Treaty of Mortefontaine’s Far-Reaching Effect
As wars go, the Quasi-War between France and the U.S. between 1798 and 1800 was more of a spat than an actual war. Yes, people were killed and injured. Yes, ships and their cargo were taken by both sides as prizes to be resold. Yes, we signed a treaty to end the conflict, but the Quasi-War set in motion events that would ultimately transform the United States. For more on the Quasi-War, see 6/20/21 post The Undeclared War Against France https://marcliebman.com/the-undeclared-war-against-france/.
From France’s perspective, it needed to end the Quasi-War as fast as possible. In 1800, France, and its ally Spain, were embroiled in the War of the Second Coalition against England, Prussia, Russia, the Holy Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and a long list of small states who wanted to restore Bourbon rule of France.
France desperately wanted the U.S. to remain neutral despite our arbitrarily abrogating the 1778 Treaty of Friendship and Alliance and ending payments on French loans from the American Revolution. When Napoleon came to power via a coup in 1799, most of the French Navy was blockaded in ports. French merchant ships were being taken by the U.S. and Royal Navy ships and British and American privateers.
Wealthy merchants who supported Napoleon wanted to use U.S.-flagged ships to carry rum, sugar, and molasses from the French-held islands in the Caribbean. Napoleon also wanted a neutral U.S. so French privateers could bring their prizes into U.S. ports to sell the ships and cargo and tax the privateers’ profits.
Napoleon’s reasons weren’t just economic. He wanted land in North America from which he could threaten Canada. Through the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso, signed in October 1800, Spain agreed to transfer what we now call the Louisiana Territory to France.
The U.S. also had motivations to end the fighting. French military officers were found in U.S. territory surveying land on fortifications could be built to defend Louisiana. This discovery was one of the reasons behind the 1798 Alien and Sedition Act which Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans used some of the provisions of the law to help win the election of 1800. See 7/10/22 post The Legacy of the Alien And Sedition Act of 1798 – https://marcliebman.com/the-legacy-of-the-sedition-and-alien-acts-of-1798/.
Both sides met in Mortefontaine, a small-town northeast of Paris. French Foreign Minister Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord wanted an amiable solution that kept the U.S. out of the ongoing conflict in Europe. While Talleyrand was meeting with the American delegation led by Oliver Ellsworth, he was also encouraging the Russians to create The Second League of Armed Neutrality in which the signers – Russia, Denmark-Norway, Sweden, and Prussia – hoped would stop the Royal Navy’s practice of stopping ships on the high seas to search for military supplies that could be going to England’s enemies. The First League of Armed Neutrality during the American Revolution had worked, and the signatories hoped the second would as well.
The signing of the Second League of Armed Neutrality gave Talleyrand confidence that French merchants could trade with the U.S., and the principle of freedom of the seas would be upheld. He then could proceed with negotiations with the Americans to end the Quasi-War.
When one reads the 27 clauses of the Treaty of Mortefontaine, a.k.a. the Convention of 1800, it becomes evident that it is more a commercial treaty than a peace treaty. Yes, it ended the conflict, but what the agreement does more than anything else is facilitate trade between France and its overseas possessions and the United States.
However, disagreements in Congress over how U.S. ship owners and merchants would be compensated for losses during the Quasi-War held up American ratification of the Treaty until December 21st, 1801, long after it was signed. The last damage claim covered by the treaty was not paid by the U.S. government until 1915!
With the Treaties of Mortefontaine and San Ildefonso in place and a neutral U.S., Talleyrand and his boss, Napoleon, now had the pieces they needed to begin a campaign to re-establish the French presence in North America that was lost during the Seven Years War.
History, however, tells us a different story.
Painting by Victor-Jean Adam is of the Signing of the Treaty of Mortefontaine.