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• In Congress, Thomas Jefferson demanded the passage of a declaration of war. James Madison, however, called for a trade embargo on all British goods as a more moderate response.
• Bitter objections to the treaty by the French government led to the XYZ Affair of 1797 and the 1798 Quasi-War with France. In the United States, political conflict over ratification of the treaty contributed to the creation of America’s first two political parties: the pro-treaty Federalist Party, led by Alexander Hamilton, and the anti-treaty Demo...
• Jay’s Treaty was an agreement between the United States and Great Britain signed on November 19, 1794 intended to avert war and resolve issues between the two countries that had lingered since the end of the American Revolutionary War. While it was unpopular with the American public, the treaty succeeded in ensuring a decade of peaceful and mutuall...
• American political leaders were bitterly divided on how to respond. Led by Jefferson and Madison, the Democratic-Republicans favored aiding the French in its war with Britain. However, Hamilton’s Federalists argued that negotiating for peaceful relations with Britain—especially trade relations—could turn the British into a lasting and powerful ally...
• . The British agreed to vacate its forts in the northern United States territories by June 1796. In addition, Britain agreed to grant the United States the advantageous “most favored nation” trading status, but greatly limited U.S. trade to emerging lucrative markets in the British West Indies.

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