The XYZ Affair: BFFs No More
Don’t you hate rude people? Like when I worked at Blockbuster Video,
and a customer would bring up their video, and I would say hi to them,
and they would just stand there and not say anything. Rude, right?
Anyway, I know another guy that hated rude people too: John Adams.
The year was 1797. France was angry at the United States for not
helping them in the French Revolution (thanks a lot George
Washington). France was still fighting against England who was taking
the side of King Louis. During the war, the United States continued to
trade with both England and France, refusing to take sides in the war.
A drawing of the XYZ Affair showing the French as crazy
people and a five-headed monster. Ahhh!!!
France did not like that
the United States was
trading with England, so
France starting attacking
American ships, and
stealing all the ships’
cargo. By the end of a
year, the French had
attacked and stolen from
more than 300 American
ships.
Now President Adams was starting to get a little bit ticked off, but he
still believed that the United States and France could settle their
argument peacefully. So President Adams sent three men, Charles
Pinckney, Elbridge (cool name, huh?) Gerry, and John Marshall to Paris,
France to find a peaceful solution to the two countries’ differences.
When the three men arrived in France, they asked to meet with the
French minister of
foreign affairs
(that’s the guy
from France who
talks with people
from other
countries). For
weeks, the French
government totally
A drawing of the XYZ Affair showing the French as greedy
ignored the three
money-grabbers
men from the
United States (see, rude, right?). The three men were starting to get
bored and angry. Then, one day, three French guys who called
themselves X, Y, and Z told the Americans that they could talk with the
French foreign minister, but on one condition. The Americans would
have to loan the French government $10 million and pay the French
foreign minister a personal bribe of $250,000 (that’s even ruder).
Charles Pinckney, one of the three American men said, “Heck no,
Techno. We’re not going to pay you a penny!” The three men, then,
went back to America and told President Adams what happened.
President Adams was furious.
That year, President Adams convinced Congress to cancel all of the
treaties with France that said that the two nations were friends (the
U.S. and France used to be bff, lol, omg, ttyl, brb), and to allow U.S.
ships to attack French ships. Congress also agreed to set aside money to
get ready for a big war.