'The Webster-Ashburton Treaty Ratification'

'The Webster-Ashburton Treaty Ratification'

The ratification document of an 1842 agreement between U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Webster and Alexander Baring, the Baron Ashburton, of the United Kingdom, signed by U.S. President John Tyler

An agreement ending the non-violent territorial dispute known as the Aroostook War (1838-1839), between the U.S. and British North America, the provisions of the treaty covered issues beyond agreement on lands between U.S. state of Maine and British-held New Brunswick. It outlined specific provisions regarding criminal extradition between the two parties, as well as laying a path forward for cooperation against the slave trade in the Atlantic.

During the Civil War, the use of Canada by Confederate agents to plot against and attack the Union raised anger in the North. Percieved inaction by the Canadian government to address these alleged violations of neutrality, and concerns over the extradition of those involved, led to review of past Canadian-American agreements, including Webster-Ashburton and deals over military access to the Great Lakes. The provision concerning action against he slave trade would be expanded upon, facilitating stronger cooperation, in the Lyons-Seward Treaty of 1862.

Daniel Webster, Alexander Baring, and John Tyler

U.S. National Archives, General Records of the United States Government, 1778 - 2006, Perfected Treaties, 1778 - 1945; Digitized online at https://catalog.archives.gov/id/596319

U.S. National Archives

August 9, 1842

Public Domain

English

Text

Treaty Document