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.

Spain had long possessed territory along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico and all of modern-day Florida. During the Seven Years War, Spain sided with France against England, and when the war ended in 1763 with French-Spanish coalition on the losing side, the British claimed Spanish Florida.

From this territory, England created two new colonies, East Florida and West Florida, and administered them much like their other North American possessions, the thirteen American colonies and Canada. However, unlike the rest of Colonial America, the British made little effort to populate this area with settlers.

One change the English did make to this territory was to move the border of West Florida north by about eighty-five miles, as far as the Mississippi River town of Natchez. They made this adjustment to the border to increase the land area of the colony of West Florida.

When the American Revolution began, these two sparsely settled colonies remained loyal to England. To bring this area under control and with an eye towards regaining this territory, Pensacola was invaded and captured by the Spanish, America’s ally, in 1781.

At the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which ended the American Revolution, England gave the two Florida colonies back to Spain. However, it was not made clear in the agreement if the northern border of West Florida was the original line or the boundary eighty-five miles further north. America insisted on the more southerly border, which led to a dispute between Spain and the United States.

In retaliation, the Spanish closed New Orleans to all American goods. This decision was significant considering the rapidly increasing number of Americans living on the west side of the Appalachians who needed to get their goods to market. Instead of taking a relatively easy water route down the Mississippi to seaports along the east coast and to European markets, these settlers had to take their goods over the eastern mountain range.

Because making treaties was not easy under the Articles of Confederation, this issue festered for several years. With a new Constitution and a stronger executive branch, President Washington was determined to settle this border issue and get the Mississippi River reopened for American commerce.

The President sent Thomas Pinckney, a South Carolinian, to Spain to see if an agreement could be reached. Pinckney began negotiations with Spain’s representative Manuel de Godoy in June 1795.

Godoy initially offered to accept the more southerly border for West Florida and to reopen the Mississippi to American trade if the United States would commit to an alliance with Spain. In keeping with President Washington’s wish to avoid entangling alliances, Pinckney rejected this offer.

After some thought, Godoy agreed to our border demands and to reopening the Mississippi River to our goods without an alliance commitment but wanted all American goods to be charged duties for passing through New Orleans.

Pinckney rejected this offer as well and threatened to leave without a treaty if the duties requirement was not dropped. The very next day, Godoy, anxious to secure peaceful relations with the United States, agreed to eliminate any demand for duties to be paid on American goods and the deal was struck.

In summation, Spain agreed to use the more southerly border for West Florida, reopen the port of New Orleans and the Mississippi River to American goods, and drop its demand that all American goods passing through New Orleans pay Spanish duties. Spain further agreed to refrain from stirring up the southern American Indian tribes against the United States. Amazingly, the United States gave up nothing. Pinckney’s achievement was hugely popular in America, especially in the southern and western portions of the country.

So why should the Treaty of San Lorenzo, or Pinckney’s Treaty, matter to us today? The Treaty of San Lorenzo ended a long-standing border dispute with Spain and opened the Mississippi to American commerce. These changes accomplished two of President Washington’s fundamental foreign policy goals: getting along with other countries and improving commercial relations with as many nations as possible.

The President recognized wars are expensive and America should avoid getting drawn into them. He also understood our nation needed to strengthen its economy and could best accomplish this goal through improved trade relations with European powers.

The treaty also made it ess expensive for Americans living west of the Appalachians to get their goods to domestic markets in the east. Consequently, this region became a more important part of the American economy and tightened the bonds between east and west, helping to bring our nation together.

Perhaps most importantly, Pinckney’s Treaty encouraged the westward expansion of America by making the lands beyond the Appalachians a more lucrative proposition for Americans wishing to settle there.

Hand, an Army veteran and West Point graduate, is a local historian and philanthropist. You can read more of his work at www.americanacorner. com.