Lesson 50: XYZ Affair

After peace was reached with England, France became angry and nearly went to war with it's former ally, America.
 When the French began to plunder American ships, John Adams, the second President of the United States, sent Charles Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry to negotiate peace with France.
 The French Foreign Minister refused to see them, instead he sent three representative agents termed X, Y, and Z to speak to the Americans.  
 The agents said that before they could even get to negotiate, America had to pay them a $250,000 bribe and a $12 million loan.
The Americans refused and returned home where this incident would become known as the XYZ affair.
 Eventually though America and France gained peace through the "Convention of 1800," which annulled the Treaty of 1778 and forgave France for plundering America's ships.