before moving to Philadelphia and becoming a successful financier and philanthropist. Thomas Jefferson, later the third President of the United States, was a lifelong mentor and friend. In a 1789 letter, Jefferson referred to Short as his "adoptive son," Short served as Jefferson's private secretary when the latter was a peace commissioner in France, and remained in Europe to take on several other diplomatic posts, including as the U.S.'s chargé d'affaires in France during the French Revolution (1789-92), America's fiscal agent in Europe (1790-1794), as America's Minister to the Netherlands (1792), as a treaty commissioner to Spain, and had a recess appointment as Ambassador to Russia in 1808 but never physically assumed the post.
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