To use his own words, he came to America to "drink in a love for independence in the freest country of the universe." But there was some method in this madness.

The rash scheme of emigration had a practical side; land speculation and commerce were to be the foundation and support of the settlement in the wilderness where they would realize their political Utopia.
From Geneva the young adventurers hurried to Nantes, on the coast of France, where Gallatin soon received letters from his family, who seem to have neglected nothing that could contribute to their comfort or advantage.

Monsieur P.M.Gallatin, the guardian of Albert, a distant relative in an elder branch of the family, addressed him a letter which, in its moderation, dignity, and kindness, is a model of well-tempered severity and reproach.

It expressed the pain Mademoiselle Pictet had felt at his unceremonious departure, and his own affliction at the ingratitude of one to whom he had never refused a request.
Finally, as the trustee of his estate till his majority, the guardian assures the errant youth that he will aid him with pecuniary resources as far as possible, without infringing upon the capital, and within the sworn obligation of his trust.

Letters of recommendation to distinguished Americans were also forwarded, and in these it is found, to the high credit of the family, that no distinction was made between the two young men, although Serre seems to have been considered as the originator of the bold move.