XYZ Affair

Diplomatic episode between the US and France (1797–1798)

The XYZ Affair was a political and diplomatic episode in 1797 and 1798, early in the presidency of John Adams, involving a confrontation between the United States and Republican France which led to the Quasi-War. The name derives from the substitution of the letters X, Y, and Z for the names of French diplomats Jean-Conrad Hottinguer (X), Pierre Bellamy (Y), and Lucien Hauteval (Z) in documents released by the Adams administration. An American diplomatic commission was sent to France in July 1797 to negotiate a solution to problems that were threatening to break out into war.

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