America’s first armed conflict with a foreign nation following the American Revolution was not the War of 1812, but rather a mostly forgotten fight called the Quasi-War. Although little known today, in its time it made a significant impact on the course of American history, affecting trade, the creation of the United States Navy, and a presidential election.
The trail of events that led to the Quasi-War began with the overthrow and execution of King Louis XVI during the bloody French Revolution. Those events roiled Europe and the ever-festering wound between In response to the Alien and Sedition Acts passed by the Federalist controlled Congress and signed by President John Adams in July 1798, Democratic-Republicans howled long and loud about the legislation that they viewed as an assault on both their party and the Constitution. They turned to their leader, Vice President Thomas Jefferson, to counter these Acts and, if possible, use them to their political advantage.
Jefferson was assisted in his efforts by James Madison, his fellow Virginian and brilliant political protégé. At the time of the laws’ passage both men were essentially unemployed and residing at their homes, Monticello and Montpelier. Because the homes were only thirty France and England reopened into a conflict known as The War of the First Coalition (1792-1797). Not wanting to get drawn into that European conflict, on April 22, 1793, President George Washington issued his Proclamation of Neutrality declaring miles apart, the two men were in constant contact.
Although Jefferson was the Vice President, he had little interest in helping President Adams and consequently spent a considerable amount of his time away from the capital planning his run for the Presidency in 1800. Madison had retired from the House of Representatives in 1797 and had kept very busy laying the foundation for Jefferson’s campaign.
Leading Democratic- Republicans viewed the Alien and Sedition Acts as a violation of the Constitution’s First Amendment, with Democratic-Republican Senator Henry Tazewell of Virginia saying the laws “indulge that appetite for tyranny” that would lead to monarchy. They were also greatly concerned that the Acts were a direct assault on state’s rights. But they were arguably even more worried about the laws’ adverse effects on their chances in the 1800 election.
America’s intention to remain neutral. This declaration angered the French because they considered our 1778 Treaty of Alliance, signed during the American Revolution and without an end date, still in effect.
Congress disagreed, arguing that our treaty was with the monarchy of King Louis XVI and with no king there was no treaty. Using this same rationale, Congress also declared the United States would no longer repay our loans to France that we incurred during the American Revolution.
France accepted the decision to not join the fight and even the suspension of loan repayments.
However, they insisted the United States allow French privateers (privately owned ships authorized by the government to capture enemy merchant vessels for a share of the prize money) with captured British ships into American ports, but not extend the same courtesy to England. Congress denied Their newspapers such as the Aurora spewed forth bitter accusations, many of them completely false, against the Adams administration on a regular basis.
The attack dog style articles assailed any and all Federalists including George Washington and had almost won the Presidency for Jefferson in 1796. Without the ability to print their propaganda, the Democratic- Republicans knew they could not win in 1800.
John Breckinridge of Kentucky and Wilson Nicholas of Virginia visited Monticello and pressed Jefferson to draft a resolution calling for organized resistance to the laws that they could present to their respective state legislatures.
It was further determined that the legislatures should offer different versions of the resolutions so it would not appear that they were created in concert with one another.
Consequently, James Madison was brought this demand arguing that neutrality meant equal treatment for both sides, and the United States intended to honor that position.
Later that year, in a blatant attempt to compromise our neutrality, France sent an envoy, Edmond-Charles Genet, also known as “Citizen Genet,” to America to stir up support for France.
Despite receiving the support of Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and other pro-French Americans, Genet was quickly called onto the carpet by President Washington, who demanded his recall by France.
In 1794, with tensions rising across Europe, President Washington dispatched John Jay to England to iron out differences with that country remaining from the 1783 Treaty of Paris. Jay, who was the chief justice of the Supreme Court at the time, finalized an agreement, known as the Jay Treaty, which achieved our diplomatic into the mix to draft the Virginia Resolution and Jefferson the one for Kentucky. Recognizing that if it was known Jefferson and Madison wrote the resolutions that they would be charged with a crime, it was decided to keep the authors anonymous. Jefferson did not require much convincing to draft the resolutions and happily complied, with Madison following Jefferson’s lead.
The two men created their drafts separately and they had distinct and important differences. In general, Jefferson’s version was much more radical, even dangerous to the preservation of the Union. Madison, arguably the brighter and steadier of the two Founding Fathers, drafted a more balanced argument against the Alien and Sedition Acts and a reasonable method of pushing back against them.
Jefferson’s original draft of the Kentucky Resolution invoked the theory that the federal government was a goals and called for improved trade relations.
Congress ratified it in June 1795, with an effective date of February 29, 1796.
As a result of the Jay Treaty, our exports to England nearly tripled between 1794 and 1801, growing from $33 million to $94 million. This increased trade was a huge help to our nation’s economy, benefiting merchants, ship owners, and artisans.
The Treaty was set for ten years and expired when Thomas Jefferson, who was president in 1806 and anti- British, refused to renew it. France viewed this agreement as a serious breach of our 1778 Treaty of Alliance.
Consequently, in the fall of 1796, French privateers began seizing American merchant ships.
Unfortunately, the United States was helpless to respond because the lack of any naval presence. Due to the country’s dire financial position at the end of the American Revolution, Congress had disbanded the Continental Navy, selling its last ship in 1785. Recognizing our vulnerability, President Washington persuaded Congress to pass the Naval Act of 1794, which authorized the building of six frigates. However, work went at a snail’s pace, and, in 1797, none were ready to go to sea.
Due to our lack of preparedness, Secretary of State Timothy Pickering, in a report to Congress on June 21, 1797, stated French privateers had captured 316 American vessels in less than a year. This amount equated to about 6 percent of our total merchant fleet and even Congress recognized compact of states, much like they had been under the Articles of Confederation, and that the states did not need to comply with federal laws they found to be unconstitutional.
Furthermore, the test of the constitutionality of any law was to be found in a strict interpretation of the Constitution and could be judged by each individual state.
In Jefferson’s opinion, if the federal government passed a law that assumed an authority that was not expressly granted to it by the Constitution, then that law was unconstitutional, and the states were not bound to comply with it.
In fact, Jefferson wrote the states “have the right and are in duty bound to interpose” against the implementation of the law.
His initial draft went so far as to proclaim that the individual states had the right to nullify a federal law that the state judged to be unconstitutional. something had to be done. In December 1796, to add insult to injury, the French Directory refused to accept the new United States ambassador, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, despite his impressive credentials. Pinckney was a native of Charleston who This “nullification” doctrine was viewed by many Democratic-Republicans as dangerous to the preservation of the Union and thought Jefferson had gone too far. As a result, the Kentucky legislature struck that provision from the final bill, and simply asked that other states support their attempt to repeal the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Likewise, Madison’s Virginia Resolutions assumed a more moderate tone, much to Jefferson’s dismay, and asked for the various states to convene to discuss the matter. Madison did not agree with Jefferson that the states had the right to declare a federal law “null and void.” It must be remembered that Madison was arguably the foremost constitutional scholar in the country, perhaps only equaled by John Adams.
Furthermore, Madison was the chief architect of the new Constitution which established the concept of the had been educated at Oxford before returning home just before the American Revolution began. He saw action in several key battles such as Brandywine and Germantown, rising to the rank of Brigadier General.
After the war, Pinckney resumed his legal work and was a signer of the United States Constitution.
To quell the anger caused by this affront and the losses due to French privateers, President John Adams, recently inaugurated on March 4, 1797, sent a peace commission to France. It was still his utmost desire to maintain the neutrality of the United States. John Marshall and Elbridge Gerry departed America in the summer of 1797 to join Pinckney in Paris and find a resolution to the crisis. Unfortunately, Adams’s olive-branch lead to the XYZ Affair which only made matter worse, confirming the the old adage “no good deed goes unpunished.”
Faced with growing calls to strike back at France and recognizing the importance of maintaining our national dignity, Adams allowed the country to drift into a grayish international space where battles were fought and rights were defended with the tacit approval of all, but where war was declared by none.
Tom Hand is a local historian of note.