<P> Tensions with France escalated into an undeclared war--called the "Quasi-War ." It involved two years of hostilities at sea, in which both navies attacked the other's shipping in the West Indies . The unexpected fighting ability of the U.S. Navy, which destroyed the French West Indian trade, together with the growing weaknesses and final overthrow of the ruling Directory in France, led Talleyrand to reopen negotiations . At the same time, President Adams feuded with Hamilton over control of the Adams' administration . Adams took sudden and unexpected action, rejecting the anti-French hawks in his own party and offering peace to France . In 1800 he sent William Vans Murray to France to negotiate peace; Federalists cried betrayal . The subsequent negotiations, embodied in the Convention of 1800 (also called the "Treaty of Mortefontaine") of Sept. 30, 1800, affirmed the rights of Americans as neutrals upon the sea and abrogated the alliance with France of 1778 . The treaty failed to provide compensation for the $20,000,000 "French Spoliation Claims" of the United States; the U.S. government eventually paid these claims . The Convention of 1800 ensured that the United States would remain neutral toward France in the wars of Napoleon and ended the "entangling" French alliance with the United States . In truth, this alliance had only been viable between 1778 and 1783 . </P> <P> Spain was losing money heavily on the ownership of vast Louisiana territory, and was eager to turn it over to Napoleon in 1800 . He envisioned it as the base (along with Haiti) of a New World empire . Louisiana would be a granary providing food to the enslaved labor force in the West Indies . President Jefferson could tolerate weak Spain but not powerful France in the west . He considered war to prevent French control of the Mississippi River . Jefferson sent his close friend, James Monroe, to France to buy as much of the land around New Orleans as he could . Surprisingly, Napoleon agreed to sell the entire territory . Because of an insuppressible slave rebellion in St. Domingue, modern - day Haiti, among other reasons, Bonaparte's North American plans collapsed . To keep Louisiana out of British hands in an approaching war he sold it in April 1803 to the United States for $15 million . British bankers financed the deal, taking American government bonds and shipping gold to Paris . The size of the United States was doubled without going to war . </P> <P> Britain and France resumed their war in 1803, just after the Purchase . Both challenged American neutrality and tried to disrupt trade with its enemy . The presupposition was that small neutral nations could benefit from the wars of the great powers . He distrusted both Napoleon and Great Britain, but saw Britain (with its monarchism, aristocracy and great navy and position in Canada) as the more immediate threat to American interests . Therefore, he and Madison took a generally pro-French position and used the embargo to hurt British trade . Both Britain and France infringed on U.S. maritime rights . The British infringed more and also impressed thousands of American sailors into the Royal Navy; France never did anything like impressment . Jefferson signed the Embargo Act in 1807, which forbade all exports and imports . Designed to hurt the British, it hurt American commerce far more . The destructive Embargo Act, which had brought U.S. trade to a standstill, was rescinded in 1809, as Jefferson left office . Both Britain and France remained hostile to the United States . The War of 1812 was the logical extension of the embargo program as the United States declared war on Britain . However, there was never any sense of being an ally of France and no effort was made to coordinate military activity . </P> <P> France and Spain had not defined a boundary between Louisiana and neighboring territory retained by Spain, leaving this problem for the U.S. and Spain to sort out . The U.S. inherited the French claims to Texas, then in the 1819 Adams--Onís Treaty traded these (and a little of the Mississippi drainage itself) in return for American possession of Florida, where American settlers and the U.S. Army were already encroaching, and acquisition of Spain's weak claims to the Pacific Northwest . Before three more decades had passed, the United States had annexed Texas . </P>

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