Webster-Ashburton Treaty


The Webster-Ashburton Treaty, signed August 9, 1842, settled the dispute over the location of the Maine-New Brunswick border between the United States and Canada, then a colony of Britain and the shared use of the Great Lakes. It also reaffirmed the location of the border (at the 49th parallel) in the westward frontier up to the Rocky Mountains, originally defined in the Treaty of 1818. It also called for a final end to the slave trade on the high seas, to be enforced by both signatories. The Treaty was signed by United States Secretary of State Daniel Webster and United Kingdom Privy Counsellor Alexander Baring, Lord Ashburton. A plaque commemorating the treatywas placed at the site of the old State Department building in Washington, D.C. where the signing occurred.