XYZ Affair

(1)In the wake of the French Revolution relations between the new French Republic and the United States became ever more strained. After the United States' Jay Treaty with Britain, French outrage mounted. The French navy began to seize American merchant ships, and the French government refused to receive the American diplomat Charles Pinckney when he arrived in Paris in 1796. When Adams sent a three-man delegation, Charles Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry, to Paris to negotiate a peace agreement with France, French agents demanded major concessions from the United States as a condition for continuing diplomatic relations. These included a demand for 50,000 pounds sterling, a 250,000 personal bribe to French foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand. The United States had 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 and 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.

(2)Republicans in Congress, thinking Adams might be hiding the truth about the agreements reached by the American and French delegates, demanded he release the French proposals. Realizing that the release of the negotiation dispatches would play in his favor, Adams decided to release government dispatches that detailed how France had demanded bribes from the United States before any peace settlement would be discussed. Since Adams omitted the names of these French agents in the dispatches, referring to them as "X, Y, and Z", this became known as the XYZ Affair. "X" was Baron Jean-Conrad Hottinguer, "Y" was Pierre Bellamy, and "Z" was Lucien Hauteval, and the demand came during a meeting in Paris, France. Several weeks prior to the meeting with X, Y, and Z, the dispatches detailed how the American commission had met with French foreign minister Talleyrand to discuss French retaliation against the Jay Treaty, which the French government perceived as evidence of an Anglo-American alliance.

(3)Anti-French sentiment in the American public exploded and support for war with France, led by Hamilton and the Federalists, mounted, as evidenced by the popular catchphrase: "millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute! " that spread through newspapers and pamphlets. War seemed inevitable as the French continued to seize private American ships in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Caribbean, and Congress authorized Adams to begin to build up the army and the navy. However, Adams continued to hope for a peaceful settlement with France and avoided pushing Congress towards a formal declaration of war.

Instead, the Quasi-War began in July, 1798 and was fought at sea by an expanding U.S. navy. While there was no formal declaration of war, the conflict escalated with both size capturing ships. These hostilities continued until France experienced another regime change in 1799. American commissioners then negotiated the Treaty of Mortefontaine with Napoleon's ministers in September 1800, which ended all hostilities.

1.

Part A

What is the meaning of the word tribute as it is used in the passage?

A. Letter

B. Bribe

C. King

D. War

Part B

Which phrase from the passage best supports your answer to Part A?

A. Adams sent a three-man delegation

B. a 250,000 personal bribe to French foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

C. the dispatches detailed how the American commission had met with French foreign minister Talleyrand

D. thinking he could prevent a declaration of war

2.

Which sentence best describes the structure of paragraph 3?

A. The paragraph is structured by cause and effect; it explains how the refusal of the French to accept the American diplomats almost led to a war with France.

B. The paragraph is structured as a contrast between the French treatment of American diplomats and the American treatment of diplomats.

C. The paragraph is structured as a chronological account of the actions of the French ambassadors demanding money from the Americans.

D. The paragraph is structured as problem and solution; it explains what problems the American diplomats faced with France and how they were able to solve that problem.

3.

Although war was avoided with France, many events seemed to be leading to a conflict. For each group in the chart below, write one sentence from the text that provides a detail about how that group played a role in the push for war.

American Public

French

Congress

A British political cartoon depicting the XYZ Affair

Source: Boundless. The XYZ Affair. Boundless U.S. History. Boundless, 14 Nov. 2014.

What are the 5 Frenchmen doing in this picture? Describe how they are treating the woman.

Who does the woman represent in this picture? How do you know?

What does the bag of riches represent? What do the words on the bags mean?

Who are the people in the background and what do they represent?