The new U.S. Constitution appears to have bridged all the disagreements among the various states, but the right of the federal government to impose direct taxation remains untested.

Following the Revolutionary War, political leaders had reduced restrictions on enslaved people, permitting them to travel and meet freely on evenings and weekends; they establish regular meeting places to socialize and worship.

The Constitution has done nothing to address the institution of slavery itself, however, and the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 creates a huge demand for slaves in the Southern states.

Plantation owners hire out skilled slaves, who earn a small wage and gain the opportunity to travel beyond their community, forming kinships and information networks across the state.

Legislators pass laws to allow owners to free slaves if they wish.

Three rebellions occur during this era, two of which—the Whiskey Rebellion and Fries' Rebellion, both taking place in Pennsylvania—are directed against federal taxation.

The first instance involves resistance to a tax on liquor; the second is a revolt against property tax intended to fund what becomes known as the American-French Quasi War of 1798-1800.

The third, Gabriel's Rebellion, is the first major slave rebellion in United States history and the second in the Western Hemisphere, preceded by the ongoing revolt of Toussaint L'Ouverture on the island of Hispaniola.

The Franco-American alliance of 1778 is still in force but has become an embarrassment to the US during the post-Revolutionary wars that have erupted between France and Britain.

Adams, seeking to modify the agreement, sends three commissioners—Charles Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry—to Paris.

The French government, emboldened by recent military victories, demands bribes and a loan from the US before entering into negotiations, presenting these demands through supposedly unofficial channels in the persons of a Swiss banker named Hottengeuer (Mr. “X”, as Adams refers to him in messages to Congress”; a Hamburg merchant named Belllamy (“Y”) and a Mr. Hauteval (“Z”).

The commissioners refuse to pay the bribes.

A public outcry arises in the US over the French request and the so-called Quasi-War ensues.

Rumors of an impending French invasion abound in the United States by mid-Aprll, 1798.

Congress, in an attempt to control criticism of the government, enacts into law in May 1798 four bills known as the Alien and Sedition acts (arguably the most intolerant acts ever passed by a U.S. Congress): The Naturalization Act (repealed in 1802) raises from five to fourteen years the amount of time an alien has to reside in this country before becoming a citizen.

The Alien Act empowers the president to arrest, imprison or deport any alien considered dangerous or treasonable to the country.

The Alien Enemies Act empowers the president to arrest, imprison or deport any alien, subject to an enemy power in a time of declared war.

The Sedition Act levies a fine of up to two thousand dollars plus imprisonment, for as long as two years, for anyone convicted of speaking, writing or publishing anything considered “false, scandalous, or malicious” against the United States government, the President, anyone in the House of Congress; and involvement in any opposition to the execution of national laws, or aiding or attempting to riot, causing insurrections, and unlawful assemblies.

The Federalist-controlled U.S. Congress, which greatly needs revenues for the anticipated war with France, votes in July of 1798 to impose a direct federal tax on all real property, including land, buildings, and slaves, intending to raise two million dollars.

George Washington, after retiring from the presidency in March 1797, had returned to Mount Vernon with a profound sense of relief.

He has devoted much time to his plantations and other business interests, including his distillery, which had produced its first batch of spirits in February 1797.

As Chernow (2010) explains, his plantation operations were at best marginally profitable.

The lands out west yield little income because they are under attack by natives and the squatters living there refuse to pay him rent.

Most Americans assume he is rich because of the well-known "glorified façade of wealth and grandeur" at Mount Vernon.

Historians estimate his estate was worth about a million dollars in 1799 dollars, equivalent to about eighteen million dollars in 2009 purchasing power. (Chernow, Ron (2010). Washington: A Life. New York: Penguin Press)

By 1798, relations with France have deteriorated to the point that war seems imminent, and on July 4, 1798, President Adams offers Washington a commission as lieutenant general and Commander-in-chief of the armies raised or to be raised for service in a prospective war.

He reluctantly accepts, and will serve as the senior officer of the United States Army between July 13, 1798, and December 14, 1799.

He will participate in the planning for a Provisional Army to meet any emergency that might arise, but will avoid involvement in details as much as possible; he will delegate most of the work, including leadership of the army, to Hamilton.

USS Delaware, originally a merchant ship called Hamburgh Packet, had been purchased by the United States Navy on May 5, 1798.

With a complement of one hundred and eighty men and twenty mounted long guns—sixteen nine-pounders (four point one kilograms) and four six-pounders (two point seven kilograms), she had been given to Captain Stephen Decatur, Sr. to command.

Delaware sets sail from Delaware Bay on July 6 with instructions to join USS United States and USS Ganges and patrol the section of the Atlantic Coast between Long Island and Cape Henry.

On July 7, the day after her first sail, USS Delaware happens upon the American merchant vessel Alexander Hamilton, which had been carrying wine and brandy from New York City to Baltimore when she was stopped by a French privateer who ransacked her.

She had been reduced to limping across the Great Egg Harbor Bay.

When Captain Decatur hears these reports from Alexander Hamilton's crew, he begins scouting the bay for a potentially culpable French vessel.

An attack by a French privateer on an American merchantman is not unheard of at this time.

Tensions between the United States and France have been rising in the past months, and the United States Congress has instructed all American warships in the newly-formed United States Navy to "capture any French vessel found near the coast preying upon American commerce.

Congress has also commissioned one thousand privateers to combat against the French hostilities of the day.

Captain Decatur, who had distinguished himself as a privateer during the American Revolutionary War, is now looking to make the most of the opportunity to command Delaware.

In the midst of her search for the French privateers, Delaware spots four sails on the horizon.

Under Decatur's orders, the sloop's crew has her pretend to be a merchant vessel.

The act is convincing enough to draw the attention and pursuit of the French privateer schooner La Croyable.

It is not long before the captain of the French vessel discovers that Delaware is a warship and tries to reverse course.

After a lengthy chase, La Croyable finds herself pinned against the shore of Great Egg Harbor Bay.

She surrenders after only a few cannon shots.

Delaware makes her way back up the Delaware River with her prize on July 8 and docks at Fort Mifflin.

After executing the US Navy's first victory of the Quasi-War, Decatur becomes a hero.

He boasts of his catch to several people, including Captain John Barry of USS United States.

La Croyable is deemed a lawful capture by the U.S. government and renamed USS Retaliation.

She is given to the command of Lieutenant William Bainbridge.

Bainbridge will join a fleet of American ships in the Caribbean on October 15.

Later in November however, the French frigates Volontaire and Insurgente will attack USS Retaliation, capturing her.

This was the only American naval vessel to be captured during the entire Quasi-War.

The release of the dispatches produces exactly the response Adams had feared.

Federalists call for war, and Democratic-Republicans are left without an effective argument against them, having miscalculated the reason for Adams' secrecy.

Congress authorizes the acquisition of twelve frigates, and makes other appropriations to increase military readiness.

Despite calls for a formal war declaration, Adams steadfastly refuses to ask Congress for one.

On July 7, 1798, Congress had annuls the 1778 Treaty of Alliance, and two days later authorizes attacks on French warships.

The United States Marine Corps traces its roots to the Continental Marines of the American Revolutionary War, formed by Captain Samuel Nicholas by a resolution of the Second Continental Congress on November 10, 1775, to raise two battalions of Marines.

That date is regarded and celebrated as the date of the Marine Corps' birthday.

At the end of the American Revolution, both the Continental Navy and Continental Marines had been disbanded in April 1783.

The institution itself is resurrected on July 11, 1798, when, in preparation for the Quasi-War with France, Congress creates the United States Marine Corps.

Marines have been enlisted by the War Department as early as August 1797 for service in the new-build frigates authorized by the Congressional "Act to provide a Naval Armament" of March 18, 1794, which specifies the numbers of Marines to recruit for each frigate.