ABSTRACT
Foreign correspondence to and from Europe required the utmost secrecy, especially because of the constant intrigue and foreign competition confronting the new republic. Domestic political strife also made American officials the targets of derision and misunderstanding as Federalist and Democratic Republican factions sought sponsorship for their obiectives. Thomas Jefferson was uniquely qualified to conduct diplomatic negotiation through both his experience in Virginia politics and as American minister to France, 1785–1789, where he had succeeded the venerable Benjamin Franklin. In encoded letters to Short, Jefferson covered a broad spectrum of somewhat sensitive topics such as the presentation of gifts by sovereigns to American ministers. Several other codes were also employed by the State Department during the first years of the American republic. One of the few American ciphers prepared during the 1790’s was designed by Oliver Wolcott, a major-general in the Revolution and later governor of Connecticut.
