1Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 22 April 1798 (Adams Papers)
Observations on the Dispute Between the United States and France
2Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 8 June 1798 (Adams Papers)
“An act to suspend the commercial intercourse between the United States and France, and the dependencies thereof,” prohibiting American ships from French ports and French ships from U.S. ports, was passed by the Senate in an 18 to 4 vote on 7 June. Of the ten senators absent,...
3Abigail Adams to William Smith, 29 June 1798 (Adams Papers)
, and note 2, below. On 25 June the Senate passed a bill 14 to 5 declaring the treaties formerly concluded between the United States and France void. The House debated the bill on 6 July, and after reducing the Senate’s preamble to the bill, passed it 47 to 37. The bill became law on 7 July (
4Abigail Adams to William Smith, 15 April 1798 (Adams Papers)
Naval Documents Related to the Quasi-War between the United States and France
5Abigail Adams to Isaac Smith Sr., 12 March 1787 (Adams Papers)
Charles Alexandre de Calonne, comptroller general of the finances of France, sent a letter on 22 Oct. 1786 to Thomas Jefferson detailing a plan for improved commercial relations between the United States and France. The letter was published in the New York
6Abigail Adams 2d to John Quincy Adams, 26 August 1785 (Adams Papers)
expressed her views with less reservation, and compared both the United States and France favorably to England in several respects. Her opinions there are quite similar to those of
7“Mr. Hamilton’s Letter”, 1800 (Adams Papers)
William Vans Murray Esqr, our Minister Resident at the Hague, to be Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary to the French Republic, with full Powers to discuss and settle, but a Treaty, all Controversies between the United States and France.
8From John Adams to United States Congress, 8 December 1798 (Adams Papers)
The course of the transactions in relation to the United States and France which have come to my knowledge during your recess will be made the subject of a future communication. That communication will confirm the ultimate failure of the measures, which have been taken by the government of the United States...
9IV. John Adams to Charles Adams, 13 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
By the first Article of the Treaty of Commerce between the United States and France it is Stipulated that
10From John Adams to United States Senate, 11 February 1799 (Adams Papers)
The President of the United States did, on the ninth instant, approve and sign an Act, which originated in this House, intitled “An Act further to suspend the Commercial intercourse between the United States and France, and the dependencies thereof.”
11From John Adams to United States Congress, 5 February 1798 (Adams Papers)
Whenever the Channels of Diplomatical communication between the United States and France shall be opened, I shall demand satisfaction for the insult and reparation for the injury.
12From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 10 May 1809 (Adams Papers)
...Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States to the French Republic, with full powers to discuss and settle by a Treaty, all controversies between the United States and France.”—But, “that the two former will not embark for Europe until they shall have received from the Executive Directory direct and unequivocal assurances, signified by their Secretary of...
13From John Adams to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 22 June 1797 (Adams Papers)
...States and the French Republic, for the purpose of satisfying and terminating the same in a just and equitable manner; and also of and concerning the General Commerce between the United States and France and all other the Dominions of the French Republic; and to conclude and sign a treaty or treaties, Convention or Conventions touching the premises; transmitting the same to the...
14From John Adams to United States Senate, 25 February 1799 (Adams Papers)
To be Envoys Extraordinary—and Ministers Plenipotentiary to the French Republick with full Powers to discuss and settle, by a Treaty all Controversies between the United States and France.
15Questions About French Grounds for Dissatisfaction, 5 April 1797 (Adams Papers)
..., or the actual means of offensive operations against the East India colonies of France. May not these things appear the more serious and delicate, because an existing treaty between the United States and France contains a guaranty of the dominions of the United States undertaken with a particular eye to the very power Great Britain with whom the article was formed and which first broached...
16From John Adams to the Duc de La Vauguyon, 16 April 1781 (Adams Papers)
...received from Congress, full Powers and Instructions to treat with the States General, and to conclude a Treaty of Amity and Commerce, consistent with the Relations already formed between the United States and France. And, that I have also received a Letter of Credence, as a Minister Plenipotentiary to their High Mightinesses; and another, to his most Serene Highness the Prince of Orange...
17John Adams to John Quincy Adams, 5 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
...from their neutral system of policy, or engage in War with any European Power whatever.” His next letter, of 24 Dec., again emphasized the concerns over the presidential elections as well as the growing tensions between the United States and France in the wake of the Jay Treaty and Pierre Auguste Adet’s resignation.
18From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 3 November 1809 (Adams Papers)
About this time, considering the connection between the United States and France, it was very obvious that prudence required I should communicate my design to the French Ambassador. I was not, however, without apprehensions of the consequence of it, for I could not doubt that the Count De Vergennes...
19From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 2 May 1809 (Adams Papers)
...Minister Resident at the Hague, to be Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary to the French Republic, with full powers to discuss and settle by a treaty all controversies between the United States and France. It is not intended that the two former of these gentlemen shall embark for Europe, until they shall have received from the Executive Directory assurances signified by their...
20From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 9 May 1809 (Adams Papers)
...America. They could not, or would
not, distinguish between jacobinism and neutrality. Every
thing with them was jacobinism, except a war with France
and an alliance with Great Britain. They all panted for
a war between the United States and France as sincerely,
though not so ardently, as Alexander Hamilton.
21From John Adams to Richard Henry Lee, 15 July 1785 (Adams Papers)
...a Britain, which produce an Explosion. if an American Should be known to Sollicit an Employment in India for an American, the East Indies would instantly be Seen, in Imagination, independent of Britain and in Alliance with the United States and France.
22The Commissioners to Vergennes, 17 July 1778 (Adams Papers)
On this day the United States and France exchanged the official ratifications of the Treaties of Amity and Commerce and Alliance. The resolution was probably adopted by the congress on 4 May, immediately after it had completed its ratification of the treaties. Congress, after thanking Louis...
23John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams, 7 October 1797 (Adams Papers)
Harper’s Observations upon the dispute between the United States and France are very valuable, and must I think prove very useful.Observations on the Dispute Between the United States and France … in May, 1797
24John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 25 November 1800 (Adams Papers)
...American shipowners against losses, but they relented on that demand when it became clear that it put the entire negotiation at risk. The convention as negotiated included limited language on the subject, with Art. 2 stating that the United States and France would revisit the issue “at a convenient time,” for which see
25To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 6 June 1796 (Adams Papers)
...not yet appeared. He has only published a piece upon the English finances, which I sent you from London, and which in his own opinion amply revenges all the injuries and insults which the United States and France have received from Great Britain for the last four years.—What the present views of the American Representation in France are, I am unable to say but the final object of the french...
26John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams, 25 July 1798 (Adams Papers)
that the commissioners had “no prospect of success” in their mission. Gerry also offered the opinion that a war between the United States and France would lead to disaster for both sides (King to ...suspend all commercial intercourse between the United States and France was not taken up and said that the Anglo-American party would never succeed in sparking a war between the two countries....
27John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 15 June 1784 (Adams Papers)
as U.S. minister at The Hague. While in this post, Murray played a crucial role in promoting peace between the United States and France, following the XYZ Affair and the quasi war of 1799–1800. See
28Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 22 August 1800 (Adams Papers)
Tingey, which implied that the United States and France were in a state of war. The
29Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 12 February 1798 (Adams Papers)
Naval Documents Related to the Quasi-War between the United States and France
30Thomas Boylston Adams to Joseph Pitcairn, 23 October 1799 (Adams Papers)
...commissioners, Joseph Bonaparte; Pierre Louis, Comte de Roederer; and Charles Pierre Clarét, Comte de Fleurieu. Negotiations were slowed by contention over the Jay Treaty and the 7 July 1798 congressional act voiding all prior treaties between the United States and France, for which see vol.
31Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 9 January 1801 (Adams Papers)
, Book II, ch. 17, sects. 283, 314. Art. 6 of the convention granted the United States and France most favored nation status, while Art. 25 of the Jay Treaty specified that neither the United States nor Great Britain would make treaties with other nations that would affect Anglo-American commercial relations. Although there was informal discussion...
32To Thomas Jefferson from Pierre Auguste Adet, 27 July 1798 (Jefferson Papers)
...she had engaged the United States into making towards us. The opinion which the Directory adopted was that of the friends of liberty, and of those who knew the real interests of the United States and France. But to bring about the triumph of that opinion they were required to struggle against the secret friends of England, who to back up the efforts of the partisans of discord which that...
33The Answer, [8 December 1796] (Hamilton Papers)
suspends all the commercial relations between the United States and France, by preventing the supplies looked for by France from this country.Commerce between the United States and France of February 6, 1778, see
34The Warning No. VI, [27 March 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
6th of February, 1778, between the United States and France, the former Power engaged to defend the American possessions in case of war, and that the Government and the commerce of the United States have strangely abused the forbearance of the republic of France, in turning to its...
35To Alexander Hamilton from Fisher Ames, 26 January 1797 (Hamilton Papers)
This is a reference to Article 11 of the Treaty of Alliance between the United States and France, signed on February 6, 1778. See
36Enclosure: Address from Annapolis, Maryland, Citizens, 5 September 1793 (Washington Papers)
For the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United
States and France (1778), see
37To James Madison from John Armstrong, 18 March 1805 (Madison Papers)
, 2:636), stating that he had again raised these questions with the French, had been rebuffed, and had dropped the issue lest it lead to estrangement between the United States and France, and because he did not wish to give Joseph Bonaparte, a supporter of the United States, a reason to withdraw that support. He said he appended a letter showing Joseph’s view of the matter and he rejected...
38To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 12 March 1798 (Jefferson Papers)
. Enclosure: Barlow to Abraham Baldwin, Paris, 4 Mch. 1798, a treatise on worsening relations between the United States and France, attributing the deterioration to American measures that included the appointment of Gouverneur Morris as minister to France, the Jay Treaty, the recall of James Monroe, and the sending to France of Pinckney (whose return there after the...
39To Thomas Jefferson from Joseph Barnes, 10 April 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
An article in each of those pacts guaranteed the free passage of ships and protected the cargoes of neutral vessels. Those provisions appeared also in a treaty between Russia and Sweden in March 1801. The convention between the United States and France included similar guarantees, Article 14 declaring “that free ships shall give a freedom to goods” (
40To Alexander Hamilton from Pierre August Caron de Beaumarchais, [October 1796] (Hamilton Papers)
received eight hundred thousand francs and agreed to abandon any further claims. For the text of the Convention between the United States and France, July 4, 1831, see
41Jeremy Belknap to Abigail Adams, 14 June 1798 (Adams Papers)
Observations on the Dispute between the United States and France
42To James Madison from Bradley & Mulford, 20 January 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
, 5:118–19; “Statement Showing the Payments of Awards of the Commissioners Appointed under the Conventions between the United States and France …,”
43To George Washington from Colonel Daniel Brodhead, 29 May 1779 (Washington Papers)
“16th Most of the Prisoners took the oath of Neutrality and got permission to set out for detroit Sent by them a copy of the Alliance between the United States and france.
44Cabinet Opinions on the Roland and Relations with Great Britain, France, and the Creek Indians, 31 August 1793 (Washington Papers)
, 26:68–71). For the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and France, see
45To Thomas Jefferson from Calonne, 22 October 1786 (Jefferson Papers)
For a brief account of the immediate background of this general code of regulations affecting trade between the United States and France, see
46The Defence No. XXXVIII, [9 January 1796] (Hamilton Papers)
This is a reference to the Treaty of Alliance between the United States and France, signed at Paris on February 6, 1778. Articles 1 and 7 of this treaty read: “Art. 1. If War should break out betwan france and Great Britain, during the continuence of the present War betwan the......18) and Article 21 (originally 23) of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and France,...
47The Defence No. XXV, [18 November 1795] (Hamilton Papers)
See Article 30 (originally 32) of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and France, February 6, 1778, which states that subjects of the United States might use “… the free Ports which have been and are open in the french Islands of America …, agreable to the Regulations which relate to......of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and France, February 6...
48The Defence No. XVII, [22 September 1795] (Hamilton Papers)
This is a reference to the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and France, February 6, 1778. See Space left blank in MS, but H is referring to Article 11 (originally 13) of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and France. For this article, see
49The Defence No. XVI, [18 September 1795] (Hamilton Papers)
This is a reference to Article 22 (originally 24) of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and France, February 6, 1778 (
50The Defence No. XXII, [5–11 November 1795] (Hamilton Papers)
This is a reference to the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and France, signed at Paris on February 6, 1778 (