LogFAQs > #939331862

Let's talk about the Quasi-War!

Going back to the Jay Treaty, it truly did represent a choice to at least tacitly ally with Great Britian in its conflict with France (though officially they remained neutral). At the time it was signed, the US truly did not have a reliable trading partner once the French Monarchy's dissolution sent their empire's holdings into anarchy

The Jay Treaty was wildly successful at opening up bilateral trade with Great Britain, as the US was able to triple its exports in that time and helped expand the burgeoning American economy. France however, felt slighted. This move signaled that the US would not be reversing its position on repaying the debts owed to them. Further the French viewed this trade as material support for their foes and would not allow the US to deliver vital supplies to the British.

The Washington and Adams administrations held that that debt was owed to the Bourbons and the French crown and NOT to the revolutonary french government. This resulted in French privateers seizing American ships with privateers and bringing them to French ports to be awarded a bounty on any such ship. American citizens on board the ships were then impressed into service to the crown. The Adams admin sought to bring an end to this and appointed an Ambassador (Federalist vice presidential candidate) Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. He was refused and Pinckney soon became a living symbol of the French's unwillingness to negotiate or listen to reason .

Over the course of the two year conflict the French seized over 2000 American merchant ships and many more of its merchant marines. Adams Administration created the Department of the Navy and the United States Marine Corps to protect American ships which led to naval battles between the French and Americans. The British navy also got involved since they were fighting the same privateers that the Americans were. The British and Americans were not officially allied but they did communicate in the field and the British ended their embargo on sales of munitions to the US.

Hostilities may have increased further and drawn the US further into the British-French conflict if not for the rise of Napoleon as First consul. Unlike his predecessors in the chaotic Directory government, he was willing to meet and discuss with the Americans and make a deal. Napoleon agreed to stop trying to collect on the debt and was willing to re-affirm the Americans' status as neutrals in exchange for that becoming reality and the US butting out of the conflict which Adams was more than happy to do.

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Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy