1789 - French Revolution > War with England
- Franco-American alliance of 1778 bound the U.S. to help the French defend their West Indies.
1793 - Washington's neutrality proclamation
- Citizen Genet controversy > deportation
- Hamilton supported England because 75% of all customs duties came from British imports
- Jefferson supported the French because of British occupation of forts in the west and their impressment of U.S. seamen
1794 - Jay's Treaty with England:
- British agreed to evacuate (again!) forts in the Northwest but did not agree to cease further acts of impressment or seizure of American ships
- U.S. agreed to pay debts still owed to British merchants
1795 - Pinckney's Treaty with Spain:
- Spain granted free navigation of the Mississippi River and yielded large area north of Florida that had been disputed
1796 - Washington's farewell address:
- Warned against the dangers of permanent foreign alliances
1796 - Presidential election focused on the terms of the Jay Treaty and the Whiskey Rebellion
- John Adams > President
- Thomas Jefferson > Vice President
1797 - Angered by the Jay Treaty, France began seizing American merchant ships
- XYZ affair > Undeclared war between the U.S. & France from 1798-1800
- But President Adams sought to avoid war > treaty with Napoleon called the Convention of 1800 whereby France agreed to end the alliance of 1778 with the U.S.
1798 - Alien and Sedition Acts passed by the Federalists:
- Residency requirement for citizenship raised from 5 years > 14 years
- President could deport dangerous aliens
- Newspapers who "falsely" defamed the government would be fined and their editors imprisoned (violation of the First Amendment!)
- Led to the Kentucky & Virginia Resolutions:
- Stressed the compact theory of government and the doctrine of nullification
1800 - Jefferson defeated Adams for the presidency
- A revolution?
- Peaceful political change!
*Adams was the last Federalist president