George Washington's Proclamation Of Neutrality

At this time in history, the United States was still in its infancy, being not even three decades old. George Washington had established a Proclamation of Neutrality for the United States during his presidency. This stated that the country would not involve itself in foreign affairs, commercial or military, and create a self-contained economy that relied on no outside power. He felt that if the nation got involved in the issues of other countries, it could draw the U.S. into tensions and conflict with other countries. The newborn country was not yet ready for war and its economy was not sufficiently stabilized to start trade with others.
The American Revolution had been an inspirational event for the French people under the reign of Louis

These war-hungry action were carried out under the presidency of John Adams, our second president. Adams tried to maintain Washington’s neutrality policy and to avoid a full-fledged war, Adams sent diplomats to meet French ministers in an attempt to create peace. The meeting went ary when the ministers requested a bribe and loan to France from the American National Bank. This embarrassing event was dubbed the XYZ Affair by Adams in his report, naming the three ministers by alphabetical terms, as to not reveal their identities yet still expose France’s atrocious demands. After this ordeal, tensions between America and France continued to rise to the brink of outright war. In 1800, though, a peace treaty was finally brought about to resolve this Franco-American

As Barron’s ship was leaving port, the British warship, the Leopard, stopped the vessel. The captain of the Leopard demanded that a British search party be allowed to investigate the Chesapeake for rumored deserters. Barron refused, and the Leopard quickly fired its cannons, reducing the Chesapeake to a smoking, tangled remnant of the ship, forcing Barron to surrender. This attack brought the issue of British impressment into sharp focus. Thomas Jefferson, the president at the time, is quoted to have said, 'Never since the Battle of Lexington have I seen this country in such a state of exasperation as at present, and even that did not produce such unanimity.' In 1807, Jefferson passed the Embargo Act, which forbade American ships from trading with any and all foreign nations, to protect the crews from being taken into English service. The provisions of the act allowed the President to make exceptions in special cases, as well as to enforce the act with naval military force. It is important to note that the embargo did not include warships in its