Goldwin Smith’s The Treaty of Washington, 1871: A study in imperial history provides a macro-geopolitical analysis of the diplomatic agreements that permanently finalized the maritime borders of the Pacific Northwest. While the text broadly addresses the reconciliation between the United States and Great Britain, for regional historians, its crucial focus lies in its documentation of the resolution to the San Juan Islands boundary dispute. Smith details how distant diplomats utilized international arbitration to draw a rigid federal border through the Haro Strait, artificially dividing a complex archipelago that had long functioned as a unified, ancient maritime crossroads for the Coast Salish peoples. The treaty's ratification officially validated the civic claims and frontier infrastructure of early island pioneers, who had relied heavily on deep community bonds and interdependent alliances with both indigenous populations and occupying military garrisons to survive the precarious, decades-long standoff of the "Pig War." Ultimately, this institutional study illustrates how federal treaties forcefully superimposed sweeping imperial maps directly onto established indigenous aquatic networks, transforming a fluid, culturally managed seascape into a strictly delineated frontier of American maritime logistics.

Canada, Canada Foreign relations United States, Canada Politics and government 1867-, Canada Politics and government 1867-1896, Canada Politique et gouvernement 1867-, Canada Relations extérieures États-Unis, Diplomatic relations, États-Unis Relations extérieures Canada, États-Unis Relations extérieures Grande-Bretagne, Grande-Bretagne Relati

IntroductionCanada and Canadian questionsGreat Britain and the United StatesThe first Canadian commissionerCanada or empire?The decision of WestminsterPress and ParliamentIn Parliament and afterConclusionList of authorities Show less