Return to the Status Quo Ante Bellum
For the non-Latin speakers reading this post, the title translates to “the situation as it existed before.” The “before” refers to the years leading up to the War of 1812, and the “after” begins in 1815.
Confused? Don’t be! The Treaty of Ghent, signed on December 24th, 1814, went into force on February 17th, 1815, and ended the War of 1812. Less than five months after the Treaty of Ghent went into force, the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between the U.K. and the United States was signed on July 3rd, 1815, and immediately went into force.
Negotiations on this treaty began almost immediately after the fighting between the U.S. and Great Britain ended. Even though it was not ratified by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Madison until December 21st, 1815, U.S. and British merchants were already taking advantage of the treaty’s terms. The impact on the British and American economies was almost “instantaneous” since the commercial ties strained during the years leading to Madison’s declaration of war in June 1812 and then cut during the war were resumed.
The American negotiators were John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and Albert Gallatin. As treaties go, the 1815 Treaty of Commerce and Navigation is a relatively short document with only five articles summarized below.
Article One. The citizens of both countries have the right to ship their cargo to any port in either country, territory, or colony without restriction. Thus, endeth the tariffs and rules that were one of the causes of the War of 1812.
Article Two. No higher duties shall be placed on produce, growth (i.e., timber, cotton, coal, etc.), or manufactured goods entering either country. Any duty or fee must be charged to other countries with which the parties traded. In other words, Parliament or the U.S. Congress could not impose higher tariffs on cargo coming from the other. Nor could either country impose port fees on vessels from the other except for those that were “normal and customary.”
The restrictions on duties also include goods in transit, i.e., if the ship stopped in Bristol, England, and part of its cargo was destined for Rotterdam, special duties couldn’t be placed on the Dutch cargo.
Article Three. U.S. vessels and their cargo would be welcomed in all British colonies, where U.S. citizens were free to “carry on trade.” In other words, U.S. businessmen could hire agents, build or rent warehouses, open factories, and buy and sell goods throughout the British empire. The only exceptions were China, what was called the Cape Colony (South Africa), and the island of St. Helena. This latter location was understandable since Napoleon was held captive on the island.
Article Four. Not only did the treaty allow for commerce, but it also gave the U.S. the right to establish consulates in ports to facilitate trade. However, any individual assigned to a consul was subject to local laws, meaning diplomatic immunity was not provided.
Article Five. The last term states that the treaty will be signed by the President of the United States and by His Britannick Majesty (note the spelling is Britannick, not Britannic) and ratified by Parliament and the Congress.
While the treaty’s term was only four years, it was a formal acknowledgment by the U.K. that the U.S. was an equal trading partner of Great Britain. The U.S. economy, which had been struggling before the war, almost immediately began to improve.
Lost in history is that this treaty restored the trading relationship between the U.S. and the U.K., in which Britain was the U.S.’s largest trading partner, and we were England’s biggest customer. While the status quo in the early 1800s was restored, combined with the Treaty of Ghent and other treaties signed in the years following other War of 1812, the United States was now seen as a potential major trading partner. This treaty is also significant because it laid the economic groundwork for what became the “Special Relationship” between the U.K. and the U.S.
1798 painting of Wall Street by Archibald Robertson
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