The 1798 Franco-American War: The Quasi War

The Quasi War was the first major conflict for the new United States. The conflict with France established the United States Navy, which had been disbanded following the Revolution. The Franco-American War, also proved to be the catalyst for the separation of alliance between the US and France.

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In 1794 the U.S. government reached an agreement with Great Britain in the Jay Treaty, The Treaty solved some of the points of contention between the US and Britain, and encouraged trade between the two nations, by 1801, American exports nearly tripled, but the US lacked much in a way of a fleet to protect it's merchant marine, which had originally been protected by the Royal Navy. Which would be a major problem with the on-going Napoleonic war. The United States declared neutrality in the conflict but soon, disagreement between the US and France came to a head. During it's revolution, The US acquired quite a lot of debt with the French and it had been agreed that yearly payments would be made to re-pay this debt. However, with the overthrow of the French government in 1792, the US now reneged on their payments, stating that the debt was with the monarch, and not the First Republic. The French, understandably, were a bit miffed at this, and in retaliation, authorized it's privateers to capture American merchant ships to be sold when back in port. The French government also refused to accept the American embassy, breaking off relations with the nation in 1796. In 98 was the XYZ affair which was essentially the French demanding a whole bunch of money in order to even negotiate with American diplomats.

All of this was going on, as American merchant marine got heavily ravened by privateers. Over 320 ships were lost in over a single year, and the problem was only getting worse. Also in 1798, Congress authorized the creation of the Department of the Navy and the US marines, Congress also authorized the president to acquire, arm, and man twelve ships for this purpose. Several merchantmen were immediately purchased and refitted as ships of war. On July 5th, congress rescinded alliance treaties with the French and authorized American ships to attack french ships within the nations waters, on the 16th congress also authorized the construction of three frigates that had been halted in 1794. Due to the limited amount of resources at hand, efforts were aimed towards the Caribbean rather then the open Atlantic.

Several naval engagements occurred following this until 1800. The American vessels managed to heavily cut down on the amount of merchant marines that were lost in the region, and outside of one ship captured, didn't lost a single boat and very few men. Even if over 2,000 merchant ships were lost during the period. The conflict largely came to an end both due to the increased presence of the American and British navies, but also due to the more cordial diplomatic stance of Napoleons government.