A British political cartoon depicting the affair.

The XYZ Affair was a 1798 diplomatic episode during the administration of John Adams that Americans interpreted as an insult from France. It led to an undeclared naval war called the Quasi-War, which raged at sea from 1798 to 1800. The Federalist Party took advantage of the national anger to build an army and pass the Alien and Sedition Acts to damage the rival Democratic-Republican Party.^[1]

History[link]

In the wake of the French Revolution, relations between the new French Republic and the United States became ever more strained. Three French agents demanded major concessions from the United States as a condition for continuing bilateral diplomatic relations. The concessions demanded by the French included 50,000 pounds sterling, a $12 million loan from the United States, a $250,000 personal bribe to French foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, and a formal apology for comments made by President John Adams.^[2][3]

When Congress demanded to see the documents, Adams gave them copies with the real names of the Frenchmen coded X, Y and Z. X was Baron Jean-Conrad Hottinguer, Y was Pierre Bellamy, and Z was Lucien Hauteval.^[4]

The demand came during a meeting in Paris, France, between the French agents and a three-member American commission consisting of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry. Several weeks prior to the meeting with X, Y, and Z, the American commission had met with French foreign minister Talleyrand to discuss French retaliation against the Jay Treaty, which they perceived as evidence of an Anglo-American alliance. French privateers seized nearly 300 American ships bound for British ports in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Caribbean seas.^[5] Adams decided to send Pinckney as part of the commission, as Franco-U.S. relations had recently been worsened by Talleyrand's rejection of Pinckney as America's minister to France. The French continued to seize American ships, and the Federalist Party, incited by Alexander Hamilton, advocated going to war. Congress authorized the build-up of an army.^[6]

The American delegates found the demands unacceptable, and Charles Pinckney answered, "Not a sixpence!" It was only later, on June 18, 1798, at a Congressional Dinner honoring John Marshall, to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, that a toast by Robert Goodloe Harper, a Congressman from South Carolina, gave history the far more memorable phrase: "Millions for defense, sir, but not one cent for tribute!"^[7]

The United States offered France many of the same provisions found in the Jay Treaty with Britain, but France reacted by deporting Marshall and Pinckney back to the United States, refusing any proposal that would involve these two delegates, both key Federalists. Gerry (a Jeffersonian Republican who had been added to the delegation to give it credibility) remained in France, thinking he could prevent a declaration of war, but did not officially negotiate any further.

Republicans in Congress, thinking Adams might be hiding the truth, demanded he release the French proposals. After refusing to do so for some time, Adams then released the report of the affair, resulting in a wave of passionate anti-French sentiment across the U.S. that seriously damaged the Republicans and helped the Federalists win the 1798 elections.^[8] A formal declaration of war was narrowly avoided by Adams' diplomacy, specifically by appointing new diplomats including William Vans Murray to handle the conflict.

The Quasi-War began in July, 1798 and was fought at sea by warships and armed merchant ships. While there was no formal declaration of war, the conflict escalated with more French seizures of American merchant ships, American seizure of French merchant ships, and the abrogation of the Franco-American Alliance. Adams again sent negotiators on January 18, 1799, who eventually negotiated an end to hostilities through the Treaty of Mortefontaine in September 1800. Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the former French government responsible for the XYZ affair on November 9, 1799, so American diplomats were no longer negotiating for peace with a party directly involved in the affair.^[9] During negotiations with France, however, the U.S. began to build up its navy, a move long supported by Adams and Marshall, to defend against both the French and the British. In addition, in a speech delivered on July 16, 1797, Adams championed the formation of a navy and army, while emphasizing the importance of renewing treaties with Prussia and Sweden.^[10]

See also[link]

• Timeline of United States diplomatic history
• Diplomacy in the American Revolutionary War

References[link]

Notes

Further reading

• 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," in 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. 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".

External links[link]

• Transcript of Adams speech of 1797
• Bartleby
• John Adams and the XYZ Affair
• "The XYZ Affair and the Quasi-War with France, 1798-1800", U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian