By 1841 tensions were still high from the Caroline affair and other issues, but in September 1841 the new British Foreign Minister, Lord Aberdeen, sent Lord Ashburton to Washington to negotiate differences. Ashburton was a good choice. He had many American social and commercial ties, as well as an American wife. Americans saw this special mission as a "gracious" act. The English in turn liked Webster, the only Harrison cabinet member to stay on under President Tyler. Webster had been in England three years earlier and had made friends in the British government, including Lord Ashburton.
The major issue to be resolved was the Maine-Canada border dispute, which eventually became known as the "Battle of the Maps": conflicting maps were produced on both sides, including one drawn by Benjamin Franklin, and one step of the process involved scrapping the boundaries of the Treaty of Paris of 1783. Although the United States in the initial agreement received something over half of the disputed territory, the Senate balked at the loss of land in Maine. However, historian Jared Sparks had found a map in the French archives which showed the Canada-Maine boundary marked in red. Webster had an older map which showed the same thing. The maps were used to gain consent from the senators from Maine and Massachusetts, who were in on the talks, as was President Tyler at one point.
The four-sided negotiations (Secretary Webster, Minister Ashburton, and the Senators from Massachusetts and Maine, which had been part of Massachusetts until 1820) puzzled Ashburton, who did not see why he could not settle the matter with Webster alone; he had become frustrated with the August heat in Washington. Webster explained that when the treaty was negotiated by him and Ashburton, it would still have to be approved by the Senate in order to become effective. Webster felt that having the senators most directly concerned in on the proceedings would iron out difficulties of ratification in advance.
The British were not particularly happy with the initial agreement either, but another map suggested that Americans might have a right to the entire area. On the other hand, an earlier map could have been used to make the case that the British had a rightful claim to the entire area. In any case, the "battle of the maps" resulted in the division of the disputed territory. The four Senators helped with ratification, and the Webster-Ashburton Treaty was approved by a Senate vote of 39-9. The United States government sweetened the pill by paying Massachusetts and Maine $150,000. Lord Ashburton also drafted a formal explanation that in effect apologized for the Caroline affair and closed that matter once and for all.
Note: The Webster-Ashburton Treaty contains a lesson for future Presidents like Woodrow Wilson. His goals for establishing world peace following World War I were thwarted to some extent by the fact that he failed to take any senators or Republicans with him on his mission to negotiate the Versailles Treaty and create the League of Nations. The Senate never did ratify the treaty nor approve United states membership in the League.
Another issue under dispute concerned the exact location of the New York-Vermont boundary with Canada. Americans had been constructing a fort in the area, and the British claimed it was being built on Canadian soil. That issue was settled by use of a 1774 map and left the fort in American territory. The remaining boundary between the United States and Canada was resolved out to the area of the Lake of the Woods in northern Minnesota and thence along the 49th parallel to the Rocky Mountains. The Oregon territory was left under dual occupancy. In the end the United States lost 5,000 square miles in Maine but gained 6,500 square miles in Minnesota, including the rich Mesabi iron ore deposits.
Considerable disagreement also existed between the two countries over the slave trade; the British wanted the right to "visit" ships to inspect for slaves. Finally both sides agreed to keep squadrons off the African coast to enforce their own laws. This "joint police force" never worked in practice. (The film Amistad, mentioned in the previous section, also portrays some of the tensions regarding the international slave trade.)
Although the Webster-Ashburton Treaty left the Oregon boundary question open, the agreement helped pave the way for peaceful settlement of the issue in 1846. The two nations would have occasional disagreements in later years, but no real threat to peaceable relations between the former colonies and the mother country ever arose thereafter.
World History
