American Revolution Podcast

For the last few weeks, we’ve been covering the growing divide in the US over a possible war with France.  This week, that possibility grows exponentially following what has become known as the XYZ Affair.

Partisan tensions had been growing in Congress for several years, primarily over the issue of whether the US should maintain neutrality and a good trading relationship with Britain, or whether it should deepen its ties with Revolutionary France and join the effort to rid Europe of monarchy.

On January 30, 1798, these tensions turned physical when Congressm...

Michael J. Troy (MJT): Hello and thanks for joining this special edition of the American Revolution. We're here with our monthly roundtable and as is our norm, we have brought in a special guest, Katherine Grandjean, who is author of

For a while now, I’ve been referencing the ongoing war in Europe, fighting that the US was desperately trying to avoid, but which continued to cause them problems. While this was a major focus in America, I’m really trying to ignore most of the details of the war, out of a fear that we stray too far off-topic and dive into the French Revolution and its related wars.  But in ...