In what were called the
Alabama Claims, in 1869 the United States claimed direct and collateral damage against Great Britain. In the particular case of the
Alabama, the United States claimed that Britain had violated neutrality by allowing five warships to be constructed, especially the
Alabama, knowing that it would eventually enter into naval service with the
Confederacy. Other particulars included the following: In the summer of 1862, the British-built steam warship
Oreto was delivered to
Nassau in the
Bahamas with the secret understanding that it would be later transferred to the
Confederate States Navy. Upon transfer, it was commissioned
CSS Florida. British
Royal Navy Admiral
George Willes Watson (1827–1897) aided the transfer, and Watson's actions were reviewed by the tribunal. Other warships included the (built at
Alexander Stephen and Sons in Glasgow), (built at John Laird and Sons, like the
Alabama), and (built at
J & W Dudgeon in London). Senator
Charles Sumner of
Massachusetts, the chairman of the U.S.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also demanded that "indirect damages" be included, specifically the British blockade runners.
British blockade runners played a pivotal role in sustaining the war effort of the Confederacy, smuggling through the
Union blockade thousands of tons of gunpowder, half a million rifles, and several hundred cannons to the Confederacy. Such acts may have lengthened the Civil War by two years and cost 400,000 more lives of soldiers and civilians on both sides.
Payment Sumner originally asked for $2 billion in damages, or alternatively, the ceding of
Canada to the United States. When American Secretary of State
William H. Seward negotiated the
Alaska Purchase in 1867, he intended it as the first step in a comprehensive plan to gain control of the entire northwest Pacific Coast. Seward was a firm believer in "
Manifest Destiny", primarily for its commercial advantages to the United States. Seward expected the West Coast Province of
British Columbia to seek annexation to the United States and thought Britain might accept this in exchange for the
Alabama claims. Soon other U.S. politicians endorsed annexation, with the goal of annexing British Columbia, the central Canadian
Red River Colony (later
Manitoba), and eastern
Nova Scotia, in exchange for dropping the damage claims. The idea reached a peak in the spring and summer of 1870, with American expansionists, Canadian separatists, and British anti-imperialists seemingly combining forces. The plan was dropped for several reasons: London continued to stall, American commercial and financial groups pressed Washington for a quick settlement of the dispute in cash,
Canada offered to have British Columbia enter the Canadian Confederation on very generous terms, which bolstered nationalist sentiment in British Columbia that already favored fealty to the British Empire, Congress became preoccupied with
Reconstruction, and most Americans showed little interest in territorial expansion after the long years, expenses and losses of the Civil War.
Treaty of Washington In 1871,
Hamilton Fish, President
Ulysses S. Grant's Secretary of State, worked out an agreement with British representative
Sir John Rose to create a commission in Washington comprising six members from the British Empire and six members from the United States. Its assignment was to resolve the
Alabama claims, refinancing, and other international disputes between Canada and the United States by treaty. On March 8, 1871, the
Treaty of Washington was signed at the State Department and the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on May 24, 1871. In accord with the treaty, an international
arbitration tribunal met in Geneva. The treaty had provisions regarding the settlement process for the
Alabama Claims but did not include "indirect damages", settled disputed Atlantic fisheries and the
San Juan Boundary (concerning the
Oregon boundary line). Britain and the United States became perpetual allies after the treaty, with Britain having expressed regret over the
Alabama damages. ==The tribunal==