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Archiver > QUEBEC-RESEARCH > 2004-04 > 1082066519
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Subject: Excerpt Of History
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 18:01:59 EDT
"The Rush-Bagot Agreement, finalized April 1817. US Secretary of State
James Monroe proposed to British Foreign Secretary Lord Castlereagh in 1816 that
the 2 countries, US and Canada should agree to limit naval armaments to one
ship each, on Lakes Ontario and Champlain, and 2 each on the Upper Lakes. Thus,
in 1817, notes were exchanged between Acting Secretary of State Richard Rush
and Sir Charles Bagot, British Minister in Washington.
Since the naval disarmament of the lakes was virtually complete after 1817,
the Rush- Bagot Agreement is considered to have ended the British-US naval
race and is frequently cited as the diplomatic origin of the friendly
international border. In fact, only naval power on the lakes was affected, for the US
and Britain continued to build land fortifications along the border for the next
half century."
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