On This Day in History: October 20

Straightening out the Canada-USA border

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Prior to 1818, the border between “Canada” and the United States was less a straight line. Britain said we’ll give you this chunk south of the 49th parallel, and the U.S. said okay we’ll give you that chunk on the north side then it will be easier to survey. Also, the U.S. said we want to go fishing in Newfoundland, and we want our slaves back.

--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: October 20, 1818--

It wasn’t Canada yet, not for another half century. It was a British colony, and recently there had been that War of 1812 where they burned down the White House. The war was a wash, and this Treaty of 1818, which was signed on October 20, was an effort to smooth relations between the U.S. and its former masters.

As far as the border goes, the U.S. permanently ceded a small area north of what is now Montana, and the Brits gave up a bigger chunk of what is now North Dakota and Minnesota so that 49th parallel border could be nice and straight. At least until you got to the part where all the big fuckin’ lakes are.

The Americans also said hey Maine is right there (it wouldn’t be admitted to the union for another two years) next to that Newfoundland and Labrador place so we have the right to fish those waters and the British said yeah okay we guess.

Then there was the matter of those people the Americans had enslaved. During the war of 1812 there were many Black people who had escaped their enslavers and fought for the British, winding up in British territory afterward. The enslaving shitnuggets said hey we want our “property” back because they’re not humans, they’re things. Our laws say so. The treaty only went so far as to stipulate that there would be an impartial mediator assigned (Russia) to arbitrate the issue, but it never actually happened so the former enslaved got to stay put. The British eventually ended up paying some compensation to the Americans.

Beyond that, it was an important turning point toward more peaceful relations between Britain and America, as well as between the U.S. and the Canadian colony. Except for the wee matter of the Oregon territory. That big chunk that makes up what is now Washington State, Oregon, and Idaho was to remain open to both countries, and “open” means there was bound to be dispute over it. And there was, for the next two decades, but the Americans just kept sending settlers into the region saying this land is ours now fuck those who’ve been living her for ten thousand years. In 1846 the 49th parallel was permanently established as the border between the two regions. Sorry, Canada. No Oregon for you.

Until 1928, a primary defense priority in Canada focused on repelling a possible invasion from the U.S., and in 2020 that defensive prerogative was reinvigorated when Canada closed its borders to Americans because Most Impeached President EVER was letting Covid-19 run rampant across the nation.

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