The peace accord with France that Jefferson was looking for came when Napoleon concluded that it did not make sense to antagonize the Americans at a time when he was at war with Great Britain and much of continental Europe. France ended the quasi war that it started with the United States and signed the Treaty of Mortefontaine. For the occasion, Napoleon even trotted out Lafayette, whom he despised, and raised his glass before the assembled guests, toasting, “To the manes of the French and the Americans who died on the field of battle for the independence of the new world.”59
