Clayton Bulwer Treaty
In the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 (signed April 19 in Washington, DC ), the United States and Great Britain agreed that neither of them should have sole control over a future canal that would connect the Atlantic to the Pacific. Neutrality should be guaranteed by both nations.
The contract is named after the negotiators Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer (Great Britain) and John M. Clayton (USA).
Content of the contract
The two powers agreed that neither party to the contract:
- seek sole control over the (future) channel
- Build or maintain fortresses near the (future) canal
- expand their power over Central American territories (e.g. through colonization)
- will not use their existing power over Central American territories to gain sole control of the (future) Canal
The two powers further agreed that the construction and operation of the canal, by whomever , would be under the protection of both powers, which would also guarantee its neutrality.
Such a channel, so the tenor of the treaty, serves humanity as a whole and must not be controlled by a single state to the detriment of others.
Although it was assumed at that time that the canal would be built in Nicaragua (via the Río San Juan , the Lago de Nicaragua and then towards the Pacific), and this was also expressed in the treaty, a possible route was also made via the isthmus of Tehuantepec ( Mexico ) and Panama not excluded and were subject to corresponding analogous contractual conditions. Any railway line should also be treated accordingly.
Background and contract negotiations
By the middle of the century, the interests of earlier opponents and now leading nations in world trade had become very close; both had free sea routes and promotion of trade as goals. This also acted as a safeguard against a renewed war between each other, if it came back to border disputes like the Oregon Boundary Dispute . This is why US President Zachary Taylor exuberantly emphasized friendship with Great Britain in his State of the Union Address. Nevertheless, there were still conflicts of interest in certain regions, particularly those affecting Central America . Clayton, an anglophile like most Whigs, sought to break the British economic power in the Caribbean to the point that it was shared with the United States as an equal partner. When in 1849 a flow of people to the American west coast began because of the California gold rush, both Washington and London developed increased interest in a Central American canal that connected the Atlantic and Pacific . In addition to shortening the sea routes, both nations expected significant economic benefits from this. To this end, American companies had already started negotiations with the Nicaraguan government . Great Britain, on the other hand, had established a protectorate on the Miskito coast to at least control the eastern canal access. In January 1848, after a brief naval battle, they took San Juan de Nicaragua and installed a young Miskito as king of a puppet government . Although the specific relationship between Great Britain and the Miskito Coast has always remained vague, London insisted on the state sovereignty of this territory.
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Shortly before the presidential election, talks between the United States and Great Britain began on this issue. In Nicaragua, however, the British and American delegations caped each other on mutual deception. The Americans contributed to the confusion when the ambassador Elijah Hise negotiated a treaty with Nicaragua before he was replaced by E. George Squire in June 1849, which Washington strongly committed to Managua as a guarantor of its independence. Taylor therefore did not submit this agreement to the Senate. Squire reached a far less binding agreement with Nicaragua, so that there were now in fact two parallel treaties between the two states. In October 1849, the British consul Frederick Chatfield took the island of El Tigre with a warship of the Royal Navy , which was located at the prospective western canal exit. Ambassador Bancroft conducted the talks that were taking place in London at the same time, as Lawrence, who had been appointed by Taylor's, was seriously ill and could not take up the post for the time being. The talks with the British Foreign Minister Lord Palmerston were fruitless. When London learned of the Hise treaty with Nicaragua, Rives and later Lawrence, Great Britain, who signaled a willingness to talk, managed to calm down. Their proposal was that the United States and Britain should guarantee the independence of Nicaragua, Honduras, and Costa Rica . When it became clear that the Miskito Coast was recognized as part of Nicaragua in the Squire Treaty, Britain's willingness to negotiate declined.
For reasons unknown today, the venue for the canal issue was moved to Washington. The turning point came with Henry Bulwer , 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer, who became British ambassador to America from January 1850. Bulwer was a skilled diplomat and immediately a hugely popular figure in capital society. It wasn't long before Bulwer and Clayton had drafted a contract in early February and presented it to Taylor. For him, in particular, the statements about the British protectorate over the Miskito coast were too vague, which is why he asked for the text to be revised. It did so until April, and had already received London approval when the president put it to the Senate on April 22nd, describing the document as an economic alliance and a rejection of the expansion of Manifest Destiny to Central America. In this agreement, both sides assured that they would never exercise dominion over Central America or exclusive control over a canal to be built there. Some things remained ambiguous: America refused to recognize the Miskito Coast, while Great Britain claimed the protectorate over this region and Belize for itself. But London promised not to expand further in Central America. On the one hand, this agreement averted a war between the United States and Great Britain, on the other hand it prevented future canal construction in Nicaragua. Taylor's signature on this July 4th law , which later posed a problem for Theodore Roosevelt with regard to the Panama Canal construction , was the last act of state before his death. According to Bauer, the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty marked a milestone in US foreign relations because London recognized Washington's supremacy in Central America and the Monroe Doctrine was ratified. Nonetheless, Taylor and Clayton's skills as foreign policy makers were too limited to not only act reflexively, but to act actively based on coherent guidelines.
Further course
The public in the US saw the treaty as a surrender of the Monroe Doctrine. Therefore, in later years, as its influence in the region grew, the US attempted to revise the treaty. However, this did not take place until 1901 with the Hay Pauncefote Treaty .
The term of whoever in the contract was not quite respected by the United States later. The treaty does not say that only the US or UK or citizens or companies of those countries can build the canal. At most, the identical wording ( party ) when talking about contracting parties and other subjects leaves this option open.
In practice, the USA tried again and again to ensure that the canal, if at all, would then be built by US companies. When in 1855 the American and adventurer William Walker attacked Nicaragua with a private army and occupied Granada, the state he had proclaimed was recognized by the USA before it could be ousted with the help of neighboring states in 1857.
In 1853 and again in 1867, 1894, 1896, 1898 and 1899, US troops landed in Nicaragua "to protect American interests". In other areas of Central America, too, the USA (especially compared to Great Britain) was gaining more and more influence.
See also
Remarks
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↑ K. Jack Bauer: Zachary Taylor: Soldier, planter, statesman of the old Southwest. P. 281.
John SD Eisenhower: Zachary Taylor. P. 115f. -
↑ K. Jack Bauer: Zachary Taylor: Soldier, planter, statesman of the old Southwest. Pp. 281-283.
John SD Eisenhower: Zachary Taylor. Pp. 117-119. -
↑ K. Jack Bauer: Zachary Taylor: Soldier, planter, statesman of the old Southwest. Pp. 283-286, 288.
John SD Eisenhower: Zachary Taylor. P. 119f.