Hay–Pauncefote Treaty facts for kids

The Hay–Pauncefote Treaty is a treaty signed by the United States and Great Britain on 18 November 1901, as a legal preliminary to the U.S. building of the Panama Canal. It nullified the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty of 1850 and gave the United States the right to create and control a canal across the Central American isthmus to connect the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. In the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty, both nations had renounced building such a canal under the sole control of one nation.

Background

In the United States, for some years public irritation had been growing over the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty's restriction on that country's independent action. The British recognized their diminishing influence in the region and determined to cultivate the United States as a counterweight to Germany's influence in Central and South America. Fresh negotiations were opened, and Great Britain gave its diplomat very liberal instructions, to concede whatever did not nullify the essential principle of neutrality of access.

Negotiations

A draft treaty was sent to the United States Senate by U.S. President William McKinley on 5 February 1900. It provided (1) that a canal might be constructed by the United States, or under its direction, (2) that the canal should be permanently neutralized on the basis of the Suez Canal agreement — to be kept open at all times, either of war or peace, to all vessels, without discrimination, and no fortifications to be constructed commanding the canal or the waters adjacent, and (3) that other powers should be invited to join in this guaranty of neutrality. These provisions excited intense hostility in the U.S., and Senator Henry G. Davis offered an amendment adopted by the Committee on Foreign Affairs. The amendment provided that the neutralization clause should not prevent the United States from any measures it thought needful for its own defense or the preservation of order, specifically declared the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty abrogated, and struck out the third clause inviting the concurrence of other powers. The Senate ratified the Treaty with this amendment on 20 December 1900, but Great Britain refused to accept the amended treaty, and it expired by limitation on 5 March 1901.

Final treaty

The two diplomats, United States Secretary of State John Hay and British Ambassador to the United States Lord Pauncefote, set to work on a compromise, which they signed on 18 November 1901. President Theodore Roosevelt sent it to the Senate, which ratified it on 16 December. In its final form, the Hay–Pauncefote Treaty abrogated the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty, did not forbid the United States from constructing fortifications, and did not require that the canal be kept open in time of war. The Treaty ceded to the United States the right to build and manage a canal, provided that all nations would be allowed access, and that the canal should never be taken by force.

See also

In Spanish: Tratado Hay-Pauncefote para niños