The United Kingdom and the United States

Recognition and Renewed War

Britain recognized American independence in the Treaty of Paris in 1783, but a resident diplomatic exchange followed unevenly. John Adams presented credentials in London in June 1785; Britain sent George Hammond to the United States in 1791. Adams had already closed the American legation in 1788, leaving a vacancy of four years. The later break in relations accompanied the American declaration of war on 18 June 1812. [1]

Maritime restrictions and the British impressment of sailors helped drive the countries back to war. When their representatives signed the Treaty of Ghent in December 1814, they provided for the return of captured territory and separate commissions to settle contested boundaries. The treaty tied the cessation of hostilities to ratification, while news traveled slowly enough for fighting to continue. Diplomatic representation resumed in 1815. By March 1893, Julian Pauncefote could notify Washington that Queen Victoria had appointed him Britain's first ambassador, giving the existing mission a higher diplomatic rank. [2] [1] [3]

The intervening decades had brought major settlements over territory and neutrality. In 1846, the Oregon Treaty extended the boundary westward along the 49th parallel while leaving all of Vancouver Island under British control. During the American Civil War, Confederate commerce raiders built in British yards damaged American shipping and prompted claims that Britain had failed to enforce neutrality. The Treaty of Washington in 1871 submitted those claims to arbitration. In September 1872, the tribunal awarded the United States $15.5 million in compensation. [9] [10]

The World Wars and a Lasting Alliance

The First World War brought the United States into the conflict alongside Britain and France in April 1917. President Woodrow Wilson entered as an associated power and sought an independent voice in the peace settlement. His Fourteen Points and proposal for a League of Nations made cooperation with the European governments a negotiation over the future international order as well as the prosecution of the war. [5]

The Second World War produced closer strategic cooperation before the United States formally entered the conflict. Roosevelt and Churchill met off Newfoundland in August 1941, after the United States had begun supplying Britain through Lend Lease. Their Atlantic Charter described shared aims for trade, security, and government after the war. Disagreements remained over imperial trade preferences and the implications of self-government for colonial peoples. [6]

Alliance under Strain

Close military cooperation still left room for conflicting policy. During the Suez crisis of 1956, Washington tried to negotiate an international arrangement for operating the canal, while Britain and France secretly planned military action with Israel. Eisenhower opposed the invasion, concerned about Soviet intervention and the consequences of association with European colonialism. American pressure helped bring Britain and France to a United Nations ceasefire in November. Relations recovered under Harold Macmillan in 1957. [4]

Security Cooperation, Northern Ireland, and Economic Diplomacy

Cold War cooperation became embedded in NATO, intelligence sharing, and nuclear defence arrangements. After the Soviet collapse, the governments worked together in the 1991 Gulf War and in the Balkans; Britain was the principal American partner in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and also contributed forces in Afghanistan. [7]

Economic and constitutional questions also required sustained diplomacy. Britain’s departure from the European Union in January 2020 opened discussion of a bilateral trade agreement. American officials and members of Congress connected those talks to preserving peace and an open border in Ireland. By June 2023, the Atlantic Declaration placed particular emphasis on secure supply chains, emerging technologies, clean energy, and investment. The same declaration linked support for Ukraine and the AUKUS partnership to a wider effort to coordinate economic policy with national security. [7] [8]