Realizing the danger of the situation, Presi dent Washington, in order to counteract it, first planned to send as Minister to England his Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Ham ilton, but finding this nomination would prob ably be rejected by the Senate, he selected for the mission Chief Justice John Jay, who suc ceeded in negotiating a treaty which provided for British evacuation of the frontier posts, free commercial intercourse across the British American border, prohibition of the fitting or arming of foreign privateers in the ports of either country for war against the other country, extradition of criminals and the ap pointment of commissioners to determine boundary questions, to settle the pre-Revolu tionary debts of American citizens and to assess damages to American commerce from British privateers. Its chief defect was the absence of any provision against impressment of American seamen into the British service. Although the Jay treaty contained a temporary agreement (limited to 12 years) concerning the regulation of other navigation and com mercial intercourse, conditions long remained unsatisfactory. Trade was hampered until the War of 1812 by seizure of breadstuffs as con traband, impressment of seamen on the high seas, blockades of continental and West Indian ports and other British acts in connection with her policy in the wars against France. Under the treaty, the question of the identity of the Saint Croix was referred in 1794 to a commis sion of arbitration, which in 1798 reported in favor of the English claim; but the question as to which of the two branches of the Saint Croix was the main stream was decided in favor of the American claim (the Schoodic branch). Other boundary questions remained unsettled.
Evidence of friendlier relations soon ap peared. Close co-operation with Great Britain, warmly favored by Hamilton against Spanish America in 1798, was proposed more strongly as a policy by Jefferson in April 1802 in case France should take possession of New Orleans, and again in 1804-05 in case war with France and Spain should be necessary to secure the rightful boundary of Louisiana and indemni fication for spoliations.
From the growth of an American merchant marine and increasing trade with Europe, in spite of English war regulations, developed disagreements and quarrels which finally sought settlement by the War of 1812. Against the British Orders in Council, which subjected to seizure American vessels bound for ports under French control, American diplomatic represen tations were unavailing and the consequent sacrificial embargo was doomed to distil>. pointment.
Another disturbing source of prolonged dish agreement arose in connection with the British attempt to enforce a British naval draft law by search for British citizens on American ves sels on the high seas, causing a resistance at all attempts at settlement in the draft treaty of 1806 (which Monroe and Pinckney so re luctantly signed and which Jefferson refused to submit to the Senate). It culminated in the
attack upon the United States ship-of-war Chesapeake by the British frigate Leopard in search for British deserters, and in the con sequent American demand for reparation and apology and closure of ports to all British men of-war — followed by a retaliatory decree by the British government prohibiting trade be tween the United States and countries then at war with England. This source of controversy was not completely removed until 1870, when the British Naturalization Act surrendered the doctrine of indefeasible allegiance.
After various unsuccessful efforts to settle the difficulty by diplomatic negotiations, partly with a purpose of conquest of Canada as a. means of terminating the evil influence of the British Canadian trade with the Indians of the American Northwest, the United States on 19 June 1812 declared war —a war which was probably unnecessary and certainly unfortunate in producing new wounds which required a long time to heal.
The Treaty of Ghent, containing no allusion to the pretensions or ostensible causes on which the declaration of war had been founded, and omitting the article of the treaty of 1783 which had given the British a nominal right to navi gate the Mississippi, applied the principle of status quo ante helium to other main subjects of difference. It provided for arbitration of various matters in dispute, including the estab lishment of the international boundary. It also contained a clause looking toward co-operation in the suppression of the slave trade — a co operation which, however, was not found prao tical in 1818-20, was not effective under the later agreement of 1842, but was finally fully realized under a convention of 1862. In 1817, as a supplement to the peace, an agreement was negotiated providing for mutual disarma ment on the Lakes, except four small vessels on each side, thus removing a danger of serious future irritation and collision.
There remained several unsettled questions, some of which naturally became more import ant by the changes of time. There were also new sources of irritation resulting from the war and from economic and political policies.
Among the most important subjects of dis. agreement or possible sources of friction were the ownership of some comparatively worthless islands in Passamaquoddy Bay, the location of the northern boundary of Maine and the bound ary through the Lakes, claims for slaves car tied away by British war vessels during the war, other general claims, the use of the fisheries, questions relating to commerce with the British West Indian Islands, the restitution of territory taken during the war and the Northwest boundary.