William Short

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.