<u><em>In the years of 1797 and 1798, the United States got into a diplomatic incident that was between France. The XYZ affair led to the undeclared Quasi-War. The attempt was to avert war with Great Britain. The XYZ affair started because France allowed an order for the seizure of American merchant ships in the year 1796. The XYZ affair was a very unsuccessful diplomatic incident and this contributes to the hostilities between both the United States of America and France. </em></u>
The XYZ affair was a diplomatic incident in the late 1790s in the Adams administration wherein the French government demanded bribes before negotiations were able to even begin and the correspondence was released. A small Naval war broke out and the Adams administration used the furor against the French to hurt the Democratic Republicans and build up the national military.
