Foreign Affairs Under Tyler

• Dispite a political paralysis at home, Tyler was able to solve a number of America's foreign relations problems.
• English-American had been in trouble since 1837, when a rebellion in Canada was aided, unofficially, by the USA in hopes that Canada might join the states. The rebellion never came to anything, but the British were not happy that America had assisted the rebels. The British further inflamed the situation when the refused to apologize for a Canadian commander's who crossed the St. Lawrence river and burned an American steamboat.
• A long standing controversy about the Canadian-Maine border resurfaced in 1838 when American and Canadian lumberjacks had a fight over land.
• The British requested that their navy be allowed to patrol America's west coast and search American ships for slaves. This request was stiffly refused. Another conflict over slaves started when a group of slaves on the American ship Creole mutanied and sailed to the British Bahamas. Secretary of States Webster demanded the return of the slaves, which England refused.
• At this time the British sent Lord Ashburton and a special envoy to Washington to settle the dispute. The meeting between Ashburton and Webster resulted in the important Webster-Ashburton treaty of 1842.
• This treaty settled the controversy by awarding seven-twelfths of the disputed territory along the Maine boundary to the United States and by making minor adjustments around Lake Champlain and between Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods. The treaty also set an agreement that all fugitives would now be extradited to their respective countries if they were guilty of any of seven major crimes. The Americans also agreed to allow slave ships to be stop by British vessels along the coast of Africa. All other disputes were declared even and the slate was wiped clean.
• One of this treaty's significant aspects is that it established long-term cooperation between Great Britain and the U.S. particularly with regards to the extradition of criminals.
  ����� "�������������������� Article X
  ����������������It is agreed that the United States and Her Britannic Majesty
  ����� shall, upon mutual requisitions by them, or their Ministers, officers, or
  ����� authorities, respectively made, deliver up to justice all persons who,
  ����� being charged with the crime of murder, or assault with the intent to
  ����� commit murder, or piracy, or arson or robbery, or forgery or the
  ����� utterance of forged paper, committed within the jurisdiction of
  ����� either shall seek an asylum or shall be found within the territories of the other..."
  ��� The treaty goes on to list numerous conditions for cooperation. However, this
  ��� agreement helped to open up the possibility of further trade.

• After negotiating this landmark treaty, Webster resigned.