The Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, often called the Jay Treaty or Jay's Treaty, was a 1794 agreement between the United States and Great Britain. It helped prevent war, solved problems left from the 1783 Treaty of Paris (which ended the American Revolutionary War), and allowed ten years of peaceful trade between the United States and Britain during the French Revolutionary Wars, which began in 1792. The treaty was planned by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton and supported by President George Washington. It upset France and caused strong disagreements among Americans, leading to the growth of two political groups: the pro-Treaty Federalists and the anti-Treaty Democratic-Republicans.

John Jay, who also helped negotiate the earlier Paris treaty, led the U.S. negotiations. The treaty achieved several key goals, including the British leaving forts in the Northwest Territory that they had not surrendered under the Treaty of Paris. The British had not left because the United States had failed to follow Articles 4 and 6 of the Treaty of Paris, which required American courts to stop collecting debts owed to British creditors and to stop seizing property owned by Loyalists. Both sides agreed to send disputes about wartime debts and the Canada–United States border to arbitration, a process used for the first time in modern diplomacy. American merchants were allowed to trade with the British West Indies in exchange for limits on U.S. cotton exports.

The treaty was signed on November 19, 1794, during the Thermidorian Reaction in France. It was sent to the U.S. Senate in June 1794 for approval and was ratified on June 24, 1795, with a vote of 20 to 10, the minimum needed for approval. The British government also ratified the treaty, and it took effect on February 29, 1796, when the ratifications were officially exchanged.

The treaty faced strong opposition from Democratic-Republicans in every state. Some in the House of Representatives tried to block it, but they failed. Democratic-Republican leaders worried that closer ties with Britain would strengthen the Federalist Party, support aristocracy, and weaken American republicanism. This debate helped form the new "First Party System," with Federalists favoring Britain and Democratic-Republicans favoring France. The treaty lasted for ten years, but efforts to replace it failed in 1806 when President Jefferson rejected the Monroe–Pinkney Treaty, which happened before the War of 1812.

Issues

In 1792, the French Revolutionary Wars began in Europe. This ended a long period of peace that helped the new United States grow in trade and finance. The United States became an important neutral country with a large shipping trade. From the British perspective, improving relations with the United States was a top priority to prevent the U.S. from joining France’s side. British negotiators avoided harsh terms to reach a fair treaty. From the American perspective, the most urgent foreign policy goals were to restore trade with Britain, the U.S.’s main trading partner, and to address unresolved issues from the Treaty of Paris. One observer noted, "The British government is friendly toward America… They have planned to keep the United States neutral and want to preserve it."

After Britain joined the war against France in 1793, the Royal Navy captured nearly 300 American merchant ships trading with the French West Indies. The American public was angry, and Republicans in Thomas Jefferson’s group demanded war against Britain. However, James Madison instead proposed an embargo, or trade ban, against Britain.

At the same time, Britain continued to send weapons to Native Americans resisting U.S. expansion in the Ohio Country, worsening tensions between Britain and the United States. In March 1794, Congress voted to impose a trade embargo on Britain. The House of Representatives approved it, but the Senate rejected it after Vice President John Adams cast a tie-breaking vote against it. At the national level, American politics was divided between Jefferson and Madison’s faction, which supported France, and the Federalists led by Alexander Hamilton, who saw Britain as a natural ally and wanted to improve trade relations. President George Washington supported Hamilton. Hamilton created a plan for negotiations, and Washington sent Chief Justice John Jay to London to negotiate a full treaty.

The U.S. government had several important problems to fix with Britain:

• The British kept forts on U.S. land in the Great Lakes region, including Detroit and Mackinac in modern-day Michigan, Niagara and Oswego in New York, and Miami in modern-day Ohio. Britain refused to leave these forts unless the U.S. paid debts or stopped taking property from Loyalists.
• The Royal Navy forced sailors from American merchant ships to join the British navy, claiming they were deserters.
• U.S. merchants wanted payment for nearly 300 American ships seized by the Royal Navy between 1793 and 1794.
• Southern states wanted compensation for enslavers whose enslaved people had escaped to British lines and were evacuated after the Revolutionary War.
• U.S. merchants wanted trade with the British West Indies reopened.
• The boundary between the United States and Canada was unclear in many areas and needed to be clearly defined.
• The British supplied weapons and ammunition to Native Americans in the Northwest Territory who resisted U.S. expansion.

Treaty terms

Both sides reached many goals. Some problems were sent to arbitration, which (after many years of discussion) were settled in a friendly way, mostly favoring the U.S. Britain paid $11,650,000 for damage to American ships and received £600,000 for debts owed before 1775. Although international arbitration was not new, the Jay Treaty gave it more support and is often seen as the start of modern international arbitration.

The British agreed to leave their forts in U.S. territory—six in the Great Lakes region and two at the northern end of Lake Champlain—by June 1796, which they did.

The treaty allowed Americans to trade with Great Britain under the most-favored-nation rule. In return, the U.S. gave Britain the same trading status and accepted British anti-French maritime rules. American merchants gained limited rights to trade in the British West Indies. Two groups were formed to set boundaries in the Northeast (one was completed) and in the Northwest (this group never met, and the boundary was later decided after the War of 1812).

Jay, who opposed slavery despite owning slaves, did not include compensation for U.S. enslavers, which upset Southern slaveholders and became a point of criticism from Jeffersonians. Jay also failed to negotiate a temporary stop to the Royal Navy’s practice of taking alleged deserters from American ships, an issue that later contributed to the War of 1812.

Article III states, "It is agreed that His Majesty’s subjects, citizens of the United States, and Indians living on either side of the boundary line may freely pass and repass by land or inland navigation into the territories and countries of the two parties on the continent of America (excepting the area controlled by the Hudson’s Bay Company) … and may freely carry on trade and commerce with each other." This article granted Native Americans, U.S. citizens, and Canadian subjects the right to travel and trade between the U.S. and Canada, which was then part of Great Britain. Some legal experts debate whether these rights were ended by the War of 1812. In Canada, the Supreme Court ruled in 1956 that the Jay Treaty is "currently not in force." However, the U.S. included these rights in Section 289 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended in 1965. Because of the Jay Treaty, "Native Indians born in Canada are entitled to enter the U.S. for work, study, retirement, investing, or immigration if they can prove at least 50% Native American ancestry and cannot be deported for any reason." Article III of the Jay Treaty supports many Native American claims. Unlike other immigrants, Canadian-born Native Americans living in the U.S. may access public benefits and pay the same tuition fees as U.S. citizens.

Approval and dissent

In June 1795, President George Washington sent the Jay Treaty to the United States Senate for approval. A two-thirds vote was required for the treaty to pass. At first, the treaty was not popular, and it helped the Jeffersonians gain new supporters. Historian Paul Varg explains that the Jeffersonians opposed Britain and preferred supporting France during the European wars. They believed the 1778 treaty with France was still valid and saw Britain as a threat to American republican values. They criticized Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and even Washington as monarchists who betrayed American ideals. They organized protests against Jay and his treaty, shouting, "Damn John Jay! Damn everyone that won't damn John Jay!" In Philadelphia, town hall meetings turned chaotic, with rocks being thrown, British officials harassed, and a copy of the treaty burned at the home of wealthy merchant and senator William Bingham.

The Jay Treaty helped create the First Party System in the United States by deepening the divide between two political groups. The Federalist Party, led by Hamilton, supported the treaty. The Democratic-Republican Party, led by Jefferson and Madison, opposed it. Jefferson and his followers proposed a plan to increase trade hostility with Britain, even risking war. They accused Britain of supporting Native American attacks on American settlers. The debates over the treaty in 1794–95 transformed the Republican movement into a formal political party. To oppose the treaty, Jeffersonians organized efforts between leaders in Washington, D.C., and local leaders and supporters across the country. Jay’s failure to secure compensation for "lost" slaves angered the South and increased opposition.

Washington supported the Jay Treaty because he wanted to protect American merchant ships from being captured by the British Royal Navy. He believed the French Navy, blocked by Britain in Europe, posed a smaller risk. By supporting the treaty, Washington lost the widespread respect he had earned as a military leader and president. He faced criticism in Democratic-Republican areas, like his home state of Virginia. Protesters gathered at Mount Vernon, and newspapers and cartoons depicted Washington being executed. Some called for his impeachment. After Washington’s death in 1799, the nation reunited and respected him again.

The Federalists fought back by rejecting Jefferson and Madison’s counter-proposals. Washington used his influence to support the treaty, and Federalists persuaded the public more effectively than their opponents. Hamilton convinced Washington the treaty was the best possible agreement. Washington insisted the U.S. remain neutral in European wars and signed the treaty. His support helped the treaty pass in Congress. Federalists organized a strong public campaign, shifting the debate in their favor. Washington and Hamilton outmaneuvered Madison, the opposition leader. By 1796, Hamilton had left government but still helped secure the treaty’s approval in the Senate. The Senate passed a resolution in June to amend the treaty by suspending the 12th article, which dealt with trade between the U.S. and the West Indies. In mid-August, the Senate ratified the treaty 20–10 with the amendment. Washington signed it in late August. The treaty took effect on February 29, 1796, but a final legislative battle remained. The House of Representatives, controlled by Democratic-Republicans, had to approve funding for the treaty. In April 1796, after two months of debate, Federalist Representative Fisher Ames gave a powerful speech defending the treaty. He collapsed afterward, and the House was silent in respect. The vote ended in a tie, but Democratic-Republican Representative Frederick Muhlenberg, who had previously burned copies of the treaty, unexpectedly supported the funding. His decision led to a final vote of 51–48. Muhlenberg later faced a violent attack from his brother-in-law, who believed he had committed treason. Muhlenberg survived but faded from public life.

James Madison argued that the treaty could not take effect without House approval, as it involved commerce and Congress’s legislative powers. This debate was an early example of originalism, a method of interpreting the Constitution. Madison lost the argument. Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth wrote an opinion stating the House had no authority to decide the treaty’s merits. After the treaty failed in Congress, the Jeffersonian Republicans lost the 1796 presidential election.

When Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801, he did not reject the Jay Treaty. He kept Federalist minister Rufus King in London to resolve remaining issues. Relations worsened after the treaty expired in 1805. Jefferson refused to renew it in the Monroe–Pinkney Treaty of 1806. Tensions grew, leading to the War of 1812. In 1815, the Treaty of Ghent replaced the Jay Treaty.

The Jay Treaty caused a lasting rift between President Washington and Jefferson and Madison. Jefferson privately called Washington senile and an "apostate" who betrayed American liberty for Britain. He also secretly funded efforts to oppose the treaty.

Evaluations

Historians Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick say that, in terms of regular diplomacy and as a type of negotiation between enemies, Jay received the worst deal. This view has remained common over time. They explain that Jay did not succeed in protecting the rights of neutral countries, but he did achieve other necessary goals. He did not receive things that were wanted but not essential. They also say Jay's actions on the symbolic side had many problems. However, on the practical side, the treaty was a major success because it helped avoid war with Great Britain.

Historian Marshall Smelser argues that the treaty delayed war with Britain until the United States was strong enough to handle it. Bradford Perkins, writing in 1955, says the treaty created a special relationship between Britain and the United States, with another agreement later under Lord Salisbury. Perkins believes the treaty kept peace for ten years, calling this period "The First Rapprochement." He says that during this time, governments in the United States and Britain worked together to maintain friendly relations. Perkins also says Jay did not win anything that Americans clearly deserved, such as the return of land claimed since 1782 or money for illegal seizures by Britain. He suggests a more skilled negotiator might have gotten better terms. Perkins quotes historian Henry Adams, who called the treaty "bad."

Perkins gives more importance to trade concessions with British India and the West Indies. He also notes that the British Navy treated American trade with some kindness during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, returning many impressed sailors to the United States. Spain, seeing the informal alliance between Britain and the United States, became less opposed to American use of the Mississippi River and signed Pinckney's Treaty, which the United States wanted. When Thomas Jefferson became president, he renewed trade agreements that helped American shipping.

Elkins and McKitrick say Perkins' positive view has one big problem: it assumes Britain negotiated with the same friendly spirit. They find little evidence of this. George Herring, in a 2008 history of U.S. foreign policy, says that in 1794, the United States and Britain almost went to war. He concludes the Jay Treaty gave the United States important benefits and served its interests well. Joseph Ellis says the treaty was unfair to the United States, but he agrees with most historians that it was a necessary agreement.

In popular culture

In the HBO TV show John Adams, Vice President John Adams is shown voting to approve the Jay Treaty. However, in reality, the Senate approved the treaty without needing his vote, as it passed with a 20–10 vote. The Vice President only votes in a treaty approval if the Senate is tied, and the Constitution requires at least two-thirds of the Senate to approve treaties. Although Vice President Adams did not vote on the Jay Treaty, he did cast a tie-breaking vote in 1794 against a trade embargo on Britain.