America’s Conflict With France By Mr. Eichmann

Causes of the Conflict Genet Affair – Edward Genet, the French ambassador to America during the Washington administration, spoke before Congress He called for America to honor its treaty of alliance that had been signed during the Revolutionary War Announced that France would need America’s help in fighting against their arch enemy, Great Britain

Choices for President Washington Honor the agreement and help France in their war with Great Britain Ignore the agreement and say it is not valid His decision: Washington stated that America was not pledged to fight with France Genet was forced to return home by the American government, thus causing political ties between the two countries to be broken

Results of the Election of 1796 Hamilton tries to “fix” the election by having both Federalist candidates get the most votes for President and VP. Hamilton is unsuccessful. Adams wins the Presidency, and Jefferson wins the Vice-Presidency. First time in history that we have two candidates from different political parties hold the two highest offices in the land.

Election of 1796 John Adams and Thomas Pickney run for President as Federalists. Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr run as Democratic-Republican candidates. Under the rules of The Constitution, the candidate with the most electoral votes becomes President, while the person in second place becomes Vice President.

France’s Response French vessels began taking cargo from American ships bound for Great Britain and France to…. prevent the British from getting an advantage pay back debts the American government still owed from the Revolutionary War get revenge for America’s unwillingness to hold their word

The XYZ Affair To remedy the situation, the new President, John Adams, sent three American diplomats to France to settle differences Three French men requested bribes before they would allow the American diplomats to meet with Talleyrand, the new French leader after the French Revolution The three American diplomats came back to America with their report, and the correspondence was printed in newspapers, with the letters X, Y, and Z replacing the names of the three French diplomats

The Choices of President Adams Declare war against France Patiently wait for conditions in France to improve and negotiations to come back Seize French ships and cargo to make France change their mind Adam’s choice – Option 3: An undeclared war, often called the Quasi-War started, with American ships attacking French vessels and taking cargo, and vice versa.

Worries of Problems at Home President Adams and Alexander Hamilton worried that French spies could hurt America’s war effort To allay fears, Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts

Alien Act Increased the number of years it took for a foreigner to become a citizen (5-14 Years) Allowed the government to jail or order out of the country foreigners who he thought were “dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States.

Sedition Act Outlawed conspiracies against the governments and attempts to start uprisings or riots. Made it a crime to write, print, udder, or publish scandalous statements critical of the government, either house of Congress, or the President.

Reactions to the Alien and Sedition Acts Numerous newspaper writers, all Democratic-Republicans, were jailed or fined. Secretly, Thomas Jefferson wrote essays using a pen name, arguing that the Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional. He called for nullification, which means that states could ignore federal laws if they thought they were improper Eventually, members of the Virginia and Kentucky legislatures created the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. They called for a repeal of the Alien and Sedition Acts. The doctrine of nullification eventually led to the argument used to support state’s rights in the issues of slavery and segregation.

Solution To the Conflict Adams was notified that Talleyrand was eager to repair the damage caused by the XYZ Affair. The two sides signed the Convention of 1800 , freeing America from its alliance with France if America gave up its desire for France to pay for damages to American ships in the Quasi-War John Adams considered this his greatest political success, although many Federalists, including Hamilton, became angry with him for not going to war against France

Election of 1800 Federalists - Most Federalists were not happy with Adams and his willingness to negotiate with France. As a result, the Federalists nominated Adams for President and Charles Pickney for Vice-President. But many Federalists were split as to who to vote for to be the real leader. The Democratic-Republicans only nominated Jefferson for President and Aaron Burr for Vice-President

Results of the Election Hamilton again tried to “fix” the election by trying to get more Federalists to vote for Pickney than Adams, but again he failed. Electoral Vote Count: Jefferson - 73 votes Adams – 65 votes Burr – 73 votes Result: The election was thrown into the House of Representatives The two houses were made up of all Federalists!!!!

The Vote of the House In cases of no majority, the top two candidates get voted on. The total number of representatives for each state voted on who should be president. Since there were 16 states, 9 states were needed to get a majority Result of the vote: Jefferson – 8 states Burr -6 states (Federalist states voted for Burr) Tied – 2 states

Hamilton’s Beliefs Hamilton disliked Jefferson, but hated Burr more because They had been political rivals in the state of New York Although Hamilton disagreed with Jefferson, he still felt that Jefferson had integrity. He believed Burr was dangerous to America and politics in general

Hamilton’s Solution Hamilton convinced one of the Federalist representatives from Delaware to change his vote from Burr to Jefferson Result: Jefferson – 9 states Jefferson won the majority of states becoming President Burr, finishing second, becomes Vice- President

Significance of the Election of 1800 First changeover of power from one party to another. Jefferson called this the Revolution of 1800. The transfer of power was done peacefully, showing the world that power could be switched to another party without bloodshed. This continues to be done today when new presidents from a different party are elected Eventually, Congress passed the Twelfth Amendment, which caused Presidents and Vice Presidents to be voted for separately, avoiding the possibility that someone running for president could in fact become president.