After the Treaty of Ghent (1814) was signed, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and Albert Gallatin traveled to London to negotiate a commercial agreement between Great Britain and the United States.

The result was "A Convention to Regulate the Commerce between the Territories of The United States and of His Britannick Majesty" on July 3, 1815. This agreement was a crucial step in regularizing the relationship between the two countries as they emerged from the War of 1812 (1812-15). The treaty declared "a reciprocal liberty of Commerce" between the United States and Great Britain (and British possessions in Europe) and thereby went beyond the most-favorednation status for both powers that had existed under Jay's Treaty (1794). The second article stipulated: "No higher or other duties or charges shall be imposed in any of the Ports of the United States on British Vessels, than those payable in the same ports by Vessels of the United States; nor in the ports of any of His Britannick Majesty Territories in Europe on the Vessels of the United States than shall be payable in the same ports on British Vessels." However, this right did not extend to Britain's non-European possessions. Ships from the United States could trade with the British East Indies, including India and Australia, on a most-favored-nation status, but not partake in the local carrying trade. Any U.S. ship involved in the East India trade, or in the China trade, could stop at the Cape of Good Hope, St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, or any other British possession "for refreshment but not for commerce." After the British government decided to exile Napoleon Bonaparte to St. Helena, it added a codicil which banned all non-East India Company ships from visiting the island.

Both nations were permitted to set up consulates in each other's territory. The Convention specifically excluded British territory in North America and the West Indies. The agreement was to last four years but was extended another 10 years by the Convention of 1818.

Bibliography:

Frank A. Updyke, The Diplomacy of the War of 1812 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1915)

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