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The XYZ Affair was an incident in 1798, during a period when French privateers were regularly seizing U.S. merchant ships, and that precipitated an undeclared war between the US and France .
President John Adams sent emissaries to France to negotiate . They were met by three French agents who identified themselves as X,Y and Z and demanded a substantial bribe for access to the French foreign minister. The Americans were outraged.

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12y ago

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