A naval scuffle over trade was not the same as a fully fledged war like the American War of Independence.
If the Quasi-War Against France did not produce more casualties, it is only because the land armies of the U.S. and France, during the Age of Sail, were not geographically located where they could come to battle.
As it was, when U.S. and French naval forces happened to meet, the fighting was fierce. In the engagement against La Vengeance , the crew of La Vengeance suffered 40% casualties. To those men, it was not a "scuffle".
You completely fail to address the other point that I and several others on this thread brought up as to why France aided the U.S. in the Revolutionary War.
While it is true that some individual Frenchmen, such as the Marquis de la Fayette, were motivated by democratic ideals, the fact remains that France's help for the American colonists during the Revolutionary War was a classic exercise in realpolitik undertaken in order to inflict as much damage on the hated British as France possibly could.
Once that goal was accomplished, France no longer had any special fondness for the Americans and behaved accordingly.
The only times when France has embraced the U.S. is when it has used the U.S. to hurt France's enemies or used the U.S. to save France's hide.
At other times, France has treated the U.S. with the same jealousy and hatred that France has shown Britain for centuries.
Franco-American relations were epitimized by the exchange between Charles de Gaulle and US Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, when, in 1966, Charles de Gaulle ordered France out of NATO and ordered American troops off French soil.
Rusk said to de Gaulle, "I am directed by my President to ask you this question. It is from the mouth of the President of the United States: 'Does your order include the bodies of American soldiers in France's cemeteries?'"