Despite its name and popularity, the French fries are not French. The origins can be found in Belgium, where historians claim potatoes were being fried in the late-1600s.
Who brought French fries to America? Thomas Jefferson—possibly the first American foodie—is generally credited with introducing the French fry to America; and in his case the fries were definitely French, as Jefferson encountered them while serving as American Minister to France from 1784 to 1789.