Collapse of Relations with the French, the Adams Administration Preparing for the Imminent Outbreak of War, and the Bitter Political Climate in the Spring of 1798

For almost two decades after the American Revolution, American relations with the French were very friendly. The two countries were allies by treaty and by national sentiment. After all, French financial support during the dark days of the struggle against Britain and French military and naval power, so prominent in the decisive victory at Yorktown, had been indispensable elements in the American triumph. This warmth began to disappear with the excesses of the French Revolution and the execution of King Louis XVI. Except for Republican zealots such as Jefferson, most Americans were profoundly disturbed by the continuing French excesses. Still, when Citizen Genet, the new French Minister, arrived in Charleston in 1793, relations were still friendly, and Genet received a warm welcome.

The climate soon changed. With France and Great Britain engaged in allout war, the French Navy commenced seizing American ships on suspicion of trading with Britain. The XYZ Affair involving Talleyrand's apparent solicitation of bribes was viewed as intolerable blackmail and had a “stunning” effect on American public opinion. Matters grew worse when Talleyrand and the Directory refused to receive new American diplomatic representatives. Further, Genet's increasingly intolerable conduct, climaxed by the outfitting of French privateers in American ports and his meddling in American politics with appeals to the American people over the head of President Washington, combined with continuing French seizures of American shipping and seamen at sea to bring matters to a head.