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The Issue of Religious Liberty in the United States Commercial Treaty with Colombia, 1824

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Wilkins B. Winn*
Affiliation:
East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina

Extract

The Republic of Colombia was the first Latin American nation to which the United States extended a formal act of recognition in 1822. This country was also the first of these new republics with which the United States negotiated a treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation. The importance of incorporating the principle of religious liberty in our first commercial treaty with Latin America was revealed in the emphasis that John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, placed on it in his initial instructions to Richard Clough Anderson, Jr., Minister Plenipotentiary to Colombia. Religious liberty was one of the specific articles stipulated by Adams for insertion in the prospective commercial treaty.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1970

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References

1 Anderson was born in Louisville, Ky., August 4, 1788. Graduating from William and Mary College in 1804, he read law under Judge St. George Tucker, Sr. As private practice in Louisville opened opportunities in Kentucky politics, he became a representative in the state House in 1812, being reelected 1814 and 181S. After this he entered national politics by serving two consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives. In 1821 he was again elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives, becoming Speaker of that body in 1822. Following U.S. recognition of Colombia in 1822, Anderson was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to Colombia by President Monroe, January 27, 1823. He arrived in Bogotá, Colombia, December 10, 1 823, remaining until the spring of 1826. In addition to his diplomatic responsibilities, he was burdened by his own illness as well as illness in his family. Eventually he was bereaved by the death of his wife and his secretary. The former death necessitated a brief visit to the United States to place his children in school in Kentucky.

New international responsibilities were assigned to Anderson on March 14, 1826, when he was commissioned Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary jointly with John Sargeant, to the Congress of American Nations at Panama. He left the Colombian mission on June 7 to pursue his new appointment. En route to Panamá, however, he contracted some illness, possibly yellow fever, and died July 24, 1826. The Dictionary of American Biography states that Anderson died at Turbaco on his way to Cartagena. But a personal communication from his brother, Robert Anderson, to Henry Clay, July 21, 1 826 reported that he had arrived at Cartagena on July 14 and was confined to bed because of illness and intermittent fever which was delaying his embarkation for Panamá (Despatches from Colombia, IV). A letter from Beaufort T. Watts to José R. Revenga, Bogotá, August 20, 1826 revealed that Anderson was buried in Cartagena, as he refers to the “high honors” paid by the ecclesiastical, civil, and military authorities of that city at his funeral (Despatches from Colombia, IV).

2 John Quincy Adams to Richard C. Anderson, Jr., May 27, 1 823, MS., National Archives, General Records of the Department of State, Diplomatic Instructions, All Countries, IX, 295. Hereinafter cited as Instructions. The instructions, portions of the diplomatic correspondence, protocols of the conferences, projet, contre projet, treaty and other pertinent documents are reproduced in American State Papers, Foreign Relations (6 vols.; Washington, 1 832–1 859), V, 696–733, 760–774, and 888–897. See also Manning, William R., Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States concerning the Independence of the Latin-American Nations (3 vols.; New York, 1925), 1, 192209.Google Scholar

3 Adams to Anderson, May 27, 1 823, MS., Instructions, IX, 295–296.

4 Adams to Anderson, May 27, 1 823, MS., Instructions, IX, 296.

5 National Archives, General Records of the Department of State, List of U.S. Diplomatic Officers, 1789-1939, I; and Adams to Anderson, February 1, 1823, MS., Instructions, IX, 165.

6 Anderson to Adams, December 22, 1823 and May 19, 1824, MSS., National Archives, General Records of the Department of State, Despatches from U.S. Ministers to Colombia, III. Hereinafter cited as Despatches from Colombia.

7 Pedro Gual to Anderson, May 20, 1824; Anderson to Gual, May 24, 1824; Gual to Anderson, May 26, 1824; MSS., Despatches from Colombia, III.

8 Anderson to Gual, June 2, 1824; Gual to Anderson, July 1, 1824; Anderson to Gual, July 7, 1 824; and Anderson to Adams, October 3, 1824; MSS., Despatches from Colombia, III.

9 “Projet of a Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation between the Republic of Colombia and the United States of America,” translation, May 18, 1824, MS., National Archives, General Records of the United States Government, Treaty Series File No. 52. Hereinafter cited as Treaty Series No. 52. Also, Despatches from Colombia, III.

10 “Contre Projet,” M.S., Despatches from Colombia, 111.

11 “Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and the King of Prussia,” July 11, 1799, American State Papers, Foreign Relations, II, 246; and Miller, Hunter (ed.), Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America (8 vols.; Washington, 1931–1948), 2, 441.Google Scholar Hereinafter cited as Miller, Treaties.

12 Protocol of the First Conference, August 27, 1824, Despatches from Colombia, III.

13 Protocol of the Second Conference, August 3 1, 1824, Despatches from Colombia, III.

14 Protocol of the Second Conference, August 31, 1824, Despatches from Colombia, III.

15 Protocol of the Third Conference, September 3, 1824, Despatches from Colombia, III.

16 Protocol of the Fifth Conference, September 13, 1824; and Protocol of the Sixth Conference, October 2, 1824; MSS., Despatches from Colombia, III.

17 Anderson to Adams, October 3, 1824, MS., Despatches from Colombia, III.

18 “General Convention of Peace, Amity, Navigation and Commerce between the United States of America and the Republic of Colombia,” October 3, 1 824, MS., Treaty Series No. 52; “Colombian Instrument of Ratification to the United States,” MS., Treaty Series No. 52; and Uribe, Antonio Jose (ed.), Anales Diplomáticos y Consulares de Colombia (6 vols.; Bogotá, 1920), 6, 31.Google Scholar Hereinafter cited as Uribe (ed.), Anales. This agreement is generally considered a treaty, although the title employed the word “convention.” The words “treaty” and “convention” were used interchangeably in the negotiations and in the document itself. For a discussion see Miller, , Treaties, 3, 188189.Google Scholar

19 MSS., Treaty Series No. 52; Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America (Washington, 1828), III, 424; American State Papers, foreign Relations, V, 760–774; and Miller, , Treaties, 3, 163.Google Scholar

20 Anderson to Adams, October 3 and 4, 1824, MSS., Despatches from Colombia, III.

21 “Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Great Britain and Portugal,” Rio de Janeiro, February 19, 1810, in Hertslet, Lewis, SirHertslet, Edward, and Others, ed., A Complete Collection of the Treaties, Conventions, and Reciprocal Regulations at Present Subsisting Between Great Britain and Foreign Powers (19 vols.; London, 1827–1895), 2, 4345.Google Scholar Hereinafter cited as Hertslet Treaties.

22 “Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation between Great Britain and Colombia,” Bogotá, April 18, 1825, in Hertslet, , Treaties, 3, 56 Google Scholar; and Uribe, , Anales, 6, 46.Google Scholar

23 “Memorial of the Citizens of the United States Resident in Monpon to Beaufort T. Watts,” August 13, 1 825, MS., Despatches from Colombia, ITI, Hereinafter cited as “Memorial.”

24 “Memorial,” August 13, 1 825, MS., Despatches from Colombia, III.

25 Beaufort T. Watts to R. K. Travers and James Hinton, November 6, 1825, MS., Despatches from Colombia, III.

26 Watts to Travers and Hinton, November 6, 1 825, MS., Despatches from Colombia, III.

27 Watts to Henry Clay, January 6, 1826, MS., Despatches from Colombia, III.

28 Padelford, Norman J., “Religious Liberty in International Law and Treaties,” International Review of Missions, 21 (July, 1932), 403.Google Scholar