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Chapter V - The Jay and Pinckney Treaties
The Jay and Pinckney Treaties
Chief Justice John Jay sailed for England to negotiate four key issues. In addition to repayment for the losses of American shippers and compensation for slaves taken in 1783, the British were to leave their western posts along the frontier as they had promised and agree to a treaty legalizing American commerce in the British West Indies. An agreement was reached, but Jay's Treaty seriously disappointed many Americans. Though it would force the British out of western ports by 1796 and require them to pay for the seizure of American ships and sailors, the treaty prohibited American trade with France. Also, the treaty required the United States to provide England with "most favored nation treatment." Jay also agreed that shippers would not trade in the West Indies and that the United States should pay in full old debts to British merchants. Most Americans felt deeply humiliated by Jay's Treaty. In fact, Jay remarked that he could travel across the country by the light of his burning effigies. Even so, after a series of intense debates, the Senate discreetly approved Jay's Treaty by a twenty to ten vote on June 24, 1795, because they were eager to settle diplomatic disputes with England.
Meanwhile, in reaction to the shifting balance of power in Europe during the mid-1790s, the Spanish government switched allegiance from the British to the French. As a result, they feared British reprisals against their territories in North America. In exchange for an alliance with the United States, Thomas Pinckney, United States Minister to Spain, persuaded Spanish representatives to permit Americans free navigation of the Mississippi River as well as the right to land and store goods in New Orleans. The Spanish also agreed to fix the Florida boundary at the thirty-first parallel.
In spite of some objections, the Jay and Pinckney Treaties relieved growing tensions between the United States, Britain and Spain. Washington's firm policy of neutrality had also strengthened the nation's independence while giving many Americans the opportunity to profit from the European war. However, internal divisions between Federalists and Republicans, as well as convicts with France, steadily continued to undermine the stability of the United States. These unresolved issues were to determine the surprising outcome of the presidential election of 1796.
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