The Bryan–Chamorro Treaty was signed between
Nicaragua
Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
and the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
on August 5, 1914. It gave the United States full rights over any future
canal built through Nicaragua. The
Wilson administration
Woodrow Wilson served as the 28th president of the United States from March 4, 1913, to March 4, 1921. A History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat and former governor of New Jersey, Wilson took office after winning the 1912 Uni ...
changed the treaty by adding a provision similar in language to that of the
Platt Amendment, which would have authorized
military intervention in Nicaragua. The
United States Senate
The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
opposed the new provision; in response, it was dropped, and the treaty was formally ratified on June 19, 1916. Eventually, the United States recognized that the canal was unlikely, and at the request of Nicaragua in 1970, the two nations officially abolished the treaty and all its provisions.
History
The democratically elected and reform-minded Liberal Party president
José Santos Zelaya López had incurred the wrath of the United States by negotiating with
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, and
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
to resurrect the proposed
Nicaragua Canal, which might constitute potential future foreign competition with the newly built, U.S.-owned
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...
. After supporting an insurgency against the government led by Conservative Party insurgents
Emiliano Chamorro and
Juan José Estrada
Juan José Estrada Morales (1 January 1872 in Managua – 11 July 1967 in Managua) was the President of Nicaragua from 29 August 1910 to 9 May 1911.
Biography
Juan José Estrada Morales was a Nicaraguan military and political figure who acte ...
with arms, funds, troops, warships, and economic measures, the United States eventually forced the popular liberal Presidents José Zelaya and then
Jose Madriz to flee the country. It then installed the conservative governments of first Juan José Estrada (soon deposed by the powerful Secretary of War
Luis Mena) and then former Vice President
Adolfo Díaz.
When General Luis Mena convinced the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
to name him successor to the unpopular pro-U.S. Adolfo Díaz, the United States invaded and occupied Nicaragua militarily from 1912 to 1933, wrote a new constitution for the country, changed the National Assembly, and propped up successive conservative regimes under the presidents Adolfo Díaz, Emiliano Chamorro, and
Diego Manuel Chamorro. Luis Mena fled into the countryside to start a rebellion, which continued under various leaders for the next 60 years. In exchange for
political concessions from Adolfo Díaz, the United States provided the military strength to suppress popular revolt and ensure the conservative regime maintained control over the Nicaraguan government. For much of the 20th century, Nicaragua remained controlled under the hereditary dictatorship of the Chamorro. After 1936, the Somoza dynasties were controlled until widespread rebellions forced them out of power in the 1970s.
The Treaty was named after the principal negotiators:
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator, and politician. He was a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running three times as the party' ...
, U.S. Secretary of State, and the then
General Emiliano Chamorro, representing the Nicaraguan government. By the terms of the treaty, the United States acquired the rights to any canal built in Nicaragua in perpetuity, a renewable 99year option to establish a naval base in the
Gulf of Fonseca
The Gulf of Fonseca (; ), a part of the Pacific Ocean, is a gulf in Central America, bordering El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The waters of the gulf are shared among all three countries.
History
Fonseca Bay was discovered by European ...
, and a renewable 99-year lease to the Great and Little
Corn Islands
The Corn Islands are two islands about east of the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, constituting one of 12 Municipality, municipalities of the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region of Nicaragua. The official name of the municipalit ...
in the
Caribbean
The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
. Nicaragua received $3 million for those concessions.
Most of the $3 million was paid back to U.S. creditors by U.S. officials in charge of Nicaraguan financial affairs, which allowed the Nicaraguan government to continue to collect internal revenue. The debt had been quickly amassed in a two-year period by the Nicaraguan government of
Juan José Estrada
Juan José Estrada Morales (1 January 1872 in Managua – 11 July 1967 in Managua) was the President of Nicaragua from 29 August 1910 to 9 May 1911.
Biography
Juan José Estrada Morales was a Nicaraguan military and political figure who acte ...
under the American
"dollars for bullets" scheme to retard infrastructure development funding from rival powers and lingering debts from earlier indemnities Nicaragua was forced to pay the foreign occupying powers of the United States and
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
, and repairing the devastation inflicted from the
war with Great Britain,
war with the United States and the
civil war of Luis Mena's Rebellion.
[
The provision of the Bryan–Chamorro Treaty granting rights to the United States to build a naval base in the Gulf of Fonseca was contested by ]El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
and Costa Rica
Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
. The Central American Court of Justice
The Central American Integration System (, or SICA) has been the economic and political organization of Central American states since 1 February 1993. On 13 December 1991, the ODECA countries (Spanish: ''Organización de Estados Centroamericano ...
favored the two countries. The United States ignored the decision, contributing significantly to the court's collapse in 1918.
Later, the United States recognized that a canal in Nicaragua parallel to the Panama Canal was increasingly unlikely.[ ]
In 1970, at the request of Nicaragua, the United States under Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
and Nicaragua under Anastasio Somoza Debayle
Anastasio "Tachito" Somoza Debayle (; 5 December 1925 – 17 September 1980) was a Nicaraguan politician who served as the 53rd President of Nicaragua from 1967 to 1972 and again from 1974 to 1979. As head of the National Guard (Nicaragu ...
held a convention that officially abolished the treaty and all its provisions.
Legacy
At various times since the Panama Canal
The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...
opened in 1914, the Nicaragua route has been reconsidered. Its construction would shorten the water distance between New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
and San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
by nearly . The Bryan–Chamorro Treaty kept Nicaragua from—and stopped any potential European powers from—competing with the Panama Canal.
See also
* Nicaragua–United States relations
* Banana Wars
The Banana Wars were a series of conflicts that consisted of military occupation, police action, and Interventionism (politics), intervention by the United States in Central America and the Caribbean between the end of the Spanish–American W ...
Notes
Further reading
* Baker, George W. "The Wilson Administration and Nicaragua, 1913–1921." ''The Americas'' 22.4 (1966): 339-376 https://doi.org/10.2307/979017
online
* Bemis, Samuel Flagg. ''The Latin American Policy of the United States.'' (1943) passim and p. 465
online
* Bermann, Karl. ''Under the big stick: Nicaragua and the United States since 1848'' (Boston: South End Press, 1986)
* Coletta, Paolo E. ''William Jennings Bryan: Progressive politician and moral statesman, 1909-1915. Vol. 2'' (U of Nebraska Press, 1964).
* Harrison, Benjamin T. "Woodrow Wilson and Nicaragua." ''Caribbean Quarterly'' 51.1 (2005): 25-36
online
* Link, Arthur S. ''Wilson: The New Freedom'' (1956) pp. 331–342.
* Link, Arthur S. ed. ''The Papers of Woodrow Wilson volume 27: 1913'' (1978) pp 526–530 for summary of treaty.
* Munro, Dana G. "Dollar Diplomacy in Nicaragua, 1909-1913." ''Hispanic American Historical Review'' 38.2 (1958): 209-234
online
* Jones, Howard (2001). ''Crucible of Power: A History of U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1897''. Scholarly Resources Inc
* Walker, Thomas W. (2003). ''Nicaragua: Living in the Shadow of the Eagle'' (4th ed.). Westview Press. .
External links
Text of Bryan-Chamorro Treaty - Library of Congress
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryan-Chamorro Treaty
1914 in Nicaragua
1916 in Nicaragua
Banana Wars
Treaties concluded in 1914
Treaties entered into force in 1916
Treaties of the United States
Treaties of Nicaragua
United States occupation of Nicaragua
William Jennings Bryan
Eponymous treaties
Unequal treaties