XYZ Affair
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The XYZ Affair was a diplomatic episode in 1798 that worsened relations between France and the United States and led to the undeclared Quasi-War of 1798. John Jay's Treaty of 1794 angered France, which was at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain and interpreted the treaty as evidence of an Anglo-American alliance. U.S. President John Adams and his Federalist Party had also been critical of the Reign of Terror and extreme radicalism of the French Revolution, further souring relations between France and the States[1].
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[edit] Quick Summary
A commission had been sent to France in 1797 to discuss the disputes that had arisen out of the U.S.'s refusal to honor the France-American Treaty of 1778. President Adams had criticized the French Revolution, so France began to break off relations with the U.S. Adams sent delegates to meet with the French foreign minister Talleyrand in the hopes of working things out. Talleyrand's three agents told the American delegates that they could meet with Talleyrand only in exchange for a very large bribe. Talleyrand's agents told them that Talleyrand requested a $250,000 dollar bribe, a loan of $12 million for France and an apology for the derogatory speech given by John Adams. The Americans did not pay the bribe.
In 1797 Adams made the incident public, substituting the letters "X, Y and Z" for the names of the three French agents - Conrad Hottinguer ("X"), a Swiss banker; Pierre Bellamy ("Y"), and Lucien Hauteval ("Z")[2] - in his report to Congress.
[edit] Summary
The French seized nearly three hundred American ships bound for British ports in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas. Federalist leaders such as Alexander Hamilton called for war, but President Adams sent a diplomatic delegation (Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry) to Paris in 1797 to negotiate peace. Three French agents, Jean Conrad Hottinguer, Pierre Bellamy, and Lucien Hauteval, demanded a large cash bribe for the delegation to speak to French foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, 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] The Americans broke off negotiations and went home.
President Adams, still looking for diplomatic maneuverability, declined to make the documents related to the exchange public. However, Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party, sensing that the American delegates were to blame for the failure, and looking to weaken the Federalist party, demanded to see the key documents. Adams released the delegation's report—with the names of the three French agents changed to X,Y, and Z. The documents, which clearly showed French fault in the failure of the negotiations, set off a firestorm of anti-French sentiment not previously found in the United States.
France's refusal to receive the accredited U.S. representatives, let alone negotiate with them, without bribes for its leading members and a loan for its military incursions in Europe seemed an extreme insult to Americans. The public learned that the American delegates had rejected the demands. "The answer is no! No, not a sixpence!" was their response (translated by newspaper editors as "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute!") [4]. As a result, Jefferson's partisan maneuvering to publicize the documents, (on the assumption that they would show anti-French bias) backfired against his own Democratic-Republican party, giving the Federalists leverage to continue a military build-up.
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 conflict that erupted was dubbed Quasi-War as there was no formal declaration of war. Between 1798 and 1800, American and French warships and merchants ships fought in actual combat in the Caribbean and off the East Coast of the United States. The Americans terminated 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 1800 Treaty of Mortefontaine. The XYZ Affair significantly weakened the affection Americans had for France.[5]
[edit] Notes
- ^ John Ferling, John Adams: A Life. (1992), pg. 452
- ^ Rodriguez, Junius P. (2002). The Louisiana Purchase: A Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 280. ISBN 157607188X. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Qs7GAwwdzyQC.
- ^ The loan was to be thirty-one million Dutch guldens—about twelve million United States dollars—and the bribe fifty thousand pounds sterling, or about 250,000 dollars. Elkins and McKitrick (1993) p.572
- ^ Elkins and McKitrick (1993) pg. 550
- ^ Hale (2003); Ray (1983)
[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".
