THE BOUNDARIES OF THE UNITED STATES,

As Defined by Treaties.

As questions of disputed boundary are frequently arising between our country and her neighbors, on which the People are called to act, without in all cases possessing adequate knowledge of the matters in dispute, we have decided to collate and bring together all the provisions of Treaties between the United States and other civilized, Powers affecting questions of Boundary. These will be found exceedingly convenient and useful to the public speaker and writer on our National Boundaries, and hardly less so to the Voters of our Country, who, when called on to incite or sustain a War on account of disputed territorial rights, must naturally desire to be sure that the side on which they are called to act is not merely our side) but the right side. The Treaty provisions are as follows: Treaty of Independence-Paris,1783. ART. 2. And that all disputes which might

arise in future on the subject of the boundaThe first or Provisional Articles of Peace ries of the said United States may be prebetween the United States and Great Britain, vented, it is hereby agreed and declared that by which the latter first recognized the In the following are and shall be their bounda ries, viz: from the north-west angle of Novadependence of the former, were signed at Scotia, viz: that angle which formed by a Paris, on the 30th November, 1782, by Rich-line drawn due north from the source of Saint ard Oswald on the part of Great Britain, and Croix river to the highlands; along the said highlands, which divide those rivers that by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence Jay and Henry Laurens on the part of the from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean, United States. This Treaty assigned and de- to the north-westernmost head of Connectica fined the Boundaries of our Country, so far river to the forty-fifth degree of north lati river: thence down along the middle of that as it bordered on possessions still retained by tude; thence by a line due west on said Great Britain; but these boundaries were re-latitude, until it strikes the river Iroquois gr capitulated more specifically in the Definitive river into Lake Ontario, through the middle Cataraguy; thence along the middle of said Treaty of Peace, signed by David Hartley of said lake until it strikes the communication (for Great Britain, and John Adams, Benj. by water between that lake and Lake Erie Franklin and John Jay for the United States, tion into Lake Erie, through the middle of thence along the middle of said communicaon the 3d of September, 1783. In this Treaty, said lake until it arrives at the water commuthe stipulations affecting Territorial Rights are nication between that lake and Lake Huron; as follows: thence along the middle of said water communication into the lake Huron; thence ART. 1. His Britannic Majesty acknow-through the middle of said lake to the ledges the said United States, viz: New-water communication between that lake and Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Isl- Lake Superior; thence through Lake Supeand and Providence Plantations, Connec-rior northward of the isles Royal and Philipticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylva- eaux, to the Long Lake; thence through the nia, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North middle of said Long Lake and the water Carolina, South-Carolina and Georgia, to be communication between it and the Lake of (free, sovereign and independent States; that the Woods to the said Lake of the Woods; She treats with them as such; and for him- and thence through the said lake to the most self, his heirs and successors, relinquishes all north-western point thereof, and thence on claims to the government, propriety and ter- a due west course to the river Mississippi; ritorial rights of the same and every part thence by a line to be drawn along the midthereof Idle of the said river Mississippi until it shall

intersect the northernmost part of the thirty-ratified by a constitutional majority of the first degree of north latitude. South by a line Senate and approved by President Washing(to be drawn due east from the determination

of the line last mentioned, in the latitude of ton. The clauses which affect questions of thirty-one degrees north of the equator, to the Boundary are as follows:

middle of the river Apalachicola or Catahou

che; thence along the middle thereof to its ART. 4. Whereas it is uncertain whether? junction with the Flint river; thence straight the river Mississippi extends so far to the to the head of St. Mary's river: and thence northward as to be intersected by a line down along the middle of St. Mary's river to to be drawn due west from the Lake of the the Atlantic ocean. East by a line to be drawn Woods, in the manner mentioned in the along the middle of the river St. Croix from Treaty of Peace between His Majesty and the its mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its source, United States; it is agreed that measures and from its source directly north to the afore-shall be taken in concert between His Majessaid highlands which divide the rivers that ty's government in America and the GovernSfall into the Atlantic ocean from those which ment of the United States for making a joint fall into the river St. Lawrence; compre- survey of the said river from one degree of Shending all islands within twenty leagues latitude below the Falls of St. Anthony to the of any part of the shores of the United States, principal source or sources of the said river, and lying between lines to be drawn due east and also of the parts adjacent thereto; and from the points where the aforesaid bounda- that if, on the result of such survey, it should ries between Nova-Scotia on the one part and appear that the said river would not be interEast Florida on the other shall respectively sected by such a line as is above mentioned, touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic the two parties will thereupon proceed, by ocean, excepting such islands as now are or amicable negotiation, to regulate the bounda(heretofore have been within the limits of the ry line in that quarter, as well as all other said province of Nova-Scotia. points to be adjusted between the said par

ART. 3. It is agreed that the people of the ties, according to justice and mutual convenUnited States shall continue to enjoy unmo-ience, and in conformity to the intent of the lested the right to take fish of every kind on said Treaty.

the Grand Bank and on all the other banks of ART. 5. Whereas doubts have arisen what? Newfoundland; also in the Gulf of St. Law-river was truly intended under the name of rence, and at all other places in the sea, the river St. Croix, mentioned in the said where the inhabitants of both countries used Treaty of Peace, and forming a part of the at any time heretofore to fish; and also hat boundary therein described; that question (the inhabitants of the United States shall have shall be referred to the final decision of comSliberty to take fish of every kind on such part missioners, to be appointed in the following Sof the coast of Newfoundland as British fish-manner, viz:

Sermen shall use, (but not to dry or cure the One commissioner shall be named by His same on that island,) and also on the coasts, Majesty, and one by the President of the Unibays and creeks of all other of His Britannic ted States, by and with the advice and conMajesty's dominions in America; and that sent of the Senate thereof, and the said two the American fishermen shall have liberty to commissioners shall agree on the choice of a dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, third; or if they cannot so agree, they shall harbors and creeks of Nova-Scotia, Magdalen each propose one person, and of the two islands, and Labrador, so long as the same names so proposed, one shall be drawn by shall remain unsettled; but so soon as the lot in the same presence of the two original And the three commissionsame, or either of them, shall be settled, it commissioners. shall not be lawful for the said fishermen to ers so appointed shall be sworn, impartially dry or cure fish at such settlement, without a to examine and decide the said question, acprevious agreement for that purpose with the cording to such evidence as shall respectiveinhabitants, proprietors or possessors of the ground.

Jay's Treaty-1794-5.

be laid before them on the part of the British Government and of the United States., The said commissioners shall meet at Halifax, and shall have power to adjourn to such other A Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navi- places as they shall think fit. They shall have power to appoint a secretary, and to gation between the United States and Great employ such surveyors or other persons as Britain, was signed at London, Nov. 19, 1794, they shall judge necessary. The said comby William Wyndham on the part of Great missioners shall, by a declaration, under Britain, and John Jay on behalf of the United their hands and seals, decide what river is the river St. Croix, intended by the treaty.States. This Treaty encountered a strong The said declaration shall contain a descrippopular opposition in this country, but was tion of the said river; and shall particularize)

Sthe latitude and longitude of its mouth and of sum was to be in full satisfaction of such Sits source. Duplicates of this declaration and claims. [France has been paid her Sixty Sof the statements of their accounts, and of the

journal of their proceedings, shall be deliver- Millions of francs, and has long since paid us Sed by them to the agent of His Majesty, and Twenty-five Millions for spoliations committo the agent of the United States, who may ted by her since that time; but our plundered be respectively appointed and authorized to merchants, whom we agreed with her to (manage the business on behalf of the respect

Sive Governments. And both parties agree to compensate, remain unpaid to this day, while consider such decision as final and conclu- many of them have died beggars since our sive, so as that the same shall never thereaf-Government assumed the obligation to pay Ster be called into question, or made the subject of dispute or difference between them. Louisiana Treaty (with France)

them.] The material clauses of the Louisia-> na Treaty are as follow:

ART. 1. Whereas, by article the third of 1803. the Treaty concluded at St. Ildefonso, the 9th Louisiana, originally discovered and colo-Vendemiaire, an 9, (1st October, 1800,) benized by France, was by her coded in 1763 tween the First Consul of the French Republic and His Catholic Majesty, it was agreed to Spain, under whose dominion it remained as follows: "His Catholic Majesty promises down to 1800. The People of our rapidly and engages on his part, to retrocede to the settling Western States and Territories, be- French Republic, six months after the full and entire execution of the conditions and ing denied by Spain the right of navigating stipulations herein relative to his Royal Highthe Mississippi and of depositing and trans-ness the Duke of Parma, the colony or proshipping their produce at New-Orleans, were vince of Louisiana, with the same extent that naturally excited and indignant thereat, and had when France possessed it; and such as it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it were often ready to descend their great rivers it should be after the Treaties subsequently in hostile array, and open by the sword a free entered into between Spain and other States passage for their commerce to the ocean. In And whereas, in pursuance of the Treaty, and particularly of the third article, the FrenchS (1800, Louisiana was secretly ceded by Spain Republic has an incontestible title to the do to France, the two nations being then united main and to the possession of the said territo (in the closest bonds of alliance. In 1803, ry: The First Consul of the French Repob France being on the eve of a fresh War with lic, desiring to give to the United States a strong proof of his friendship, doth hereby Great Britain, whose great Naval superiority cede to the said United States, in the name of rendered the early conquest of this vast but the French Republic. forever and in full sovnearly defenceless territory morally certain, ereignty, the said territory, with all its rights and appurtenances, as fully and in the same the First Consul (Bonaparte) resolved to sell manner as they have been acquired by the it to this country, which was naturally pre- French Republic; in virtue of the abovesumed desirous of so convenient and tempt mentioned Treaty concluded with His Catholic Majesty. Sing an acquisition. The proposition having been made to our Government, was eagerly Treaty of Ghent-1814. responded to by President Jefferson, by War having been declared by the United whose authority a Treaty was negotiated at States against Great Britain in June, 1812, and Paris, April 30th, 1803, whereby France thence prosecuted by each party with various Sceded the entire territory of Louisiana, with success unt 1814, the commissioners of the all its appurtenances, to the United States in two nations met at Ghent, in the Netherlands, Sperpetuity. That Treaty was accompanied late in that year, and proceeded to settle the by another, whereby the United States agreed articles of a Treaty of Peace, which was signSto pay France Sixty Millions of francs, ($11-ed, Dec. 24th, 1814, by Lord Gambier, Henry 250,000.) The United States stipulated to pay Goulburn and William Adams on the part of (an additional sum not exceeding Twenty Great Britain, and by John Quincy Adams, Millions of francs to our own citizens who James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan had claims against France for spoliations of Russell and Albert Gallatin on behalf of the eur commerce committed prior to 1800, which United States, and ratified by our Senate on

the 17th of February following. The articles aforesaid boundaries, which said islands are Sof this Treaty which affect the boundaries of claimed as belonging to His Britannic Majes ty, as having been at the time of, and previthe two nations are as follow: ous to, the aforesaid Treaty of one thousand ART. 1. There shall be a firm and univer-seven hundred and eighty-three, within the sal peace between His Britannic Majesty and limits of the Province of Nova Scotia; in orSthe United States, and between their respect- der, therefore, finally to decide upon these Sive countries, territories, cities, towns and claims, it is agreed that they shall be referred Speople of every degree, without exception of to two commissioners to be appointed in the places or persons. All hostilities, both by sca following manner, viz: one commissioner and land, shall cease as soon as this Treaty shall be appointed by His Britannic Majesty, shall have been ratified by both parties, as and one by the President of the United States, hereinafter mentioned. All territory, places by and with the advice and consent of the and possessions whatsoever, taken by either Senate thereof, and the said two commissionparty from the other, during the war, or ers so appointed shall be sworn impartially which may be taken after the signing of this to examine and decide upon the said claims, Treaty, excepting only the islands hereinafter according to such evidence as shall be laid Smentioned, shall be restored without delay, before them on the part of His Britannic】 Sand without causing any destruction, or car- Majesty and of the United States, respect Srying away any of the artillery or other pub-ively. The said commissioners shall meet at lic property, originally captured in the said St. Andrews, in the Province of New-Brunsforts or places, and which shall remain there-wick, and shall have power to adjourn to in upon the exchange of the ratifications of such other place or places as they shall this Treaty, or any slaves or other private think fit. The said commissioners shall, by property. And all archives, records, deeds a declaration or report, under their hands and and papers, either of a public nature or be-seals, decide to which of the two contracting longing to private persons, which in the parties the several islands aforesaid do recourse of the war may have fallen into the spectively belong, in conformity with the Shands of the officers of either party, shall be, true intent of the said Treaty of Peace of as far as may be practicable, forthwith restor- one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three. þed and delivered to the proper authorities And if the said commissioners shall agree in and persons to whom they respectively be their decision, both parties shall consider such long. Such of the islands in the Bay of Pas- decision as final and conclusive. It is farther samaquoddy as are claimed by both parties. agreed, that in the event of the two commis shall remain in the possession of the party in sioners differing upon all or any of the matwhose occupation they may be at the time of ters so referred to them, or in the event of the exchange of the ratifications of this Trea- both or either of said commissioners refusing Sty, until the decision respecting the title to or declining, or wifully omitting to act as Sthe said islands shall have been made in con- such, they shall make, jointly or separately, a Sformity with the fourth article of this Treaty. report or reports, as well to the Government) No disposition made by this Treaty as to such of His Britannic Majesty as to that of the possession of the islands and territories claim United States, stating in detal! he points on ed by both parties, shall, in any manner what which they differ, and the grounds upon over, be construed to affect the right of either. which their respective opinions have been ART. 4. Whereas, it was stipulated by the formed, or the grounds upon which they, or second article in the Treaty of Peace of one either of them, have so refused, declined or thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, be- omitted to act. And His Britannic Majesty tween His Britannic Majesty and the United and the Government of the United States) States of America, that the boundary of the hereby agree to refer the report or reports of United States should comprehend all islands the said commissioners to some friendly soverwithin twenty leagues of any part of the eign or State, to be then named for that shores of the United States, and lying between purpose, and who shall be requested to delines to be drawn due east from the points cide upon the differences which may be where the aforesaid boundaries, between No- stated in the said report or reports, or upon) va Scotia on the one part and East Florida the report of one commissioner, together with on the other, shall respectively touch the Bay the grounds upon which the other commisof Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting sioner shall have refused, declined or omitted such islands as now are, or heretofore have to act, as the case may be: And if the com(been, within the limits of Nova Scotia; and missioner so refusing, declining or omitting to whereas, the several Islands in the Bay of act, shall also wilfully omit to state the grounds Passamaquoddy, which is part of the Bay of upon which he has so done, in such manner Fundy, and the island of Menar, in the said that the said statement may be referred to) Bay of Fundy, are claimed by the United such friendly sovereign or State, together) States, as being comprehended within their with the report of such other commissioner?

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