William Short (American ambassador)

William Short (1759–1849) was Thomas Jefferson's private secretary when Jefferson was a peace commissioner and then the United States Minister to France in Paris, from 1784 to 1789. 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 was an early member and president (1778–1781) of Phi Beta Kappa at the College of William & Mary, was elected to Virginia's Executive Council in 1783–1784, served as America's chargé d'affaires in France during the French Revolution from 1789–1792, was then appointed as America's Minister to the Netherlands and as a treaty commissioner to Spain. (The United States did not have ambassadors until 1893. Until that time, the highest ranking diplomats were known as ministers.) Although his diplomatic career was not as celebrated or long as Short may have wished, and his love affair with a French noblewoman ended with her marrying another man, Short was a successful businessman and an opponent of slavery who died very wealthy in America.

William Short was born in 1759 to William Short (the Fifth) and Elizabeth Skipwith at Spring Garden, Surry County, Virginia. He was the brother of Peyton Short, who became a land speculator and politician in Kentucky.

During his time in Paris as Thomas Jefferson's private secretary, William Short served as charge d'affaires in Jefferson's absence. After Jefferson returned to America in 1789, Short continued as charge d'affairs, and since he was the highest ranking American diplomat in France he essentially served as the replacement U.S. Minister for three years. During this time, In what would become a life-long correspondence, Short provided Jefferson with detailed reports on the progress of the French Revolution. After 1792, Short became increasingly disillusioned with the excessive violence of the Revolution, which resulted in several friends being arrested or murdered.

From September 1790 until August 1794, Short also acted as the United States's fiscal agent in Europe, and in that capacity he refinanced America's foreign debt, negotiating a lower interest rate than any other country enjoyed—a service that greatly helped America's federal government in the 1790s. In 1792, Short was appointed Minister to the Netherlands and then to be a treaty commissioner plenipotentiary to Spain. Short's Spanish mission was frustrating, however, because France and Spain went to war in March 1793, making any Spanish-American treaty much more difficult. After working on negotiations for years, he was removed from his position just as the situation began to get better, and so did not get credit when a treaty was finally made. Short returned to Paris, but after finding that the woman he loved, the Duchesse Rosalie de la Rochefoucauld, was not willing to leave France, Short went back to the United States to take care of business matters in 1802. Immediately upon returning, Short visited Jefferson for a month at Monticello, Jefferson's home.

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