McLane-Ocampo Treaty
Encyclopedia
The McLane-Ocampo Treaty, formally the Treaty of Transit and Commerce, was an agreement between the United States
and Mexico
, signed in the port of Veracruz
in Mexico on December 14, 1859, which would have sold the perpetual right of transit to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
to the U.S. for $4 million, through the Mexican ports of Tehuantepec
in the south, to Coatzacoalcos
in the Gulf of Mexico
. All the transit would be free of any charge or duty, both for military and commercial effects and troops. It even granted the obligation of Mexican troops to assist in the enforcement of the rights permanently granted to the U.S.
Additionally, it granted rights of passage through two strings of Mexican land: one that would run through the state of Sonora
from the port of Guaymas
on the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California), to Nogales
, on the border with Arizona
; and another one from the western port of Mazatlán
, in the state of Sinaloa
, going through Monterrey
all the way through Matamoros, Tamaulipas
, south of present-day Brownsville, Texas
, on the Gulf of Mexico
. Mexico was also compelled to build storage facilities on either side of the Tehuantepec isthmus. All rights of passage would benefit the U.S. on a perpetual basis.
Of the $4 million for the total cost of these benefits, the U.S. would pay immediately only two million to the Mexican government, while the remaining half would stay in U.S. hands in provision for payments to American citizens suing the Mexican government for damages to their rights.
Although U.S. President
James Buchanan
strongly favored the arrangement, and Mexican President Benito Juárez
badly needed the money to finance the war he was waging against the Conservative Party, it was never ratified by the U.S. Senate
.
The U.S. hoped to build a railroad or canal
across the isthmus to speed transport of mail
and trade goods between the east and west coasts. Roads there and in Nicaragua
and Panama
already carried considerable traffic.
The treaty derives its name from Robert Milligan McLane
, then United States ambassador to Mexico
, and Liberal politician Melchor Ocampo
, who negotiated the treaty in hopes the money would boost the Liberal Party's chances in the ongoing Mexican Reform War
. http://historicaltextarchive.com//sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=455 The treaty would also have placed Mexico under the military protection of the U.S. http://www.isanet.org/archive/silverstone.html and reduced or eliminated tariffs http://www.msrarebooks.com/4DCGI/w_BookDetailS/15698 http://revistas.bancomext.gob.mx/rce/en/articleReader.jsp?id=11&idRevista=18
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, signed in the port of Veracruz
Veracruz, Veracruz
Veracruz, officially known as Heroica Veracruz, is a major port city and municipality on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The city is located in the central part of the state. It is located along Federal Highway 140 from the state capital Xalapa, and is the state's most...
in Mexico on December 14, 1859, which would have sold the perpetual right of transit to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
Isthmus of Tehuantepec
The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, and prior to the opening of the Panama Canal was a major shipping route known simply as the Tehuantepec Route...
to the U.S. for $4 million, through the Mexican ports of Tehuantepec
Tehuantepec
Tehuantepec is a city and municipality in the southeast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is part of the Tehuantepec District in the west of the Istmo Region. The area was important in pre Hispanic period as part of a trade route that connected Central America with what is now the center of...
in the south, to Coatzacoalcos
Coatzacoalcos
Coatzacoalcos is a major port city in the southern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz, on the Coatzacoalcos River. Coatzacoalcos comes from an indigenous word meaning "Site of the Snake" or "Where the snake hides"...
in the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
. All the transit would be free of any charge or duty, both for military and commercial effects and troops. It even granted the obligation of Mexican troops to assist in the enforcement of the rights permanently granted to the U.S.
Additionally, it granted rights of passage through two strings of Mexican land: one that would run through the state of Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
from the port of Guaymas
Guaymas
Guaymas is a city and municipality located in the southwest part of the state of Sonora in northwestern Mexico. The city is located 117 km south of the state capital of Hermosillo, and 242 miles from the U.S. border, and is the principal port for the state. The municipality is located in the...
on the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California), to Nogales
Nogales, Sonora
Heroica Nogales , more commonly known as Nogales, is a city and its surrounding municipality on the northern border of the Mexican State of Sonora. The municipality covers an area of 1,675 km², and borders to the north the city of Nogales, Arizona, United States, across the U.S.-Mexico border...
, on the border with Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
; and another one from the western port of Mazatlán
Mazatlán
Mazatlán is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa; the surrounding municipio for which the city serves as the municipal seat is Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula.Mazatlán is a Nahuatl word meaning...
, in the state of Sinaloa
Sinaloa
Sinaloa officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales....
, going through Monterrey
Monterrey
Monterrey , is the capital city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León in the country of Mexico. The city is anchor to the third-largest metropolitan area in Mexico and is ranked as the ninth-largest city in the nation. Monterrey serves as a commercial center in the north of the country and is the...
all the way through Matamoros, Tamaulipas
Matamoros, Tamaulipas
Matamoros, officially known as Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern part of Tamaulipas, in the country of Mexico. It is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas, in the United States. Matamoros is the second largest and second...
, south of present-day Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville is a city in the southernmost tip of the state of Texas, in the United States. It is located on the northern bank of the Rio Grande, directly north and across the border from Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Brownsville is the 16th largest city in the state of Texas with a population of...
, on the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
. Mexico was also compelled to build storage facilities on either side of the Tehuantepec isthmus. All rights of passage would benefit the U.S. on a perpetual basis.
Of the $4 million for the total cost of these benefits, the U.S. would pay immediately only two million to the Mexican government, while the remaining half would stay in U.S. hands in provision for payments to American citizens suing the Mexican government for damages to their rights.
Although U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
James Buchanan
James Buchanan
James Buchanan, Jr. was the 15th President of the United States . He is the only president from Pennsylvania, the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor and the last to be born in the 18th century....
strongly favored the arrangement, and Mexican President Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez born Benito Pablo Juárez García, was a Mexican lawyer and politician of Zapotec origin from Oaxaca who served five terms as president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872...
badly needed the money to finance the war he was waging against the Conservative Party, it was never ratified by the U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
.
The U.S. hoped to build a railroad or canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
across the isthmus to speed transport of mail
Mail
Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...
and trade goods between the east and west coasts. Roads there and in Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
and Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
already carried considerable traffic.
The treaty derives its name from Robert Milligan McLane
Robert Milligan McLane
Robert Milligan McLane was an American politician, military officer, and diplomat. He served as Ambassador to Mexico, France, and China, as a member of the House of Representatives from the fourth district of Maryland, as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and as the 39th Governor of...
, then United States ambassador to Mexico
United States Ambassador to Mexico
The United States has maintained diplomatic relations with Mexico since 1823, when Andrew Jackson was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to that country. Jackson declined the appointment, however, and Joel R. Poinsett became the first U.S. envoy to Mexico in 1825. The rank...
, and Liberal politician Melchor Ocampo
Melchor Ocampo
Melchor Ocampo was a Mexican lawyer, scientist, and liberal politician.His home state was renamed Michoacán de Ocampo in his honour.-Studies:...
, who negotiated the treaty in hopes the money would boost the Liberal Party's chances in the ongoing Mexican Reform War
Reform War
The Reform War in Mexico is one of the episodes of the long struggle between Liberal and Conservative forces that dominated the country’s history in the 19th century. The Liberals wanted a federalist government, limiting traditional Catholic Church and military influence in the country...
. http://historicaltextarchive.com//sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=455 The treaty would also have placed Mexico under the military protection of the U.S. http://www.isanet.org/archive/silverstone.html and reduced or eliminated tariffs http://www.msrarebooks.com/4DCGI/w_BookDetailS/15698 http://revistas.bancomext.gob.mx/rce/en/articleReader.jsp?id=11&idRevista=18
Treaty provisions
- Extending the Gadsden TreatyGadsden PurchaseThe Gadsden Purchase is a region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that was purchased by the United States in a treaty signed by James Gadsden, the American ambassador to Mexico at the time, on December 30, 1853. It was then ratified, with changes, by the U.S...
, Mexico agreed to grant the US a right "in perpetuity" to transit across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec - Both parties agreed to protect the region's trade routes
- Mexico agreed to establish "ports of deposit" at both coasts
- Goods in transit from port to port would be subject to no tariff or duty
- Goods imported to Mexico at these ports would be subject to normal tariffs
- Mexico agreed to grant the US the right to intervene at the request of Mexico, or in emergencies without, in the case of danger to the trade routes
- Mexico agreed to grant the US the right of military transit, with due notice
- Mexico agreed to grant US citizens the right of transit across Mexico by various routes
- Both parties agreed to reciprocal and equal tariff policies
- Mexico agreed not to grant other parties similar rights
External links
- Mexican-American relations were a primary topic of the 1860 State of the UnionState Of The Union"State Of The Union" is the debut single from British singer-songwriter David Ford. It had previously been featured as a demo on his official website, before appearing as a track on a CD entitled "Apology Demos EP," only on sale at live shows....
address by Buchanan.