Beschreibung:

ADAMS, John. Autograph letter in the third-person, signed ("John Adams"), as President, to James McHenry (1753-1816), Philadelphia, 15 April 1797. 2 pages, folio, with separate address leaf and wrapper . FINE.
ADAMS, John. Autograph letter in the third-person, signed ("John Adams"), as President, to James McHenry (1753-1816), Philadelphia, 15 April 1797. 2 pages, folio, with separate address leaf and wrapper . FINE. THE LEAD-UP TO THE XYZ AFFAIR Just five weeks into his term as President Adams faced a major diplomatic crisis and potential war with France. The French government had recently refused to recognize the U.S. ambassador, Charles Coatesworth Pinckney, who cooled his heels in The Hague. Meanwhile the French navy continued to harass American shipping in order to stop supplies from reaching Britain. Adams wanted to go before Congress and lay out his diplomatic and military strategy for dealing with the crisis: "The President of the United States requests the Secretary at War, to commit to writing in detail, and report to the President, as early as may be convenient, such Particulars, as the secretary may think necessary or expedient to be inserted in the President's Speech at the opening of the ensuing Congress, under the heads of 1. Such things as ought to be communicated to Congress, concerning the State of the Union. 2. Such measures as ought to be recommended to Congress for their adoption. And the President's desire is that the Secretary would not confine himself to matters merely within the Department of War, but give himself a liberal Latitude, both in relation to the other departments, and to the illustrations and reasonings in support of his opinions." Adams also asks McHenry his opinions about wording of the instructions for "an Ambassador, Envoy ordinary or extraordinary, or Minister Plenipotentiary to be sent to France, upon Supposition it should be deemed consistent with the Dignity, Honour and Interest of the United States to send another Mission to that Power." In the strongly worded message that resulted on 16 May 1797, Adams denounces the French: "The refusal on the part of France to receive our Minister...until we have acceded to their demands without discussion and without investigation is to treat us neither as allies nor as friends, nor as a sovereign state." He called for the creation of a strong Navy and the arming of merchant vessels. But he continued diplomatic efforts by sending a three-man delegation to try and repair relations, John Marshall Ellbridge Gerry and Pinckney. They were met by three French officials, Baron Jean-Conrad Hottinguer, Pierre Bellamy, and Lucien Hauteval--the infamous Messrs. X, Y and Z, respectively--who presented the Americans with an extraordinary set of preconditions for resuming diplomatic negotiations: a $250,000 bribe to the foreign minister, Talleyrand. The episode inflamed popular opinion against the French and gave President Adams the political support for waging his limited naval war against France between 1798 and 1800. A dramatic and remarkably fresh and well-preserved document from this crucial moment in American history.