XYZ Affair

The XYZ Affair was a foreign relations crisis with France in 1797 and 1798. The United States was a young nation trying to remain neutral with France and Great Britain, who were at war. Naval conflict ensued with both foreign powers, but President John Adams (1735–1826; served 1797–1801) eventually negotiated solutions that averted full-scale war.

Dueling treaties

In 1778 amidst the American Revolution (1775–83), the United States signed two treaties with France in exchange for France's wartime assistance. The Treaty of Commerce promised that French warships would have free access to American ports for selling goods captured during war. The Treaty of Alliance promised that neither country would separately make peace with Great Britain.

In 1783 the United States officially ended the American Revolution by signing the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain. John Adams negotiated the treaty along with Americans John Jay (1745–1829) and Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790). France considered the treaty to be a breach of the American-French Treaty of Alliance from 1778.

War between France and Great Britain

In 1789 France overthrew its monarchy and formed a republican government. Four years later France declared war on Great Britain. The source of their conflict was commerce and trade issues.

France sought assistance from the United States under the Treaty of Alliance. President George Washington (1732–1799; served 1789–97) announced that the United States would remain officially neutral. Republicans, however, the opposition party at the time, believed that the policies of Washington and the Federalist-controlled government were designed to favor Great Britain.

At the same time relations between the United States and Great Britain were faltering. Americans refused to pay Great Britain on debts owed from before the Revolution. Great Britain refused to abandon military forts in North America and was blocking U.S. ships from British ports. When war erupted with France, Great Britain began to capture American vessels, forcing the sailors to serve in the British navy, a practice called impressments.

Washington sent John Jay to London, England, to negotiate a solution with Great Britain. The result was Jay's Treaty of 1795. The treaty did very little to fix relations with Great Britain, but the very existence of the treaty angered France. The French considered it another breach of the Treaty of Alliance and a taking of sides in the ongoing war.

The XYZ Affair

Shortly before Washington's second term ended in 1797, he sent politician Charles C. Pinckney (1757–1824) to France as the American minister. France rejected Pinckney and ordered him to leave. When France learned that John Adams would succeed Washington as president, it can-celled the 1778 Treaty of Alliance and ordered its navy to begin capturing American vessels.

Soon after taking office Adams addressed a special session of Congress in May 1797. Adams spoke harshly toward France and asked Congress for money to build the army and navy. At the same time he planned to send a commission to France for negotiations. Consisting of Pinckney, John Marshall (1755–1835), and Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), the commission sailed in July 1797 and arrived in Paris, France, in October.

The French Directory, or official government of France, assigned foreign relations minister Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754–1838) to negotiate with the Americans. Talleyrand sent three secret agents to speak with the American commissioners ahead of official negotiations. The secret agents said that to get an official reception from France, the Americans would have to apologize for Adams's harsh words, make a payment of 1.2 million livres (an old French monetary unit), and loan France thirty-two million florins (another form of currency previously used in Europe) for its war with Great Britain. The Americans refused the demand and were threatened in the ensuing months while negotiations with France made no progress.

America angered

Dispatches from the commissioners reached the Adams administration in March 1798. Secretary of State Timothy Pickering (1745–1829) was angered to read that secret agents had bribed and then threatened the Americans. While such bribes were common in European diplomacy, the amount demanded had been high.

Adams was angered by the news, too. Congress asked to see the message from the commissioners. At first Adams tried to use executive privilege to hide the message from Congress. Eventually he shared it, but he replaced the names of the secret French agents with the letters X, Y, and Z. He feared the commissioners would be harmed if he revealed the names of the secret agents.

Americans reacted angrily to the news. Many called for war with France. A popular slogan arose, “Millions for defense but not one cent for tribute.” The United States increased spending for its army and navy. Naval conflicts with France escalated to the level of what Adams called a “half war.” The countries never declared war, though, and they finally negotiated peace in the Convention of 1800.