Treaty of 1818

Convention respecting fisheries, boundary, and the restoration of slaves
Map of the lands in dispute
Type	Bilateral treaty
Context	Territorial cession
Signed	October 20, 1818
Location	London,United Kingdom
Effective	January 30, 1819
Signatories	United Kingdom  United States
Depositary	Government of the United Kingdom
Languages	English
Full text
Treaty of 1818 atWikisource

TheConvention respecting fisheries, boundary and the restoration of slaves, also known as theLondon Convention,Anglo-American Convention of 1818,Convention of 1818, or simply theTreaty of 1818, is an internationaltreaty signed in 1818 between theUnited States and theUnited Kingdom. This treaty resolved standing boundary issues between the two nations. The treaty allowed for joint occupation and settlement of theOregon Country, known to the British and in Canadian history as theColumbia District of theHudson's Bay Company, and including the southern portion of its sister districtNew Caledonia.

The two nations agreed to a boundary line involving the49th parallel north, in part because a straight-line boundary would be easier to survey than the pre-existing boundaries based on watersheds. The treaty marked both the United Kingdom's last permanent major loss of territory in what is now theContinental United States and the United States' first permanent significant cession of North American territory to a foreign power, the second being theWebster–Ashburton Treaty of 1842. The British ceded all ofRupert's Land south of the 49th parallel and east of theContinental Divide, including all of theRed River Colony south of that latitude, while the United States ceded the northernmost edge of theMissouri Territory north of the 49th parallel.

The treaty name is variously cited as"Convention respecting fisheries, boundary, and the restoration of slaves",^[1]"Convention of Commerce (Fisheries, Boundary and the Restoration of Slaves)",^[2]and"Convention of Commerce between His Majesty and the United States of America".^[3][4]

• Article I secured fishing rights alongNewfoundland andLabrador for the US.
• Article II set the boundary betweenBritish North America and the United States along "a line drawn from the mostnorthwestern point of the Lake of the Woods, [due south, then] along the49th parallel of north latitude..." to the "Stony Mountains"^[3] (now known as theRocky Mountains). Britain ceded all territory south of this new boundary, including portions of theRed River Colony andRupert's Land (comprising parts of the present states ofMinnesota,North Dakota, andSouth Dakota). The United States ceded the portion of theLouisiana Purchase lying north of the 49th parallel (the northernmost portion of theMississippi River watershed, including those parts of theMilk River,Poplar River, andBig Muddy Creek watersheds in modern-dayAlberta andSaskatchewan). The article settled a boundary dispute caused by ignorance of actual geography in the boundary agreed to in the 1783Treaty of Paris, which ended theAmerican Revolutionary War. The earlier treaty had placed the boundary between the United States and British North America along a line extending westward from theLake of the Woods to theMississippi River. The parties did not realize that the river did not extend that far north and so such a line would never meet the river. In fixing the problem, the 1818 treaty created apene-enclave of the United States, theNorthwest Angle, the small section of the present state ofMinnesota that is the only part of the United States apart from Alaska that lies north of the 49th parallel.
• Article III provided forjoint control of land in theOregon Country for ten years. Both could use land and were guaranteed free navigation throughout.
• Article IV confirmed the Anglo-American Convention of 1815,^[5] which regulated commerce between the two parties, for an additional ten years.
• Article V agreed to refer differences over a US claim arising from theTreaty of Ghent, which ended theWar of 1812, to "some Friendly Sovereign or State to be named for that purpose." The claim in question was for the return of or compensation forAmerican slaves who had escaped to British-controlled territory orRoyal Navy warships when the treaty was signed. The article in question was about handing over property, and the US government claimed that the slaves were the property of its citizens.^[3]
• Article VI established that ratification would occur within six months of signing the treaty.

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The treaty was negotiated for the US byAlbert Gallatin, ambassador to France, andRichard Rush, minister to the UK; and for the UK byFrederick John Robinson, Treasurer of theRoyal Navy and member of theprivy council, andHenry Goulburn, an undersecretary of state.^[4] The treaty was signed on October 20, 1818. Ratifications were exchanged on January 30, 1819.^[1] The Convention of 1818, along with theRush–Bagot Treaty of 1817, marked the beginning of improved relations between theBritish Empire and its former colonies, and paved the way for more positive relations between the US and Canada althoughrepelling a US invasion was a defense priority in Canada until 1928.^[6]

Despite the relatively friendly nature of the agreement, it resulted in a fierce struggle for control of the Oregon Country for the following two decades. The British-chartered Hudson's Bay Company, having previously established a trading network centered onFort Vancouver on the lower Columbia River, with other forts in what is now eastern Washington and Idaho as well as on the Oregon Coast and in Puget Sound, undertook a harsh campaign to restrict encroachment by US fur traders to the area. By the 1830s, the policy of discouraging settlement was undercut to some degree by the actions ofJohn McLoughlin, Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver, who regularly provided relief and welcome to US immigrants who had arrived at the post over theOregon Trail.

By the mid-1840s, the tide of US immigration, as well as a US political movement to claim the entire territory, led to a renegotiation of the agreement. TheOregon Treaty in 1846 permanently established the49th parallel as the boundary between the United States and British North America to the Pacific Ocean.^{[citation needed]}

• Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, between the U.S. and Spain, resolved borders from Florida to the Pacific Ocean.
• TheWebster–Ashburton Treaty of 1842 resolved uncertainties left by the 1818 treaty, including the Northwest Angle problem, which had been created by the use of a faulty map.
• Oregon boundary dispute, concerning the joint occupation of the Oregon Country by U.S. and British settlers.
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which established most of the southern border between the US and Mexico after the defeat and occupation of Mexico in 1848, ending theMexican–American War.
• The Gadsden Purchase, which completed the acquisition of the southwestern United States and completed the border between Mexico and the US in 1853 at the32nd parallel and theRio Grande.

EnglishWikisource has original text related to this article:

Treaty of 1818

• "Fisheries Question" .Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. This article traces British-United States negotiations regardingocean fisheries from 1783 to 1910.

• 1818 in London
• 1818 in the United States
• 1818 treaties
• October 1818
• Canada–United States border
• Pre-statehood history of Oregon
• Oregon Country
• Legal history of Canada
• Boundary treaties
• Treaties involving territorial changes
• Pre-Confederation British Columbia
• Pre-statehood history of Minnesota
• 15th United States Congress
• United States slavery law
• United Kingdom–United States treaties
• Treaties of the United Kingdom (1801–1922)
• F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich

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