The Webster–Ashburton Treaty, signed August 9, 1842, was a treaty that resolved several border issues between the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
and the
British North American colonies
The British colonization of the Americas was the history of establishment of control, settlement, and colonization of the continents of the Americas by England, Scotland and, after 1707, Great Britain. Colonization efforts began in the late ...
(the region that became Canada). Signed under
John Tyler
John Tyler (March 29, 1790 – January 18, 1862) was the tenth president of the United States, serving from 1841 to 1845, after briefly holding office as the tenth vice president in 1841. He was elected vice president on the 1840 Whig tick ...
's presidency, it resolved the so-called
Aroostook War
The Aroostook War (sometimes called the Pork and Beans WarLe Duc, Thomas (1947). The Maine Frontier and the Northeastern Boundary Controversy. ''The American Historical Review'' Vol. 53, No. 1 (Oct., 1947), pp. 30–41), or the Madawaska War, wa ...
. The provisions of the treaty included:
* The settlement of the location of the
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and nor ...
–
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
border, which was the primary cause of the Aroostook War.
* Establishment of the border between
Lake Superior
Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...
and the
Lake of the Woods
Lake of the Woods (french: Lac des Bois, oj, Pikwedina Sagainan) is a lake occupying parts of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba and the U.S. state of Minnesota. Lake of the Woods is over long and wide, containing more than 14,5 ...
, originally defined in the
Treaty of Paris in 1783;
* Reaffirmation of the location of the border (at the
49th parallel) in the westward frontier up to the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
defined in the
Treaty of 1818
The Convention respecting fisheries, boundary and the restoration of slaves, also known as the London Convention, Anglo-American Convention of 1818, Convention of 1818, or simply the Treaty of 1818, is an international treaty signed in 1818 betw ...
;
* Definition of seven crimes subject to
extradition
Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...
;
* Agreement that the two parties would share use of the
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...
;
* Agreement that there should be a final end to the
slave trade
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
on the high seas.
The treaty also retroactively confirmed the southern boundary of Quebec that land surveyors
John Collins and Thomas Valentine had marked with stone monuments in 1771–1773. The treaty intended that the border be at
45 degrees north latitude, but the border is in some places nearly a half mile north of the parallel. The treaty was signed by
United States Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents William Henry Harrison ...
and British diplomat
Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton.
[.]
In the East
An arbitration of various border issues in the East before King
William I of the Netherlands
William I (Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was a Prince of Orange, the King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg.
He was the son of the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, who went ...
in 1831 had failed to yield a binding decision.
The Treaty of Paris had established the 45th parallel as part of the northern boundary of modern-day New York and Vermont. Most of that portion of the boundary had previously been surveyed in the early 1770s, but the survey line was inaccurate. Since "
Fort Blunder
Fort Montgomery on Lake Champlain is the second of two American forts built at the northernmost point of the American part of the lake: a first, unnamed fort built on the same site in 1816 and Fort Montgomery built in 1844.
The current massive s ...
"—an unnamed U.S. fort in what is now part of northeastern New York—had been constructed north of the actual 45th parallel, the United States wanted to follow the old survey line, and the Webster–Ashburton treaty incorporated this change, leaving the half-finished fort on U.S. soil. Following the signing of the treaty, the U.S. resumed construction on the site. The new project replaced the aborted 1812-era construction with a massive
third-system masonry fortification known as
Fort Montgomery.
This treaty marked the end of local confrontations between lumberjacks (known as the
Aroostook War
The Aroostook War (sometimes called the Pork and Beans WarLe Duc, Thomas (1947). The Maine Frontier and the Northeastern Boundary Controversy. ''The American Historical Review'' Vol. 53, No. 1 (Oct., 1947), pp. 30–41), or the Madawaska War, wa ...
) along the Maine border with the British colonies of Lower Canada (which later became Quebec) and New Brunswick. The newly agreed border divided the disputed territory between the two nations. The British were assigned the Halifax–Quebec road route, which their military desired because Lower Canada had no other connection in winter to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The treaty adjusted portions of the border to give the United States a little more land to the north. It also resolved issues that had led to the
Indian Stream dispute as well as the
''Caroline'' Affair. The Indian Stream area was assigned to the United States. The Webster–Ashburton Treaty failed to clarify ownership of
Machias Seal Island and nearby
North Rock
North Rock (french: Roche North) is an offshore rock near the boundary between the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy east of the North American continent. Its ownership is disputed between the Canadian province of New Brunswick and the U.S. state ...
, which remain in dispute.
Additionally, the signing of the treaty put an end to several building improvements planned for Upper Canadian defense forts such as
Fort Malden
Fort Malden, formally known as Fort Amherstburg, is a defence fortification located in Amherstburg, Ontario. It was built in 1795 by Great Britain in order to ensure the security of British North America against any potential threat of America ...
in
Amherstburg
Amherstburg is a town near the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. In 1796, Fort Malden was established here, stimulating growth in the settlement. The fort has been designated as a National Historic Site.
The town is ...
, which the British government later abandoned, as they no longer served a defensive purpose.
In the West
The border between Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods needed clarification because the faulty
Mitchell Map used in the negotiations for the
Treaty of Paris was inadequate to define the border according to the terms of that treaty. Ambiguity in the map and treaty resulted in Minnesota's
Arrowhead region being disputed, and previous negotiations had not resolved the question. The treaty had the border pass through Long Lake, but did not state that lake's location. However, the map showed the lake flowing into Lake Superior near
Isle Royale, which is consistent with the Pigeon River route.
The British, however, had previously taken the position that the border should leave Lake Superior at ''Fond du Lac'' (the "head of the lake") in modern
Duluth, Minnesota
, settlement_type = City
, nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior, Wisconsin, Superior), Zenith City
, motto =
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top: Downtown Dul ...
, proceed up the
Saint Louis and
Embarrass rivers, across the
height of land, and down Pike River and
Lake Vermilion
Lake Vermilion is a shallow freshwater lake in northeastern Minnesota, United States. The Ojibwe originally called the lake Nee-Man-Nee, which means “the evening sun tinting the water a reddish color”. French fur traders translated this to th ...
to the
Rainy River.
To counter this western route, the U.S. advocated for an eastern route, used by early French explorer
Jacques de Noyon in 1688, and the later a well-used fur traders' route after 1802. This way headed north from the lake at the site of
Fort William up the
Kaministiquia and Dog Rivers to Cold Water Lake, crossed the divide by Prairie Portage to Height of Land Lake, then went west by way of the Savanne, Pickerel, and Maligne rivers to Lake La Croix, where it joined the present border.
The Mitchell map had shown both of those routes, and also showed the "Long Lake" route between them.
[.] Long Lake was thought to be the
Pigeon River (despite the absence of a lake at its mouth).
The traditional traders' route left the Lake at
Grand Portage and went overland to the Pigeon, up that river and a tributary across the
Height of Land Portage, and thence down tributaries of the Rainy River to
Lac La Croix, Rainy Lake and River, and
Lake of the Woods
Lake of the Woods (french: Lac des Bois, oj, Pikwedina Sagainan) is a lake occupying parts of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba and the U.S. state of Minnesota. Lake of the Woods is over long and wide, containing more than 14,5 ...
. This is finally the route the treaty designated as the border.
The treaty clarified the channel that the border would follow between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, awarding
Sugar Island to the U.S.
Another clarification made in this treaty resulted in clarifying the anomaly of the
Northwest Angle
The Northwest Angle, known simply as the Angle by locals, and coextensive with Angle Township, is a pene-exclave of northern Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota. Except for surveying errors, it is the only place in the contiguous United Sta ...
. Again, due to errors on the Mitchell Map, Treaty of Paris reads "... through the Lake of the Woods to the most northwesternmost point thereof, and from thence on a due west course to the river Mississippi ..." In fact, a course due west from the Lake of the Woods never intersects the Mississippi. The
Anglo-American Convention of 1818
The Convention respecting fisheries, boundary and the restoration of slaves, also known as the London Convention, Anglo-American Convention of 1818, Convention of 1818, or simply the Treaty of 1818, is an international treaty signed in 1818 betw ...
defined the boundary about Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains.
This 1842 treaty reaffirmed the border and further defined it by modifying the border definition to instead read as:
The Webster–Ashburton Treaty failed to deal with the
Oregon question, although the issue was discussed in negotiations.
Other issues
Article 10 of the Webster–Ashburton Treaty identified seven crimes subject to extradition: "murder, or assault with intent to commit murder, or piracy, or arson, or robbery, or forgery, or the utterance of forged paper." It did not include slave revolt or mutiny. In addition, the United States did not press for the return or extradition of an estimated 12,000 fugitive slaves who had reached Canada.
[.]
While agreeing to call for a final end to the
slave trade
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
on the high seas, Webster and Ashburton agreed to pass over the
Creole case of 1841 in the Caribbean, which was then in contention. In November 1841, a
slave revolt
A slave rebellion is an armed uprising by enslaved people, as a way of fighting for their freedom. Rebellions of enslaved people have occurred in nearly all societies that practice slavery or have practiced slavery in the past. A desire for freed ...
on the American brig ''Creole,'' part of the
coastwise slave trade
The coastwise slave trade existed along the eastern coastal areas of the United States in the antebellum years prior to 1861. Shiploads and boatloads of slaves in the domestic trade were transported from place to place on the waterways. Hundreds o ...
, had forced the ship to
Nassau
Nassau may refer to:
Places Bahamas
*Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence
Canada
*Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792
*Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...
. Bahamian officials eventually emancipated all 128 slaves who chose to stay in Nassau, as Britain had abolished slavery in its colonies, effective in 1834.
The U.S. initially demanded return of the slaves, then compensation. A settlement was made in 1855 as part of a much larger claims treaty of 1853, covering claims by both nations to 1814.
The treaty laid down minimum levels of anti-slaving naval activity off the West African coast by the US Navy and the Royal Navy. It formalised levels of co-operation that had briefly existed in 1820 and 1821. It did fall short of providing greater co-operation in suppression of the slave trade; there was, for instance, no mutual right for the two countries to inspect vessels flying each other's flag (even when the US colours were being flown fraudulently by a slaver from a third country). It therefore had only a minimal effect in reducing the trade.
Results
As a result of the Webster–Ashburton Treaty, the United States ceded of disputed territory along the Maine border, including the Halifax–Quebec Route, but kept of the disputed wilderness.
[.] In addition, the United States received of land along the Minnesota–Canada border, which included the
Mesabi Range.
Shortly after ratification of the Webster–Ashburton treaty, the
Ojibwa
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
nations about the south shore of Lake Superior ceded land to the United States in the
Treaty of La Pointe. However, the news of the ratification of the international treaty did not reach either of the parties negotiating the land cession. The
Grand Portage Band
The Grand Portage Indian Reservation ( Ojibwe language: Gichi-onigamiing) is the Indian reservation of the Grand Portage Band of Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, a federally recognized tribe in Minnesota.
The reservation is in Cook County near the tip ...
was mistakenly omitted from the Ojibwe treaty council. In addition, the Grand Portage Band was misinformed on the details of the Treaty of Paris; they believed that the border passed through the center of Lake Superior to the Saint Louis River, placing both Isle Royale and their band in British territory. The Treaty of Paris specifically notes Isle Royale as in the territories of the United States. Consequently, the
Isle Royale Agreement
The Treaty of La Pointe may refer to either of two treaties made and signed in La Pointe, Wisconsin between the United States and the Ojibwe (Chippewa) Native American peoples. In addition, the Isle Royale Agreement, an adhesion to the first Trea ...
was signed between the United States and the Grand Portage Band in 1844 as an adhesion to the Treaty of La Pointe, with other Ojibwa tribes reaffirming the treaty.
Ten months of negotiations for the treaty were held largely at the
Ashburton House
Ashburton House, also known as St. John's Church Parish House or the British Legation, is a historic house at 1525 H Street NW, on Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. Built in 1836, it is notable as the residence of Lord Ashburton in 1842, du ...
, home of the British legation on
Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. The house has been designated a U.S.
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...
.
To make the controversial treaty more popular in the United States, Webster released a map of the Maine–Canada border, which he claimed
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...
had drawn. It showed contested areas largely resolved in favor of the United States.
See also
*
List of treaties
This list of treaties contains known agreements, pacts, peaces, and major contracts between states, armies, governments, and tribal groups.
Before 1200 CE
1200–1299
1300–1399
1400–1499
1500–1599
1600–1699
1700–1799
...
*
History of Canada–United States border agreements through 1908
*
Timeline of United States diplomatic history
The diplomatic history of the United States oscillated among three positions: isolation from diplomatic entanglements of other (typically European) nations (but with economic connections to the world); alliances with European and other military ...
*
Estcourt Station, Maine
*
Slave Trade Act
Slave Trade Act is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom and the United States that relates to the slave trade.
The "See also" section lists other Slave Acts, laws, and international conventions which developed the c ...
s
*
United Kingdom–United States relations
Relations between the United Kingdom and the United States have ranged from close allies to military opponents since the latter declared independence from the former in the late 18th century. The Thirteen British Colonies that seceded from the K ...
Notes
References
Works cited
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Further reading
*
* (the standard scholarly history)
*
*
*
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*
*
* (shows the value of the iron range was not known when the treaty was drawn)
*
*
*
External links
Text of the Webster–Ashburton Treaty (The Avalon Project at Yale Law School)
Webster–Ashburton Treaty(U.S. Department of State)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webster-Ashburton Treaty
Canada–United States treaties
United Kingdom–United States treaties
1842 treaties
Boundary treaties
Canada–United States border
History of the foreign relations of the United States
Legal history of Canada
Aroostook War
North Maine Woods
1842 in Canada
1842 in the United States
Treaties of the United Kingdom (1801–1922)