In the 1790s, the Federalists cozied up to Great Britain, while the Democratic-Republicans sided with France. These preferences aligned with the parties’ policy choices. The Federalists called for a strong federal government, a powerful army and navy, and investment in trade and industry. Britain served as the nation’s largest trade partner and possessed the world’s biggest navy. On the other hand, the Democratic-Republicans’ vision for the nation was based on the yeoman farmer with limited federal government and no standing army. They distrusted Britain’s monarchy, strong navy, wealthy central banking system, and monopoly of foreign trade. Accordingly, they were much friendlier to Britain’s longtime enemy, France.
These conflicting positions broke into the open in 1793 when France declared war on Great Britain, reigniting a centuries’ old battle. No longer were these debates theoretical. They now required taking sides in a deadly war.
President George Washington deployed the full weight of his unparalleled reputation to keep the nation neutral. But near the end of Washington’s presidency, French privateers began seizing neutral American ships carrying goods across the Atlantic Ocean. Washington retired a few months later, leaving his successor to deal with these provocations.
John Adams took the oath of office as the second President of the United States on March 4, 1797. His tenure would be dominated by the threat of war with France and the divide between the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists over foreign policy.
A few months after Adams’ inauguration, he sent a peace commission to France to negotiate a new treaty. The American commissioners—John Marshall, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and Elbridge Gerry—arrived in Paris full of hope and good intentions. But when Americans received no news of their whereabouts or progress for over six months, both sides of the political aisle interpreted the silence through a partisan lens.
Federalists worried that something had happened to the envoys in France. Had France declared war on the United States and news had not yet arrived? Were the envoys imprisoned? Had they been assassinated?
Democratic-Republicans believed the best of French intentions and the worst of President Adams. They were convinced that news from the envoys had arrived, but Adams was keeping the dispatches a secret because they revealed France’s reasonableness and cast the administration in a poor light.
On March 4, 1798, the first dispatches from France finally arrived and exposed the depths of French perfidy. The contents revealed French demands for humiliating apologies, corrupt bribes, and inappropriate loans to even begin diplomatic negotiations. The treatment of the American envoys demonstrated that the French ministry had no intention of negotiating in good faith.