About the Presenter
Sandra Moats is a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. She is the author of two previous books on the politics and culture of the early republic, including Navigating Neutrality: Early America Governance in the Turbulent Atlantic (University of Virginia Press, 2021). Her current book project focuses on the outsized role U.S. consuls played in conducting American diplomacy from the 1790s to the 1920s. The reliance on consuls originated in revolutionary Treaty of Amity and Commerce with France. With the establishment of the U.S. Consular Service in 1792, consuls assumed posts across the globe to protect America’s commercial interests. Consuls continued to dominate American diplomacy until the 1930s when the United States’ expanding international role required the appointment of diplomats steeped in political affairs. Global at the Founding offers a groundbreaking and refreshing perspective on the commercial focus of American diplomacy, from the revolution into the early 20th century.