Gordon Wood on the XYZ Affair - Ari Sclar

“The president had received the dispatches that Marshall had written describing the XYZ Affair and the collapse of negotiations with France. Without revealing the dispatches, Adams informed Congress in March 1798 of the failure of the diplomatic mission and called for arming America's merchant vessels...The Republicans called for the release of the commission's dispatches, unaware of how damaging they were to their cause...particularly embarrassing were the French agents' references to the 'friends of France' in the United States, implying that there was a kind of fifth column in the country willing to aid the French."

• Historian Gordon Wood

1. What would the dispatches have revealed? Be specific.

2. Why would the dispatches have 'damaged' the Republican 'cause'? Specifically, explain what the 'cause' would have been.

1. Pick TWO of the following and explain how it would confirm or challenge the French belief that they had 'friends' in the United States?

2. Whiskey Rebellion

3. Genet Affair

4. Washington’s Proclamation of Neutrality

5. Alien and Sedition Acts

1. Pick ONE of the following that Wood have cited as evidence that the French were incorrect in believing they had American ‘friends’ in the decade after the XYZ Affair. Explain.

2. Quasi War

3. Embargo Act

4. Macon’s Bill No. 2