In 1797 the XYZ Affair took place. It was a dplomatic incident between the United States and Republican France.
An American diplomatic commission (John Marshall, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and Elbridge Gerry) was sent to France to negotiate a solution to problems that were threatening to break out into war.
The American commission arrived in Paris in early October 1797, and immediately requested a meeting with Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand.
