XYZ Affair
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The XYZ Affair was a 1797 diplomatic episode that worsened relations between the United States and France and led to the undeclared Quasi-War of 1798. Jay's Treaty of 1795 angered France, which was at war with Britain and interpreted the treaty as evidence of an Anglo-American alliance. President John Adams and his Federalist Party had also been critical of the tyranny and extreme radicalism of the French Revolution, further souring relations between France and the United States.[1]
The French seized nearly three hundred American ships bound for British ports in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Caribbean. Federalist leaders like Alexander Hamilton called for war, but President John Adams, also a Federalist, sent a diplomatic delegation to Paris in 1797 to negotiate peace. Three French agents, originally called X, Y, and Z,[2], demanded a large cash bribe for the delegation to speak to the French foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, a huge loan to help fund the French wars as a condition for continuing negotiations, and a formal apology for comments made by Adams.[3] Jeffersonians, sensing that the American delegates were to blame, demanded to see the documents. Adams released the report, setting off a firestorm of anti-French sentiment.
That one sovereign nation should refuse to negotiate with the accredited representatives of America, or even to receive them, without bribes for its leading members and a loan for that nation's military incursions in Europe, seemed an extreme insult to Americans. The public learned that the American delegates Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry had rejected the demands. "Not a sixpence," was their response (translated by newspaper editors as "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute!") [4]
The U.S. had offered France many of the same provisions found in Jay's Treaty with Britain, but France reacted by sending Marshall and Pinckney home. Gerry remained in France, thinking he could prevent a declaration of war, but did not officially negotiate any further.
The Quasi-War erupted (1798-1800), with American and French warships and merchants ships fighting in actual combat in the Caribbean and off the American coast. (It was called "quasi" because there was no formal declaration of war.) The Americans abrogated the Franco-American Alliance. Adams began to build up the navy, and a new army was raised. Full-scale war seemed at hand, but Adams appointed new diplomats led by William Murray. They negotiated an end to hostilities through the Treaty of Mortefontaine. The XYZ affair significantly weakened the affection Americans had for France. [5]
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[edit] References
- Brown, Ralph A. The Presidency of John Adams. (1988).
- Elkins, Stanley M. and Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism. (1993)
- Ferling, John. John Adams: A Life. (1992)
- Hale, Matthew Rainbow. "'Many Who Wandered in Darkness': the Contest over American National Identity, 1795-1798." Early American Studies 2003 1(1): 127-175. Issn: 1543-4273
- Miller, John C. The Federalist Era: 1789-1801 (1960), pp 210-227
- Ray, Thomas M. "'Not One Cent for Tribute': The Public Addresses and American Popular Reaction to the XYZ Affair, 1798-1799." Journal of the Early Republic (1983) 3(4): 389-412. Issn: 0275-1275 Fulltext online in Jstor
- Jean Edward Smith, John Marshall: Definer Of A Nation, New York: Henry, Holt & Company, 1996.
- Stinchcombe, William. The XYZ Affair. Greenwood, 1980. 167 pp.
- Stinchcombe, William. "The Diplomacy of the WXYZ Affair," in William and Mary Quarterly, 34:590-617 (October 1977); in JSTOR; note the "W". who soon vanished
[edit] Notes
- ^ John Ferling, John Adams: A Life. (1992), 452
- ^ They were Jean Conrad Hottinguer, Pierre Bellamy and Lucien Hauteval.
- ^ The loan was to be 32 million Dutch florins--about $12 million-- and the bribe, 50,000 pounds sterling. or about $250,000. Elkins and McKitrick (1993) p.572
- ^ Elkins and McKitrick (1993) p.550
- ^ Hale (2003); Ray (1983)
