Encyclopedia of U.S.-Latin American Relations

Sample Article

General Convention of Peace, Amity, Commerce and Navigation between the United States of America and the Federation of Central American States

Signed December 5, 1825 and, following appropriate ratifications, entered into force on August 2, 1826.

Immediately following their independence from Spain on September 15, 1821, the five Central American states (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua) were incorporated into the Mexican Empire by Agustin Iturbide's "Plan of Iguala." Two years later on July 1, 1823, an elected assembly met in Guatemala City to declare their independence from Mexico and to establish the United Provinces of Central America. At the time, two political parties dominated the United Provinces: the Conservatives and Liberals. The Conservatives wanted to maintain the traditions of the Spanish rule and to avoid contacts with the United States and other European nations. In contrast, the Liberals sought to eliminate some of Spanish legacies in the Provinces and also wanted to develop contacts with other nations, although they knew little about the outside world owing to the region's isolation during the colonial period. For nearly a decade after independence, the Liberals held government power in the United Provinces, headquartered in Guatemala City.

In May 1824, U.S. President James Monroe extended diplomatic recognition to the new country, the first nation to do so. Shortly thereafter Monroe received Antonio José Cañas as the United Provinces Minister to the United States. Cañas came north seeking security from Mexico and possibly Spain and, a commercial treaty. Cañas shared Juan José Aycinena's vision of a transisthmian canal as a catalyst to Central America's economic development. Given its aversion to entangling political treaties and with the Monroe Doctrine in place, the United States avoided signing a security treaty and, concerned with their own internal development, few Americans envisioned a transisthmian canal. But, the U.S. did have interest in a commercial treaty given the growth of its Midwest and the potential export of its products through New Orleans via the Mississippi River. Although the Americans knew almost nothing about the region, the United Provinces appeared as a likely market.

Fifteen provisions in the 1825 treaty dealt with commerce and they effectively established the principles of free trade for a twelve-year period. However, little trade developed as a result of the treaty. The Central Americans offered little to the United States and for American merchants, the British, who assisted with Latin America's independence, already established a presence in the region. With the absence of regularly scheduled shipping between the United States and the major Caribbean port at Omoa (present day Puerto Cortés, Honduras) connections were posssible through the irregular schedules at Cuban and Jamaican ports. From Omoa, one proceeded over the hazardous ground route through the mountains to Guatemala City. Central America's Pacific ports were too distant for American merchants at the time. When the United Provinces of Central America self-destructed in 1839, the 1825 treaty also terminated.

Thomas M. Leonard
University of North Florida

Also see: United Provinces of Central America, U.S. Relations With, 1823-1839); Monroe Doctrine; Juan José Aycinena.
References: Lockey, Joseph B.,"Diplomatic Futility," Hispanic American Historical Review 30 (August, 1930), 483-510
Naylor, Robert A., "The British Role in Central America Prior to the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty," Hispanic American Historical Review, 40 (August, 1960), 361-382
Stansifer, Charles, "United States-Central American Relations, 1824-1850," in T. Ray Shurbutt, editor, United States-Latin American Relations, 1800-1850: The Formative Generations, University of Alabama Press, 1992
---.,"General Convention of Peace, Amity, Commerce and Navigation," in Charles I. Bevans, compiler, Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America, 1776-1949 (Washington, D.C.: Department of State, 1971), Volume 6, 504-514.