Clayton-Bulwer Treaty 1850

the first treaty between the USA and Great Britain dealing with a possible canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through Central America.

The treaty was signed in Washington on Apr. 19, 1850, by the secretary of state of the USA, J. M. Clayton, and by the British minister to the USA, H. Lytton Bulwer. Both sides were obliged not to seize any new territories in Central America, to guarantee the neutrality of the canal, to open the canal on an equal basis to all countries adhering to the guarantee, and to apply the principles of the treaty to any other interoceanic routes that might be opened through Central America. The treaty was essentially a provisional compromise. It was superseded by the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of 1901.