韦伯斯特-阿什伯顿条约

The Webster–Ashburton Treaty was a treaty that resolved several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies (the region that later became the Dominion of Canada). Negotiated in the US federal capital city of Washington, DC, it was signed August 9, 1842, under the new administration of US president John Tyler, who as the former vice president, had just recently succeeded and became chief executive upon the unexpected death of his running mate and predecessor, William Henry Harrison, who had only served a single month in office. The Daniel Webster–Lord Ashburton negotiations and the newly drawn-up 1842 treaty resolved many of the issues arising from the recent border conflicts and skirmishes between Americans and New Brunswickers in the Aroostook War of 1838–1839. It arose from disputes and controversies over the vague indefinite terms and text of the old peace agreement of the Treaty of Paris of 1783, which ended the American Revolutionary War.

The provisions of the 1842 treaty between Britain and the United States included:

The settlement of the location of the Maine–New Brunswick international border, which was the primary cause of the Aroostook War.

Establishment of the international border between Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods, originally defined in the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Reaffirmation of the location of the border (at the 49th parallel) in the westward frontier up to the far western Rocky Mountains defined in the previous Treaty of 1818.

Definition of seven crimes subject to extradition.

Agreement that the two parties would share use of the Great Lakes.

Agreement that there should be an end to the slave trade on the high seas.

In the East

An arbitration of various border issues in the East before King William I of the Netherlands in 1831 had failed to yield a binding decision.

The Treaty of Paris had established the 45th parallel as part of the northern boundary of modern-day New York and Vermont. Most of that portion of the boundary had previously been surveyed in the early 1770s, but the survey line was inaccurate. Since "Fort Blunder"—an unnamed U.S.……

In the West

The border between Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods in the Great Lakes region needed clarification because the faulty Mitchell Map used in the negotiations for the Treaty of Paris (1783) was inadequate to define the border according to the terms of that British-American treaty. Ambiguity in the map and treaty resulted in Minnesota's Arrowhead region being disputed between the two nations years later, and previous negotiations had not resolved the question. The treaty had the border pass through Long Lake, but did not state that lake's location.……

Other issues

Article 10 of the Webster–Ashburton Treaty identified seven crimes subject to extradition: "murder, or assault with intent to commit murder, or piracy, or arson, or robbery, or forgery, or the utterance of forged paper." It did not include a slave revolt or mutiny. In addition, the United States did not press for the return or extradition of an estimated 12,000 fugitive slaves who had fled the U.S., going north and reaching British territory in Canada.

Results

As a result of the Webster–Ashburton Treaty of 1842, the United States ceded 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2) of disputed territory to the British colonies along the American-claimed northern Maine border, including the Halifax–Quebec Route, but kept 7,000 square miles (18,000 km2) of the disputed wilderness. In addition, the United States received 6,500 square miles (17,000 km2) in compensation with the compromise of further west, which included the Mesabi Range of mountains, west of Lake Superior.……