Treaty of Môrtfontaine (Convention of 1800)
In an attempt to end the undeclared naval war between France and the United States,
President Adams sent peace envoys to France late in 1799. His fellow Federalists Oliver
Ellsworth, William Richardson Davie, and William Vans Murray arrived in Paris March 8, 1800,
where Napoleon greeted them with elaborate ceremony, and appointed high-ranking French
officials to negotiate.
Lasting seven months, the negotiations began with American insistence on compensation
of approximately $20 million for losses to French privateers, mutual abrogation of the 1778
Treaty of Alliance that gave France special military and commercial privileges, and the
negotiation of a new treaty. France, on the other hand, sought to limit compensation as much as
possible and desired affirmation of the 1778 treaty that Presidents Washington and Adams had
renounced.
The parties reached an agreement on September 30, 1800. France agreed to cancel the
1778 treaty in exchange for the U.S. dropping its financial claims. The U.S. thus assumed the
$20 million in claims of its merchants and insurers, and France further agreed to the American
definition of neutrality, that “free ships” made “free goods,” not subject to seizure. After the
U.S. envoys balked at the permanence implied by calling the agreement a treaty, the parties
termed it a “convention,” and signed it on October 3 at Napoleon’s Môrtefontaine chateau.
President Adams received the Convention on December 11, and submitted it to the
Senate on the 16th. Initially rejected on January 23, 1801, the agreement was finally approved on
February 3. Federalists worried its provisions would offend England, but reconsidered when
faced with leaving further negotiations to the incoming Republican administration. Even
Republicans were unenthusiastic, and voted largely with Federalists to limit the Convention to an
eight year term. Despite the agreement’s shorcomings, it realized the American goal of gaining
freedom from foreign alliances and normalized trade relations. More important, by restoring
diplomatic channels between the United States and France, it paved the way for Jefferson’s
purchase of the Louisiana Territory three years later.
Although Adams counted the Convention of 1800 among his most important
achievements, it was not enough to repair the split in the Federalist Party that intensified in 1799
with his insistence on peace negotiations and his rebuke of Federalists who wanted an expanded
war effort against France. Virtually an enemy within his own party, he was not re-elected in
1800, and the breakdown of Federalist consensus opened the door for Republican takeover in
both federal and state governments in the election of 1800.
Sources/Further Reading:
Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick. The Age of Federalism, 679-690. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1993.
Thomas A. Bailey. A Diplomatic History of the American People, 10th ed., pp. 96-99.
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1980.