André Michaux and the Many Politics of Trees in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World

In 1785, French botanist André Michaux was dispatched to the United States to study and collect North American specimens in an attempt to find trees that could replenish French forests. This essay offers a new analysis of Michaux’s mission in the context of the geo-political and diplomatic circumstances of his day. It demonstrates the importance of having botanical knowledge of a realm, and the value of a scientist who could navigate and communicate such information.