The Winning of the West, Volume 4: Louisiana and the Northwest, 1791-1807Roosevelt, Theodore
History
The Winning of the West, Volume 4: Louisiana and the Northwest, 1791-1807
Roosevelt, Theodore
Northwest, Old -- History; United States -- Territorial expansion; West (U.S.) -- History
However, neither Carondelet's energy and devotion to the Spanish
government nor his unscrupulous intrigues were able for long; to defer
the fate which hung over the Spanish possessions. In 1795 Washington
nominated as Minister to Spain Thomas Pinckney, a member of a
distinguished family of South Carolina statesmen, and a man of the
utmost energy and intelligence. Pinckney finally wrung from the
Spaniards a treaty which was as beneficial to the West as Jay's treaty,
and was attended by none of the drawbacks which marred Jay's work. The
Spaniards at the outset met his demands by a policy of delay and
evasion. Finally, he determined to stand this no longer, and, on October
24, 1795, demanded his passports, in a letter to Godoy, the "Prince of
Peace." The demand came at an opportune moment; for Godoy had just heard
of Jay's treaty. He misunderstood the way in which this was looked at in
the United States, and feared lest, if not counteracted, it might throw
the Americans into the arms of Great Britain, with which country Spain
was on the verge of war. It is not a little singular that Jay should
have thus rendered an involuntary but important additional service to
the Westerners who so hated him.
He Negotiates a treaty.
The Spaniards now promptly came to terms. They were in no condition to
fight the Americans; they knew that war would be the result if the
conflicting claims of the two peoples were not at once definitely
settled, one way or the other; and they concluded the treaty forthwith.
[Footnote: Pinckney receives justice from Lodge, in his "Washington,"
II., 160. For Pinckney's life, see the biography by Rev. C. C. Pinckney,
p. 129, etc.] Its two most important provisions were the settlement of
the southern boundary on the lines claimed by the United States, and the
granting of the right of deposit to the Westerners. The boundary
followed the thirty-first degree of latitude from the Mississippi to the
Chattahoochee, down it to the Flint, thence to the head of the St.
Mary's, and down it to the ocean. The Spanish troops were to be
withdrawn from this territory within the space of six months. The
Westerners were granted for three years the right of deposit at New
Orleans; after three years, either the right was to be continued, or
another equivalent port of deposit was to be granted somewhere on the
banks of the Mississippi. The right of deposit carried with it the right
to export goods from the place of deposit free from any but an
inconsiderable duty. [Footnote: American State Papers, Foreign
Relations, I., p. 533, etc.; Pinckney to Secretary of State, Aug. 11,
1795; to Godoy (Alcudia), Oct. 24, 1795; copy of treaty, Oct. 27th,
etc.]
The Spaniards Delay the Execution of the Treaty.
They Again Try to Intrigue with the Westerners.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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