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Article: AN EARLY CHAPTER IN NAVAL HISTORY DETAILED IN A FIRST-RATE ACCOUNT.(Lifestyle)(Review)
- Article from:
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer
- Article date:
- February 1, 2000
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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On April 3, 1798, President John Adams sent to Congress documents detailing the efforts of three French officials to extort a ``loan'' of 1 million pounds and a bribe of another 50,000 pounds to secure U.S. merchant ships from seizure by French privateers.
The incident became known as ``The XYZ Affair'' for the coded names of the three French officials involved in the shakedown attempt, and it gave birth to the slogan ``Millions for defense, but not a penny for tribute.'' It also moved Congress, on June 30, to authorize Adams to accept ``any armed vessels . . . offered to him for the use of the United States, to be employed in public service.''
The ...