Jay Treaty
| Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and The United States of America | |
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First page of the Jay Treaty
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| Context | To relieve post-war tension between Britain and the United States |
| Signed | November 19, 1794 |
| Location | London |
| Effective | February 29, 1796 |
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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, was a 1795 treaty between the United States and Great Britain that is credited with averting war, resolving issues remaining since the Treaty of Paris of 1783 (which ended the American Revolutionary War), 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 and strongly supported by chief negotiator John Jay and also by President George Washington. The treaty gained many of the primary American goals. This included the withdrawal of British Army units from pre-Revolutionary forts in the Northwest Territory it had failed to relinquish under the Paris Peace Treaty as a result of the United States reneging on Articles 4 and 6 of the treaty; American state courts impeded the collection of debts owed the British creditors and upheld the continued confiscation of Loyalist estates in spite of an explicit undertaking that the prosecutions would be immediately discontinued. 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 and the one that set the precedent used by other nations. The Americans were granted limited rights to trade with British 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 Great 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 two-thirds majority of the U.S. Senate in November 1794 without a single vote to spare. The treaty became a central issue of contention, leading to the formation of the "First Party System," with the Federalists favoring the British and the Jeffersonian republicans favoring France. The treaty was for ten years' duration. Efforts failed to agree on a replacement treaty 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, and it took effect February 29, 1796, the day when ratifications were officially exchanged.
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