Pinckney's Treaty, also known as the
Treaty of San Lorenzo or the
Treaty of Madrid, was signed in
San Lorenzo de El Escorial on
October 27,
1795 and established intentions of friendship between the
United States and
Spain. It also defined the boundaries of the United States with the
Spanish colonies and guaranteed the United States navigation rights on the
Mississippi River. The treaty's full title is
Treaty of Friendship, Limits, and Navigation Between Spain and the United States.
Thomas Pinckney negotiated the treaty for the United States and Don
Manuel de Godoy represented
Spain.
The treaty was presented to the United States Senate on February 26, 1796 and after several weeks of debate was ratified on March 7, 1796. It was ratified by Spain on April 25, 1796 and ratifications were exchanged on that date. The treaty was proclaimed on August 3, 1796.
By terms of the treaty, Spain and the United States agreed that the southern boundary of the United States with the Spanish Colonies of East and West Florida was a line beginning on the Mississippi River at the 31st degree north latitude drawn due east to the middle of the Chattahoochee River and from there along the middle of the river to the junction with the Flint River and from there straight to the headwaters of the St. Marys River and from there along the middle of the channel to the Atlantic Ocean. This describes the current boundary between the present state of Florida and Georgia and the line from the northern boundary of the Florida panhandle to the northern boundary of that portion of Louisiana east of the Mississippi. (The line ceases to be a border from the Pearl River to the Perdido River in order to provide the states of Mississippi and Alabama with seaports.)
This boundary had been in dispute since the British had expanded the territory of the Florida colonies while it was in possession of them. It had moved the boundary from the 31st degree latitude northwards to a line drawn due east from the junction of the Yazoo River and the Mississippi, the present day location of Vicksburg, Mississippi. After the American Revolutionary War, Spain claimed the British border at the day of the Treaty of Paris while the United States insisted on the old boundary.
