Were any U.S. founding fathers present at the storming of the Bastille?

Question

Were any U.S. founding fathers present at the storming of the Bastille?

I heard that Thomas Paine was "cheering on" the French Revolution.

Answer 1

There are 2 founding fathers (that I found) that were in France at the time of the French Revolution.

1. Thomas Jefferson

On July 14, 1789, the U.S. Ambassador to France, Thomas Jefferson, was a witness to the events of a day in Paris that is commonly associated with the beginning of the French Revolution. Jefferson recorded the events of the day in a lengthy and detailed letter to John Jay, then Secretary of Foreign Affairs. In their own words: Thomas Jefferson and the Storming of the Bastille -- The original letter (paywalled)

More about it by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation

2. Gouverneur Morris

Gouverneur Morris was in France from 1789 to 1794, first for personal reasons, before being named minister plenipotentiary by George Washington in 1792. Journal de Gouverneur Morris.

His diaries during that time have become a valuable chronicle of the French Revolution and capture much of that era's turbulence and violence (wikipedia)

Haven't found evidence that he was physically in Paris on July 14th though. But some pages of his journal refer to the events. From "Le Journal de Gouverneur Morris pendant la Révolution française. Tome premier (1789)", quoting his "Journal, I, pp. 108-112 et p. 299":

(Original) Morris assiste à la Révolution comme à un spectacle. Il est présent dans les tribunes lors de l’ouverture des États-Généraux les 4 et 5 mai 1789 et il se rend également à l’Assemblée Nationale à plusieurs reprises, comme par exemple le 26 septembre 1789, où il estime que les débats sont désordonnés, bruyants et infructueux.

(Translation) Morris attends the Revolution as a spectacle. He was present in the stands during the opening of the States-General on May 4 and 5, 1789 and he also went to the National Assembly on several occasions, such as for example on September 26, 1789, where he considered that the debates were messy, noisy and unsuccessful.

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If Thomas Paine was awarded honorary citizenship by France in recognition of the publishing of his "Rights of Man", and was later elected to the National Convention (despite not speaking any French), he wasn't in France at the time "La Bastille" was under attack. He moved to London in 1787 and wasn't back to France until 1790.

Answer 2

This is an addendum to OldPadawan's answer, citing directly from Morris's diary regarding the events of July 14. Anne Cary Morris (ed.), The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribener's Sons 1888, p. 125:

While I am visiting M. Le Coulteux a person comes to announce the taking of the Bastille, the Governor of which is beheaded, and the Prévôt des Marchands is killed and also beheaded. They are carrying the heads in triumph through the city. The carrying of this citadel is among the most extraordinary things I have met with. It cost the assailants 60 men, it is said. The Hôtel Royal des Invalides was forced this morning and the cannon and small arms, etc., brought off. The citizens are by these means well armed, at least here are the materials for about 30,000 to be equipped with, and that is a sufficient army.

M. Le Coulteux appears to be Jean-Barthélemy Le Couteulx de Canteleu, a wealthy banker whose name is usually spelled Le Coulteux de Chanteleu in contemporary publications. He resided in a large house in Faubourg Saint-Honoré near the Champs-Élysées. So Morris was close to the action on July 14 but not an eyewitness to the storming of the Bastille.

Thomas Jefferson was likewise present in Paris on the day the Bastille was stormed, but received the news second hand. Paul Leicester Ford (ed.), The Writings of Thomas Jefferson. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons 1892, pp. 136-137:

M. de Corny and five others were then sent to ask arms of M. de Launay, governor of the Bastile. They found a great collection of people already before the place, and they immediately planted a flag of truce, which was answered by a like flag hoisted on the Parapet. The deputation prevailed on the people to fall back a little, advanced themselves to make their demand of the Governor and in that instant a discharge from the Bastile killed four persons, of those nearest to the deputies. The deputies retired. I happened to be at the house of M. de Corny when he returned to it and received from him a narrative of these transactions. On the retirement of the deputies, the people rushed forward & almost in an instant were in possession of a fortification defended by 100 men of infinite strength which in other times had stood several regular sieges, and had never been taken. How they forced their entrance has never been explained. They took all the arms, discharged the prisoners, and such of the garrison as were not killed in the first moment of fury, carried the Governor and Lt. Governor to the Place de Grève (the place of public execution) cut off their heads, and sent them thro' the city in triumph to the Palais royal. About the same instant a treacherous correspondence having been discovered in M. de Flesselles, prevot des marchands, they seized him in the Hotel de Ville where he was in the execution of his office, and cut off his head.

M. de Corny appears to be Louis-Dominique Éthis de Corny. He was an attorney, commissary officer, and royal prosecutor for the city of Paris who supported the French Revolution.