XYZ Affair (Handout)
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In an attempt to heal the relationship with the French, new president, John Adams sent
a commission to France to work on a new treaty of commerce.
French foreign minister, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, was preventing the dispute from
being resolved.
Talleyrand sent three agents to greet the Amer. Delegates and told them that U.S.
would have to loan France $12 million and pay Tallyrand a personal bribe of $250,000
When Adams heard of the blackmail, he submitted to Congress the correspondence from
the delegates, which designated the French agents as “X”, “Y” and “Z”.
The “XYZ Affair” united American of all political backgrounds and a wave of anti-French
sentiment swept through the country.
The cartoon depicts a
five-headed monster,
representing the
Directory that ruled
France in 1797,
demanding payment
of a bribe from the
three American
representatives.
The Alien and Sedition Acts
In response to the Genet Episode, the XYZ affair and the escalating war fever,
Congress passed a number of controversial and allegedly undemocratic laws:
Law
Naturalization Act
Alien Act
Alien Enemies Act
Sedition Act
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Description
- Raised the residence prerequisite for citizenship from 5 to
14 years old.
- Authorized the president to deport all aliens regarded as
dangerous.
- Authorized the president, in time of war, to arrest,
imprison or deport subjects of an enemy power.
- Prohibited assembly “with intent to oppose any measure
of the government” and forbade printing, uttering, or
publishing anything “false, scandalous, and malicious”
against the government.
Jefferson and other Republicans denounced these acts and called them an
assault on the democratic principles laid out in the Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution.