HMCS Stone Frigate, located at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, was built in 1820 to store part of the British fleet dismantled from the War of 1812, which had been dismantled under the Rush Bagot Treaty. [5] In addition to the issue of military navigation on the Great Lakes, the British government was also open to negotiations on a number of other issues that had not been resolved by the Treaty of Ghent. Several commissions met to settle border disputes along the border between the United States and British North America. One of these orders assigned several islands off the coast of Maine to New Brunswick. However, negotiators are stuck in other parts of maine`s and New Hampshire`s northern borders. This problem was only solved with the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842, which also resolved the boundary between Canada and northeastern Minnesota. Bagot met informally with Secretary of State James Monroe and eventually reached an agreement with his successor, Acting Secretary of State Richard Rush. The agreement limited military navigation on the Great Lakes to one to two ships per country on each sea. The U.S.
Senate ratified the agreement on April 28, 1818. The British government considered that a diplomatic exchange of letters between Rush and Bagot was sufficient to make the agreement effective. The Rush Bagot Treaty, or Rush Bagot Disarmament, was a treaty between the United States and Great Britain that limited naval armament on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain after the War of 1812. It was ratified by the United States Senate on April 16, 1818[1] and confirmed by Canada after Confederation in 1867. American political leaders had long expressed interest in disarming the Great Lakes and proposed such a measure during the negotiations that led to the Jay Treaty of 1794, but British officials rejected the proposal. During the War of 1812, Britain and the United States had built fleets of ships on Lakes Erie and Ontario, and had fought many battles in the region. By the end of the war, American forces had gained supremacy over the lakes. After the war, both powers were wary of each other`s military strength, and a post-war shipbuilding race followed. But both countries also wanted to cut military spending. Unfortunately, the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the war, did not contain any provisions on disarmament. However, commissions were set up to resolve disputed territories along the border (as established in the Treaty of Paris of 1783) between the United States and British North America.
Although the agreements did not fully address border disputes and trade agreements, the Rush Bagot Agreement and the 1818 Convention marked an important turning point in Anglo-American and American-Canadian relations. An Ontario Heritage Trust plaque in Kingston, Ontario recognizes the Rush Bagot Accord (44°13′48″N 76°27′59″W / 44.229894°N 76.466292°W / 44.229894; -76.466292). A commemorative plaque also stands at the former location of the British legation in Washington, D.C. (38°54′13.7″N 77°3′8.4″W / 38.903806°N 77.052333°W / 38.903806; -77.052333), where the agreement was negotiated. On the grounds of Old Fort Niagara (43°15′48″N 79°03′49″W / 43.263347°N 79.063719°W / 43.263347; -79.063719) stands a monument with reliefs of Rush and Bagot and the words of the treaty. [10] Although the treaty caused difficulties during the First World War, its terms were not changed. Similar problems arose before World War II, but Foreign Minister Cordell Hull wanted to preserve the agreement because of its historical importance. In 1939 and 1940, Canada and the United States agreed to interpret the treaty in such a way that weapons could be installed in the Great Lakes, but would no longer be functional until ships left the lakes ..