XYZ+Affair+Story

Have you ever lost something that seems like no big deal? Well John Adams can relate. Now sit back relax and understand why a little button is important to my family.

My great great great grandfather Elbridge Gerry was waiting for John Adams to get his top secret assignment when as he walked in Adams' coat button fell off. Gerry didn't see it until Adams left and ran to get Adams and tell him. Adams yelled to Gerry "Just get to work on the assignment!" Gerry,stunned at Adams uncaring answer to his cry, went back into the room with the other 2 diplomats, Thomas Pinckney and John Marshall, and said "We should be off." The other men agreed and went off in search of a boat. They found one and decided it was too late to sail so they waited untill dawn. When dawn arrived, they set off in the boat starting their voyage to France. After arriving, they found that the French foreign minister Charles Talleyrand would not speak with them. Our Grandfather living at this day told us that Gerry had screamed to the other diplomats "HE SHOULD TALK TO US, WE CAME ALL THIS WAY FOR HIM." Later on, they were visited, in secret, by French agents who said "Talleyrand would only discuss peace for a $250,000 bribe and a loan of $12,000,000 to the French Government. Gerry yelled "WE WILL NEVER GIVE YOU SO MUCH MONEY JUST FOR PEACE!" They went back and told Adams that their mission had failed. This is where grandfather gets upset. This is also where the button part of the story comes in... As John Adams gets up from his seat, he notices his button had came off. In a wondering tone, he says out loud "Where is my button?' Gerry not willing to give it back because he was afraid he would be dubbed a theif did not speak up about the button. Adams got over it soon and said "We can not tell congress what happened with the French." "Yes sir." the 3 men said. Later on he did tell congress but substitued the agents name with the letters XYZ. There was a war going on over seas between France and the U.S so Adams pursued peace and soon there was peace between the 2 countries. All the while people were writing essays trying to insult their own presidents and Hamilton was trying to undermine Adams authority over the Americans. The button is important because Gerry did eventually tell Adams about it but Adams said to keep it. That is why it was significant. This is the button from John Adams coat.