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Admin moved page Why did Daniel Webster negotiate the Webster-Ashburton Treaty with Britain? to Why did Daniel Webster negotiate the Webster-Ashburton Treaty with Britain
[[File:Daniel_Webster.jpg|thumbnail|left|250px|Daniel Webster]]__NOTOC__
During Daniel Webster’s first term as Secretary of State (1841–1843), the primary foreign policy issues involved Great Britain. These included the northeast borders of the United States, the involvement of American citizens in the Canadian rebellion of 1837, and the suppression of the international slave trade. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty, signed August 9, 1842, resolved these frictions in Anglo-American relations. On April 4, 1842, British diplomat Lord Ashburton arrived in Washington at the head of a special mission to the United States. The first order of business was settling the border between the United States and Canada.
The United States did not implement this agreement vigorously until the Civil War began. Webster and Ashburton also settled the case of the Creole, although it was not mentioned in the treaty. The Creole was sailing to New Orleans with 135 slaves when a mutiny resulted in the death of one of the white passengers. The ship sailed to the Bahamas where the slaves were freed. Great Britain eventually paid $110,330 to the United States on the grounds that under international law officials in the Bahamas should not have allowed the slaves to be freed. Also, outside of the treaty, Great Britain agreed to end the impressment of American sailors.
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* Republished from [https://history.state.gov/| Office of the Historian, United States Department of State]
* Article: [https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/webster-treaty| Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 1842]
[[Category:US State Department]] [[Category:Wikis]][[Category:United States History]] [[Category: History of the Early Republic]] [[Category:19th Century History]] [[Category:Political History]] [[Category:Diplomatic History]]
