After weeks of waiting, three agents representing Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, the French minister of foreign affairs, approached the Americans.  They asked for a bribe of $250,000 just to initiate talks, and they also sought an American loan of $12 million.

In his journal, Marshall recounts an exchange between Pinckney and one of the agents (a “Mr.  H.”):

“Mr.  H.  again returned to the subject of money.  Said he Gentlemen you do not speak to the point—it is money—it is expected that you will offer money—Genl.  Pinckney said we had spoken to that point very explicitly.

...No said he, you have not.  What is your answer?

Genl.  Pinckney replied it is no, no, not a sixpence.”

When President John Adams informed Congress of the incident, he referred to the French agents as X, Y, and Z, inspiring newspapers to refer to the incident as the XYZ Affair.

Newspaper writers turned Pinckney’s response into the stirring Federalist slogan, “Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute.”

—adapted from The Flavor of the Past

Washington’s Foreign Policy

Shortly after George Washington was inaugurated in 1789, the French Revolution began in Europe.  At first, most Americans sympathized with the revolutionaries, who seemed to be fighting for the same rights Americans had won a few years earlier.  By the spring of 1793, however, a new group of French radicals had seized control.  They stripped aristocrats of their property and executed thousands of people, including the king and queen.

The radicals soon executed the French king and declared war on Britain.  Since both Britain and France traded with the United States, Americans quickly found themselves embroiled in the European conflict.

The American Response

Americans were divided over the French Revolution.  Many Federalists, horrified by the violence and chaos, opposed it.  Despite the bloodshed, many Republicans supported it, admiring the fight for liberty.

The war between Britain and France put Washington in a difficult position.  The Treaty of 1778 with France required the United States to help defend France’s colonies in the Caribbean.  Fulfilling this agreement might mean war with Great Britain.  On April 22, 1793, Washington issued a proclamation declaring the United States to be “friendly and impartial” toward both warring powers.

Jay’s Treaty

Despite Washington’s declaration, the British navy began intercepting all neutral ships carrying goods to French ports, including hundreds of American ships.  At the same time, reports appeared that the British, operating out of forts they still occupied on American territory, were inciting Native Americans to attack western settlers.  These reports, combined with British seizures of American ships, pushed Congress to the brink of war in 1794.

Desperately hoping to avoid war, Washington sent John Jay to Britain to seek a solution.  The British were busy fighting France.  They did not want to fight the United States, but they also knew that the United States depended on trade with Britain.  They agreed to sign Jay’s Treaty, but they drove a hard bargain.

Jay was forced to agree that Britain had the right to seize cargoes bound for French ports.  He also failed to get compensation for American merchants whose goods had been seized.  The British did agree, however, to submit the issue to international arbitration—a hearing by neutral third countries.  In return, the British gave the United States most-favored nation status.  This meant that American merchants would not be discriminated against when they traded with Britain.  Britain also allowed limited American trade with its Caribbean colonies.

When Jay’s Treaty was sent to the Senate for ratification, the senators were shocked by its terms and tried to keep them secret.  Although they eventually ratified the treaty, news of its terms leaked to the public.  The Republicans immediately attacked the treaty, accusing the Federalists of being pro-British.  Across much of the country, public meetings were held condemning the treaty.  After prolonged deliberation, Washington agreed to implement the treaty.  The decision prevented war with Great Britain and protected the fragile American economy.

Pinckney’s Treaty

Jay’s Treaty also helped the United States win concessions from Spain, which still controlled Florida and territory west of the Mississippi River.  In 1795 Spain joined France in its struggle against Britain.  The signing of Jay’s Treaty raised fears in Spain that the British and Americans might now join forces to seize Spain’s North American holdings.  Spain quickly offered to negotiate all outstanding issues with the United States.

Washington sent Thomas Pinckney from South Carolina to negotiate with Spain.  In 1795 the Spanish signed the Treaty of San Lorenzo—better known as Pinckney’s Treaty.  The treaty granted the United States the right to navigate the Mississippi and to deposit goods at the port of New Orleans.  The treaty won broad acceptance, especially among western farmers who wanted to use the Mississippi to get crops to market.

Summarizing
Why did President Washington choose neutrality in the war between Britain and France?

GEOGRAPHY
Westward Expansion

By 1790 the area between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River had become the most rapidly growing region in the United States.  Drawn by abundant land, fertile soil, wide rivers, and a wide variety of fish and game, Americans flocked to the region.  In less than a decade, Kentucky had grown from a few hundred settlers to over 70,000, and in 1792, it became a state.  Four years later, Tennessee became a state as well.  In the meantime, other settlers were moving steadily west from Pennsylvania and Virginia into the Northwest Territory.  The rise in white settlement led to confrontations with Native Americans in the region.

In the Northwest Territory, a chief of the Miami people named Little Turtle had formed a confederacy of the Miami, Shawnee, Delaware, and other groups.  The confederacy sought to defend its land against white settlement.  In the fall of 1790, Little Turtle’s warriors defeated American troops led by General Josiah Harmar.  In November 1791, they ambushed another American force led by General Arthur St.  Clair, killing nearly half his men.

After these disasters, Washington sent General Anthony Wayne to put down Native American resistance.  In August 1794, a large force made up of Shawnee, Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi warriors, led by the Shawnee chief Blue Jacket, attacked Wayne’s troops at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, near where Toledo, Ohio, is located today.  This time the American troops inflicted heavy losses on the Native Americans.

Wayne’s victory dealt a decisive blow to Native American resistance in the Northwest Territory.  In August 1795, 12 Native American nations signed the Treaty of Greenville.  (See map on page 235.) They agreed to give up part of what is today southern Ohio and Indiana in exchange for a yearly payment of $10,000 from the federal government.  They also gave up land near where Chicago, Detroit, and Vincennes, Indiana, are located today.  After the treaty signing, the flow of Americans into the region rapidly increased.  By 1803 Ohio had enough settlers to become a state.

Examining
Why did Little Turtle form a confederacy?

Washington Leaves Office

By the end of his second term in office, George Washington had grown exasperated by party politics and the attacks on his character.  He decided to retire.

The Farewell Address

Before leaving office, the president wrote a letter to the American people.  Widely reprinted, Washington’s Farewell Address warned Americans against sectionalism—to avoid dividing the country into North against South or East against West.  Washington also cautioned Americans about political parties:

“Let me now ...warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party. ...  The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual.”

Washington also warned against Americans becoming too attached to any foreign nation:

“The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible.  ...’Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.”

—from Washington’s Farewell Address

The Election of 1796

With Washington stepping down, the United States held its first openly contested election.  The Federalists rallied around John Adams for president, while the Republicans nominated Thomas Jefferson.  Anger over Jay’s Treaty made the election close, but when the electoral votes were tallied, John Adams edged out Jefferson 71 to 68 and became the second president of the United States.

Describing
What advice did Washington give about political parties and alliances?

The Quasi-War With France

President Adams faced troubled times at home and abroad.  Enraged by Jay’s Treaty, the French had begun stopping American ships and seizing their goods if they were going to Britain.  France’s actions led many Federalists to call for war against France.  Although critical of the French, Adams, like Washington, was reluctant to involve the United States in a major war.  Instead he sent Charles Pinckney, Elbridge Gerry, and John Marshall to negotiate with France.  Americans called the French effort to get bribes before beginning negotiations the XYZ Affair.

Irate Americans, who had been angry with Britain a few years earlier, now called for war against France.  Resolutions, mass meetings, and patriotic songs further aroused the public.  In June 1798, Congress suspended trade with France and directed the navy to capture armed French ships.  The two nations were soon fighting an undeclared war at sea that came to be known as the Quasi-War.

In the fall of 1798, France proposed new negotiations.  In September 1800, the two countries signed the Convention of 1800.  In this agreement, the United State gave up all claims against France for damages to American shipping.  In return, France released the United States from the treaty of 1778.  With the signing of the Convention of 1800, the Quasi-War came to an end.

Explaining
What caused the Quasi-War?

The War Between the Parties

The Quasi-War also affected domestic politics in the United States.  Many Federalists resented the harsh criticisms printed in Republican newspapers.  They remembered the angry Republican crowds that had protested Jay’s Treaty.  Now, the Quasi-War had reversed the situation, and Federalists in Congress decided to strike back at the Republicans.

The Alien and Sedition Acts

At the height of public anger at France in 1798, the Federalists pushed four laws through Congress.  These laws became known as the Alien and Sedition Acts.

The first three laws were aimed at aliens —people living in the country who were not citizens.  The Federalists knew that many recent immigrants had come from France and Ireland.  These immigrants were often anti-British and tended to vote for the Republican Party once they became citizens.  The first law required immigrants to wait 14 years before becoming citizens, thus weakening Republican support.  The next two laws gave the president the power to deport without trial any alien deemed dangerous to the United States.

The fourth law was aimed at preventing sedition, or incitement to rebellion.  This law made it a federal crime to utter or print anything “false, scandalous, and malicious” against the federal government or any officer of the government.  In short, the act deprived citizens of their right to criticize public officials.  The government indicted 15 people under this act, including several Republican newspaper editors and politicians.

The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

In 1798 and 1799, the Republican-controlled legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia passed resolutions, secretly written by Jefferson and Madison, criticizing the Alien and Sedition Acts.  Both resolutions argued that since the states had created the Constitution, they could declare federal laws unconstitutional.

The Virginia Resolutions introduced the theory of interposition.  They argued that if the federal government did something unconstitutional, the state could interpose between the federal government and the people and stop the illegal action.  The Kentucky Resolutions advanced the theory of nullification.

According to this theory, if the federal government passed an unconstitutional law, the states had the right to nullify the law, or declare it invalid.  Although these resolutions had little effect in 1800, states used these ideas in later decades to defend their regional interests.

TURNING POINT
The Election of 1800

Although John Adams hoped to win reelection in 1800, he faced an uphill battle.  The Alien and Sedition Acts had angered many people, as had a new tax the Federalists had introduced on houses, land, and enslaved Africans.  The Republican nominees, Thomas Jefferson for president and Aaron Burr for vice president, campaigned against the new taxes and the national bank.  They accused the Federalists of favoring monarchy and of discouraging political participation.

The election was closely contested and had an unexpected outcome, one that revealed a flaw in the system for selecting the president.  The Constitution does not let citizens vote directly for the chief executive.  Instead each state chooses electors—the same number as it has senators and representatives.  This group, known as the Electoral College, then votes for the president.

The Constitution called for each elector in the Electoral College to vote for two people.  The normal practice was for an elector to cast one vote for his party’s presidential candidate and another for the vice presidential candidate.  To avoid a tie between Jefferson and Burr, the Republicans had intended for one elector to refrain from voting for Burr, but the plan went awry.  When the votes were counted, Jefferson and Burr each had 73.  Since no candidate had a majority, the Federalist-controlled House of Representatives had to choose a president.

Many Federalists despised Jefferson and wanted to select Burr, but Alexander Hamilton preferred Jefferson.  Hamilton urged his followers to support Jefferson, leading to a tie in the House of Representatives.

Finally, in February 1801, Jefferson let Federalist James Bayard know that if elected, Jefferson would not fire all the Federalists in the government, nor dismantle Hamilton’s financial system.  These assurances convinced Bayard to cast a blank ballot, ensuring that Jefferson would receive more votes than Burr.  Jefferson became the new president.

The election of 1800 was an important turning point in American history.  At the time, the Federalists controlled the army, the presidency, and the Congress.  They could have refused to step down and overthrown the Constitution.  Instead, they respected the people’s right to choose the president.  The election of 1800 demonstrated that power in the United States could be peacefully transferred despite strong disagreements between the parties.

Analyzing
What was the purpose of the Alien and Sedition Acts?
 

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