Why did John Adams become the first president in U.S. history not to be re-elected? It is mentioned that the second president of the United States, John Adams, was the first president in The history of the United States not to be re-elected. There are many reasons why Adams was not re-elected, but the diplomatic scandal of 1797, the XYZ Incident, was certainly one of the reasons. So what exactly is the "XYZ Event"?
Friends who are familiar with world history know that the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolution took place in the same era. The American Revolutionary War and even the French Revolution was one of the triggers, and King Louis XVI of France was nicknamed the "Father of the United States". After the independence of the United States, the two major political parties in the United States broke out pro-British and pro-French disputes, and Adams's Federalist Party was pro-British.
Although the first president of the United States, Washington, is not a party, but because he relies heavily on federalist Hamilton and vice president Adams, the federalist party was the de facto ruling party in the United States during the Washington period, let alone during the president adams. Therefore, the United States was predominantly pro-British during the administration of Washington and Adams, opposing intervention in Europe (that is, supporting France) and opposing the French Revolution.
So France began to retaliate against the United States, plundering and seizing hundreds of American merchant ships in the Atlantic, severely damaging American trade. U.S.-French relations deteriorated dramatically during the Adams era, even to the brink of war. The Federalists, represented by Hamilton, advocated a declaration of war on France, while the Democratic Republican Party, headed by Jefferson, advocated the restoration of relations with France and even alliance with France, opposing war.
Adams wanted neither an alliance with France nor war with France, but wanted to remain neutral after easing relations with France. In October 1797, Adams sent a three-member diplomatic delegation headed by Secretary of State Pinckney to France to negotiate, with the goal of easing tensions with France. The French government at that time was the Governor of the "Thermidorian Party", and one of the main characteristics of the Governor's Government was corruption.
French Foreign Minister Thalerão did not even meet the U.S. delegation, but sent three representatives to receive him. The first thing the three Representatives of France did after meeting with the three Representatives of the United States was to demand a huge bribe of up to fifty thousand pounds from the American delegation, otherwise the American Delegation would not be allowed to meet with Talleyrand, and also asked the United States to provide France with a huge loan of about twelve million us dollars.
The arrogance and greed of the French shocked the Americans, who said, "Sixpence will not be given." Negotiations broke down, and Pinkney and Marshall immediately returned to the United States. Another representative, Gregory, an unpartisan pro-French faction, remained in Paris to try to save the talks, but France refused to negotiate with the United States again. Gerry was also accused of being a "traitor" by the Federalists and joined the Democratic-Republican Party upon his return.
After the negotiations broke down, Democratic Republicans led by Jefferson suspected that Adams had deliberately forged the arrogance and greed of the French in order to drag the United States into war with France, and demanded that President Adams publish documents related to the negotiations. In April 1798, Adams, who could not resist the pressure, had to publish the relevant documents, but in the documents referred to the three French representatives as "X, Y, Z".
Because of this, later generations referred to the diplomatic negotiations between the United States and France as the "XYZ Incident." The "XYZ incident" severely damaged Adams's prestige, and was jointly attacked by pro-British and pro-French factions, making Adams "not a man inside and out". More importantly, Adams's relationship with Hamilton deteriorated as a result of the XYZ incident, laying the groundwork for the division and demise of the Federalist Party.