Editing Elbridge Gerry (section)

==XYZ Affair==
{{main|XYZ Affair}}
[[File:Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord by François Gérard, 1808.jpg|thumb|[[Charles Maurice de Talleyrand]], depicted in this [[Portrait of Talleyrand|1808 portrait]] by [[François Gérard]], insisted Gerry remain in Paris even after negotiations failed.]]

President Adams appointed Gerry to be a member of a special diplomatic commission sent to [[French First Republic|Republican France]] in 1797.<ref name=Ferling345/> Tensions had risen between the two nations after the 1796 ratification of the [[Jay Treaty]], made between the United States and Great Britain.  It was seen by French leaders as signs of an Anglo-American alliance, and France had consequently stepped up seizures of American ships.<ref>Elkins and McKitrick, pp. 537–38</ref> Adams chose Gerry over his cabinet's opposition (on political grounds that Gerry was insufficiently Federalist), because of their long-standing relationship; Adams described Gerry as one of the "two most impartial men in America" (Adams himself being the other).<ref name="Ferling345">Ferling, p. 345</ref>

Gerry joined co-commissioners [[Charles Cotesworth Pinckney]] and [[John Marshall]] in France in October 1797 and met briefly with Foreign Minister [[Charles Maurice de Talleyrand|Talleyrand]].<ref>Stinchcombe, pp. 596–97</ref> Some days after that meeting, the delegation was approached by three French agents (at first identified as "X", "Y", and "Z" in published papers, leading the controversy to be called the "XYZ Affair") who demanded substantial bribes from the commissioners before negotiations could continue.<ref>Billias, pp. 268–69</ref> The commissioners refused and sought unsuccessfully to engage Talleyrand in formal negotiations.<ref>Billias, pp. 272–75</ref> Believing Gerry to be the most approachable of the commissioners, Talleyrand successively froze first Pinckney and then Marshall out of the informal negotiations, and they left France in April 1798.<ref>Stinchcombe, pp. 598–613</ref> Gerry, who sought to leave with them, stayed behind because Talleyrand threatened war if he left.<ref>Billias, p. 280</ref> Gerry refused to make any significant negotiations afterward and left Paris in August.<ref>Billias, p. 283</ref>

By then, dispatches describing the commission's reception had been published in the United States, raising calls for war.<ref>Ferling, pp. 354–57</ref> The undeclared naval [[Quasi-War]] (1798–1800) followed.<ref>Smith, p. 130</ref> Federalists, notably Secretary of State [[Timothy Pickering]], accused Gerry of supporting the French and abetting the breakdown of the talks, while Adams and Republicans such as Thomas Jefferson supported him.<ref>Billias, pp. 289–93</ref> The negative press damaged Gerry's reputation, and he was [[Effigy|burned in effigy]] by protestors in front of his home. He was only later vindicated, when his correspondence with Talleyrand was published in 1799.<ref name=P51_52/> In response to the Federalist attacks on him, and because of his perception that the Federalist-led military buildup threatened republican values, Gerry formally joined the Democratic-Republican Party in early 1800, standing for election as [[Governor of Massachusetts]].<ref>Billias, pp. 289, 301</ref>