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[[File:Combat_naval_pendant_la_quasi_guerre.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|Battle between <i>L'Insurgante</i> and the USS Constellation during the Quasi-War. The Constellation won the battle and captured <i>L'Insurgante</i>.]]
The XYZ Affair was a diplomatic incident between French and United States diplomats that resulted in a limited, undeclared war known as the Quasi-War. U.S. and French negotiators restored peace with the Convention of 1800, also known as the Treaty of Mortefontaine. In the late 1700s, the final French Revolutionary government, the Directory, was experiencing problems financing its European wars. Many leaders were also angry that the United States had concluded the Jay Treaty with Great Britain in 1794. Consequently, in 1796 French leaders decided to issue an order allowing for the seizure of American merchant ships, carefully timed to catch as many as possible by surprise.
====The United States prepares for War with France====
[[File:Charles_Maurice_de_Talleyrand-Périgord_by_François_Gérard,_1808.jpg|thumbnail|left|250px|Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, 1808]]
In the meantime, the envoys’ dispatches reached the United States. President Adams prepared for war, and pro-war Federalists pushed Congress to support him. Leaders of the Democratic-Republican party were suspicious of Adams’ motives and demanded that he publicly release the diplomatic correspondence describing the negotiations in France. Adams, knowing its contents, obliged them and released the correspondence, but replaced the names of the French intermediaries with the letters W, X, Y, and Z.
* Article: [https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/xyz| The XYZ Affair and the Quasi-War with France, 1798–1800]
[[Category:US State Department]] [[Category:Wikis]][[Category:United States History]] [[Category:French History]] [[Category:History of the Early Republic]] [[Category:18th Century History]] [[Category:Political History]] [[Category:Diplomatic History]]
