EARLY NATIONAL
EVENTS
PROCLAMATION OF NEUTRALITY
• The Proclamation of Neutrality was a formal
announcement issued by President George Washington in
May 1793, declaring the nation neutral in the conflict
between France and Great Britain. It threatened legal
proceedings against any American providing assistance to
any country at war.
PROCLAMTION OF NEUTRALITY
• Washington's cabinet members agreed that neutrality was
essential; the nation was too young and its military was too
small to risk any sort of engagement with either France or
Britain. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, agreed with his
political rivals that a proclamation was necessary.
XYZ AFFAIR
• The XYZ Affair was a political and diplomatic
episode in 1797 and 1798, early in the
administration of president John Adams, involving
a confrontation between the United States
and Republican France that led to an undeclared
war called the Quasi-War. The name derives from
the substitution of the letters X, Y and Z for the
names of French diplomats in documents
released by the Adams administration.
XYZ AFFAIR
• An American diplomatic commission was sent to France in
July 1797 to negotiate problems that were threatening to
break out into war. The diplomats, Charles Cotesworth
Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry, were
approached through informal channels by agents of the
French Foreign Minister Talleyrand, who demanded bribes
and a loan before formal negotiations could begin.
XYZ AFFAIR
• Charles Cotesworth Pinckney responded by saying
“No, no, not a sixpence.”Although such demands
were not uncommon in mainland European
diplomacy of the time, the Americans were offended
by them, and eventually left France without ever
engaging in formal negotiations.
ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS
• President Adams took strong steps in response to the French
foreign threat. A series of laws known collectively as the ALIEN
AND SEDITION ACTS were passed by the Federalist Congress in
1798 and signed into law by President Adams. The Alien Act
included new powers to DEPORT foreigners as well as making it
harder for new IMMIGRANTS to vote. Previously a new immigrant
would have to reside in the United States for five years before
becoming eligible to vote, but a new law raised this to 14 years.
ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS
• Clearly, the Federalists saw foreigners as a deep threat to American security.
However, non-English ethnic groups had been among the core supporters of
the Democratic-Republicans in 1796.
• The most controversial of the new laws permitting strong government control
over individual actions was the SEDITION ACT. In essence, this Act prohibited
public opposition to the government. Fines and imprisonment could be used
against those who "write, print, utter, or publish . . . any false, scandalous and
malicious writing" against the government.
• Under the terms of this law over 20 Republican newspaper editors were
arrested and some were imprisoned.
VIRGINIA AND KENTUCKY
RESOLUTIONS
• The Sedition Act clearly violated individual protections
under the first amendment of the Constitution.
• However, the practice of "JUDICIAL REVIEW," whereby
the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of laws
was not yet well developed. Furthermore, the justices were
all strong Federalists.
VIRGINIA AND KENTUCKY
RESOLUTIONS
• As a result, Madison and Jefferson directed their opposition of the
Alien and Sedition to state legislatures. The Virginia and Kentucky
legislatures passed resolutions declaring the federal laws invalid
within their states. The bold challenge to the federal government
offered by this strong states' rights position seemed to point
toward imminent armed conflict within the United States.
• By placing states rights above those of the federal government,
Kentucky and Virginia had established a precedent that would be
used to justify the secession of southern states in the Civil War.
VIRGINIA AND KENTUCKY
RESOLUTIONS
• A further resolution, adopted in Feb., 1799, provided a means by
which the states could enforce their decisions by formal
nullification of the objectionable laws.
• The resolutions were submitted to the other states for approval
with no real result; their chief importance lies in the fact that they
were later considered to be the first notable statements of
the states' rights theory of government, a theory that opened the
way for the nullification controversy and ultimately for secession.