218. John Adams elected President, 1796.--In 1796 John Adams was the Federalist candidate for President. His rival was Thomas Jefferson, the founder and chief of the Republican party. Alexander Hamilton was the real leader of the Federalists, and he disliked Adams. Thomas Pinckney was the Federalist candidate for Vice-President. Hamilton suggested a plan which he thought would lead to the election of Pinckney as President instead of Adams. But Hamilton's scheme did not turn out very well. For by it Jefferson was elected Vice-President. Indeed, he came near being President, for he had only three less electoral votes than Adams. [Sidenote: Relations with France, 1796-97. _McMaster, 210-212; Source-Book_, 191-194.] [Sidenote: The French government declines to receive an American minister.] 219. More Trouble with France.--France was now (1796-97) governed by five chiefs of the Revolution, who called themselves "the Directory." They were very angry when they heard of Jay's Treaty (p. 168), for they had hoped that the Americans would make war on the British. James Monroe was then American minister at Paris. Instead of doing all he could to smooth over this difficulty, he urged on the wrath of the Directory. Washington recalled Monroe, and sent in his stead General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina. The Directory promptly refused to receive Pinckney, and ordered him to leave France. News of this action of the Directory reached Philadelphia three days after Adams's inauguration. [Sidenote: Adams's message, 1797.] [Sidenote: A commission sent to France, 1797.] [Sidenote: The X.Y.Z. Affair, 1797-98.] 220. The X.Y.Z. Affair, 1797-98.--Adams at once summoned Congress and addressed the members in stirring words. He denied that the Americans were a "degraded people, humiliated under a colonial sense of fear ... and regardless of national honor, character, and interest." It seemed best, however, to make one more effort to avoid war. Adams therefore sent John Marshall, a Virginia Federalist, and Elbridge Gerry, a Massachusetts Republican, to France. They were to join Pinckney and together were to negotiate with the French Directory. When they reached Paris three men came to see them. These men said that America (1) must apologize for the President's vigorous words, (2) must lend money to France, and (3) must bribe the Directory and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. These outrageous suggestions were emphatically put aside. In sending the papers to Congress, the three men were called Mr. X., Mr. Y., and Mr. Z., so the incident is always known as the "X.Y.Z. Affair." [Sidenote: Excitement in America.]