The Treaty of San Lorenzo
The Treaty of San Lorenzo, also known as Pinckney’s Treaty, was an agreement between the United States and Spain that settled a boundary dispute and granted navigation rights on the Mississippi to Americans. Spain had lost possession of modern-day Florida to England during the French and Indian War. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 returned this area to Spanish control, however, Spain claimed the boundary of West Florida was 85 miles further north than America insisted upon. In retaliation, the Spanish closed the port of New Orleans to all American goods, which hurt western commerce. To resolve this dispute, President George Washington sent South Carolinian Thomas Pinckney to Spain to negotiate a settlement.
Tom Hand, creator and publisher of Americana Corner, explores how Pinckney negotiated the Treaty of San Lorenzo, and why it still matters today.
Images courtesy of Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library, Library of Congress, National Portrait Gallery - Smithsonian Institution, Yale University Art Gallery, The New York Public Library, Wikipedia.
The Treaty of San Lorenzo, also known as Pinckney’s Treaty, was an agreement signed on October 27, 1795, between the United States and Spain. It settled a dispute between the two nations over the boundary of Spanish Florida and granted navigation rights on the Mississippi River to Americans.