While the Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolution, two key provisions laid out in the agreement had not been followed by England since its signing. The British had never evacuated their forts in the Northwest Territory and, to make matters worse, they encouraged their Indian allies to terrorize any American settlers in the region. They had also continued their habit of taking British-born sailors off American merchant ships and forcing them to serve on British warships, a practice known as impressment. President Washington, worried our new nation was drifting towards a war it was ill-prepared to fight, sent John Jay, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, to England to negotiate a settlement.

By 1794, President George Washington worried America was drifting towards another war with England that it was ill-prepared to fight. The Treasury was broke, we had only a small standing army and no navy, and war with our largest trading partner would devastate the economy.