Editing François Barbé-Marbois (section)

==Early career==
Born in [[Metz]], where his father was director of the local mint, Barbé-Marbois tutored the children of the [[Charles Eugène Gabriel de La Croix, marquis de Castries|Marquis de Castries]]. In 1779, he was made secretary of the French legation to the United States. In 1780, Barbé-Marbois sent a questionnaire to the governors of all thirteen former American colonies, seeking information about each state's geography, natural resources, history, and government. [[Thomas Jefferson]], who was then finishing his final term as Virginia's governor, responded to this query with a manuscript that later became his famous ''[[Notes on the State of Virginia]]''.<ref>R.E. Bernstein, ''Thomas Jefferson'', p. 50.</ref>

Barbé-Marbois was elected a Foreign Honorary Member to both the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=17 May 2011}}</ref> and the [[American Philosophical Society]]<ref name=aps>{{cite journal|title=The Early French Members of the American Philosophical Society|author=J. G. Rosengarten|journal=[[American Philosophical Society#Publications|Transactions of the American Philosophical Society]]|year=1907|volume=46|issue=185|pages=87–93|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|jstor=983442}}</ref> in 1781. When the minister [[Chevalier de la Luzerne]] returned to France in 1783, Barbé-Marbois remained in America as chargé d'affaires in 1784. That year he married Elizabeth Moore, the daughter of [[William Moore (statesman)|William Moore]], former governor of [[Pennsylvania]].

In 1785, he became [[intendant]] of the [[French colonial empire|colony]] of [[Saint-Domingue]] under the ''[[Ancien Régime]]''.