Jay Treaty

The Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and The United States of America, commonly known as the Jay Treaty, and also as Jay's Treaty, the British Treaty, and the Treaty of London of 1794, was a treaty between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Great Britain that is credited with averting war, resolving issues remaining since the Treaty of Paris of 1783, which ended the American Revolution, and facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the United States and Britain in the midst of the French Revolutionary Wars, which began in 1792.

The terms of the treaty were designed primarily by Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton; strongly supported by the chief negotiator John Jay; and supported by President George Washington. The treaty gained the primary American goals, which included the withdrawal of units of the British Army from pre-Revolutionary forts that it had failed to relinquish in the Northwest Territory of the United States (the area west of Pennsylvania and north of the Ohio River). (The British had recognized this area as American territory in the Treaty of Paris of 1783.) The parties agreed that disputes over wartime debts and the American-Canadian boundary were to be sent to arbitration—one of the first major uses of arbitration in diplomatic history. The Americans were granted limited rights to trade with British possessions in India and colonies in the Caribbean in exchange for some limits on the American export of cotton.

The treaty was hotly contested by the Jeffersonians in each state. They feared that closer economic ties with Britain would strengthen Hamilton's Federalist Party, promote aristocracy and undercut republicanism. Washington's announced support proved decisive and the treaty was ratified by a 2/3 majority of the Senate in November 1794. The treaty became a central issue of contention—leading to the formation of the "First Party System" in the United States, with the Federalists favoring Britain and the Jeffersonian republicans favoring France. The treaty was for ten years' duration. Efforts to agree on a replacement treaty failed (in 1806) when Jefferson rejected the Monroe-Pinkney Treaty as tensions escalated toward the War of 1812. The treaty was signed on November 19, 1794, the Senate advised and consented on June 24, 1795; it was ratified by the President and the British government; it took effect the day ratifications were officially exchanged, February 29, 1796.