Robert Smith

Robert Smith became Secretary of State in 1809 after eight years as Thomas Jefferson’s secretary of the navy. His career as a Baltimore admiralty lawyer had made him familiar with the maritime disputes that dominated American foreign relations. James Madison appointed him despite preferring Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin, whose selection faced opposition from Smith’s allies in the Senate. ¹

Smith and Madison sought relief from Britain’s restrictions on neutral commerce during the Napoleonic Wars. Their 1809 agreement with the British minister David Erskine appeared to reopen trade and remove the British Orders in Council as they applied to the United States. London repudiated the arrangement because Erskine had exceeded his instructions. The collapse renewed disputes over commercial retaliation, British naval power, and American relations with France in the years preceding the War of 1812. ¹

Relations inside the administration also deteriorated. Madison, an experienced former secretary, frequently revised Smith’s diplomatic communications and distrusted his political connections. Gallatin eventually threatened to resign unless Smith left the cabinet. Madison removed Smith in 1811 and offered him the Russian mission, which he declined. Smith published an attack on the administration and withdrew from federal office. His tenure ended without the maritime settlement that both he and the president had sought. ¹