Volume 3 Number 099

The XYZ Affair - Part I

Lead: In the 1790s, the United States almost went to war with its greatest ally.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: When America declared its independence in 1776, it had few international allies. All expectations were that Britain would quickly stamp out this rebellion. However, though its first victories were meager, the United States held on. Independence would not go away easily.

Early on Congress sent Benjamin Franklin to Paris to try to get French help in the war, but France was reluctant. Everyone likes a winner. In late fall 1777, word reached Paris of the British defeat at the Battle of Saratoga, New York and the French realized the former colonists might win after all, therefore in 1778 France signed an alliance with the United States.

Now French King Louis XVI was no democrat and certainly was not infatuated with the sentiments of the Declaration of Independence. His government was interested in revenge. The British victory over France in the Seven Years War which ended in 1763 had cost France its North American empire and this was a chance to get back into the game. After 1778, most of the arms and ammunition used by the Americans were supplied by France and the final decisive victory over the British at Yorktown in 1780 was in large part due to the assistance of a blockading French fleet.

In 1789 France was rocked with a bloody Revolution and in the 1790s went to war with Britain. Both countries wanted the U.S. to take their side in the war, but President George Washington and his successor John Adams were determined to remain neutral. France seemed to have a good case for U.S. help. After all, the French had virtually saved the American Revolution, they reasoned it was time to return the favor. One of the most interesting events to emerge from the United States' efforts to stay out of that war was the XYZ Affair. Because of it France and America almost went to war. Next time: walking the tight rope.

At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts.

Copyright by Dan Roberts Enterprises, Inc.

Resources

Beveridge, Albert J. The Life of John Marshall, 1916.

KIonefsky, Samuel Joseph. John Marshall and Alexander Hamilton, Architects of the American Constitution. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1964.

Stinchcombe, William C. The XYZ Affair. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1980.