Page "Elbridge Gerry" Paragraph 6

President Adams appointed Gerry to be a member of a special diplomatic commission sent to France in 1797.

Tensions had risen between the two nations after the 1796 ratification of the Jay Treaty, made between the US and Great Britain was seen by French leaders as signs of an Anglo-American alliance, and France had stepped up seizures of American ships.

Gerry, along with cocommissioners Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and John Marshall, traveled to France and met with Foreign Minister Talleyrand.

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.

The commissioners refused, and Pinckney and Marshall were soon afterward deported.

Gerry stayed behind, believing that Talleyrand was not behind the extortion attempt.

When the affair became public, Federalists accused him of supporting the French while Republicans such as Thomas Jefferson supported him.

He returned in October 1798 and switched his affiliation to the Democratic-Republican Party in early 1800.