André Michaux was one of the most accomplished scientific explorers of North America before Lewis and Clark. His work took him from the Bahamas to Hudson Bay, and it is likely that no contemporary of his had seen as much of the continent. But there is more to his story. During his decade-long American sojourn, Michaux found himself thrust into the middle of a vast international conspiracy. In 1793, the revolutionary French government conscripted him into its service as a secret agent and tasked him with organizing American frontiersmen to attack Spanish-controlled New Orleans, seize control of Louisiana, and establish an independent republic in the American West. An unexpected figure emerges at the center of the plot: Thomas Jefferson. In his new book, Patrick Spero sheds new light on an incipient American political climate that fostered reckless diplomatic ventures under the guise of scientific exploration, revealing the air of uncertainty and opportunity that pervaded the early republic.
Dr. Patrick Spero is the Librarian and Director of the American Philosophical Society Library and the incoming CEO of the institution. Patrick is a scholar of early American history and the author of several articles and four books, including Frontier Country: The Politics of War in Early Pennsylvania (2016); Frontier Rebels: The Fight for Independence in the American West, 1765–1776 (2018); Patrick is a scholar of early American history and the author of several articles and four books, including Frontier Country: The Politics of War in Early Pennsylvania (2016); Frontier Rebels: The Fight for Independence in the American West, 1765–1776 (2018); The Other Presidency: Thomas Jefferson and the American Philosophical Society (2024); and The Scientist Turned Spy: André Michaux, Thomas Jefferson, and the Conspiracy of 1793 (2024).
