The XYZ Affair
Twenty years after the Declaration of Independence, writes Louis C. Kleber, the Americans, now at peace with Britain, were involved in tortuous negotiations with the Directory of the French Republic.
Franco-American relations were most harmonious in the autumn of 1781 when Lord Cornwallis and his British army surrendered to American and French forces at Yorktown, Virginia. The French had made a great contribution to the victory, both on land and sea.
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