{"id":3276,"date":"2018-09-15T11:36:39","date_gmt":"2018-09-15T15:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/?p=3276"},"modified":"2018-10-14T20:04:49","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T00:04:49","slug":"jays-treaty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/jays-treaty\/","title":{"rendered":"Jay’s Treaty – Part 1 (background, controversy, and terms)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jay’s Treaty – The United States’ first and arguably most controversial treaty<\/strong><\/p>\n

(signed in London 11\/19\/1794; ratified by the Senate on 6\/24\/1795; signed by President Washington 8\/14\/1795)<\/p>\n

8 Stat. 133-137<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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Jay’s Treaty with Britain was arguably the most controversial treaty in American history. The unpopular agreement was the United States’ first treaty under the new Constitution of 1787. With the benefit of hindsight, historians recognize the wisdom of the decision by Washington, Jay and Hamilton to make peace with England and avoid becoming entangled in European confrontations.<\/p>\n

While Jay’s Treaty partially resolved hostilities between America and England in the last decade of the 18th Century, the battle over the treaty’s ratification created bitter divisions that contributed to the creation of America’s first political parties. George Washington never forgave James Madison – or spoke to him again – after the deep rift that was created by the political battle over the treaty. Even after the treaty was ratified by the Senate, the battle to fund the treaty continued in the House of Representatives. By refusing to turn over private diplomatic communications to the House, Washington established the doctrine of executive privilege which continues to be debated today.<\/p>\n

Jay’s Treaty (also called the “Jay Treaty”) was formally known as the \u201cTreaty of Amity Commerce and Navigation, between His Britannic Majesty; and The United States of America,\u201d but was widely referred to by the name of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay who negotiated the treaty in London in 1794.<\/p>\n

Despite the controversy that it created, Jay’s Treaty is now widely acknowledged by historians to be one of the most important treaties in American history. While Jay’s Treaty was not fully appreciated at the time, a collateral benefit was the fact that the treaty directly led to the favorable resolution of pending disputes with Spain. Fearing an Anglo-American challenge to Spanish interests in North America, Spain agreed to nearly everything sought by American negotiator Thomas Pinckney the following year. Thus, Jay’s Treaty is properly viewed together with the Treaty of San Lorenzo (Pinckney’s Treaty) under which Spain agreed to American navigation of the Mississippi and the northern border of Florida along the 31st parallel. Copied below are the first pages of Jay’s Treaty and Pinckney’s Treaty.<\/p>\n

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According to historian Joseph Ellis, Jay’s Treaty presented the “greatest crisis of Washington’s presidency.” Notwithstanding the furor created by the treaty, it was a\u00a0“landmark in shaping American foreign policy,” even if it represented a “repudiation of the Franco-American alliance of 1778, which had been so instrumental in gaining French military assistance for winning of the American Revolution.”<\/p>\n

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As summarized by Joseph Ellis in the book Founding Brothers<\/em>:<\/p>\n

While the specific terms of the treaty were decidedly one-sided in England’s favor, the consensus reached by most historians who have studied the subject is that Jay’s Treaty was a shrewd bargain for the United States. It bet, in effect, on England rather than France as the hegemonic European power of the future, which proved prophetic. It recognized the massive dependence of the American economy on trade with England [and] linked American security and economic development to the British fleet, which provided a protective shield of incalculable value throughout the nineteenth century. Most importantly, it postponed war with England until America was economically and politically more capable of fighting one.<\/p>\n

Washington himself explained that biding time would only strengthen America if war would later be necessary against England or any other power: “Twenty years peace with such an increase population and resources as we have a right to expect; added to our remote situation from the jarring power, will in all probability enable us in a just cause, to bid defiance to any power on earth.” Click here for a link to Washington’s May 1, 1796 letter to Charles Carroll<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>explaining his reasons for supporting Jay’s Treaty.<\/p>\n