Just years after France helped win American independence, the two allies were fighting an undeclared war at sea. This episode explores the Quasi-War of 1798 to 1800, from the U.S. suspension of loan payments and the Jay Treaty to French privateers capturing 316 American ships in just eight months using a paperwork technicality called the role d’equipage.

With no navy at all, the United States created the Department of the Navy, crowdfunded subscription ships, bought naval supplies from Britain and quietly coordinated convoys with the Royal Navy. Ships like the USS Constellation fought dramatic duels, and Supreme Court rulings confirmed that the U.S. could wage limited, undeclared wars, a precedent behind over 115 undeclared conflicts. The war ended with the Convention of 1800 and no compensation for roughly 2,000 captured ships.

• Why the U.S. argued its 1778 alliance and debts to France ended with Louis XVI
• How the XYZ Affair collapsed diplomacy and pushed Congress to authorize limited force
• Benjamin Stoddert’s strategy of hunting privateers and protecting convoys
• The exploits of Thomas Truxtun, Silas Talbot, Edward Preble and the USS Boston
• The legal precedent for undeclared war and its influence on modern American conflicts