Proposal for a Treaty with Spain, [on or after 19 November 1805]
Proposal for a Treaty with Spain
[on or after 19 Nov. 1805]
1. Spain shall cede & confirm to the US. of A. East & West Florida, with1 the islands & waters thereon depending, & shall deliver possession thereof2 on the ratification by her of this treaty.
2. The US. shall pay to Spain in the city of within after this treaty shall have been ratified on her part five millions of dollars.3
3. Spain & France shall have the same privileges respecting trade & to the same period of time in the Floridas as in Louisiana.4
4. The boundary between the territories of the US. called Orleans & Louisiana on the one side, & the dominions of Spain on the other5 shall be the river {Guadaloupe if to be obtained Colorado, if not}6 from it’s mouth to it’s main7 source, thence due North to the highlands inclosing the waters which run directly or indirectly into the Misipi or Missouri rivers, & along those highlands as far as they border on the Spanish dominions.
5. The country between the Western boundary of the sd territories of Orleans & Louisiana on the one side and the {Rio Bravo & Eastern branch thereof Rio Colorado} & from it’s main source8 by the shortest course9 to the highlands beforementioned as the sd Western boundary shall remain unsettled for 30.10 years from the date of this treaty.
6. Spain shall pay to the US. in the city of Washington on or before the last day of Dec. 1807. four millions of Dollars, as an indemnification & acquittance11 for all spoliations committed under her flag on the citizens of the US. prior to the 1st. day of Nov. 1805. with interest thereon from the date of this treaty12 & for the faithful performance thereof she hypothecates to the US. the country described in the 5th. Article
7. The US. in the mean time undertake to advance13 to their citizens the annual14 interest on their respective claims for such spoliations15 to be settled by authority of the US. & in the event of a failure by Spain to pay the sd 4. Mills. of D. & interest as before stipulated the16 country described in the 5th. Article shall stand ipso facto vested in the US. who shall be thereupon answerable17 to their citizens, for their just demands as settled, by the 7th. article18 and all interest past & to come, so that Spain by the forfieture of the sd country shall stand liberated from all demands of principal or interest19 past or to come for the sd spoliations: but the US. shall permit no settlement within the sd country for the term of 30. years beforementioned.
MS (DLC: Rives Papers); undated; entirely in TJ’s hand. Dft (DLC: TJ Papers, 154:26862); entirely in TJ’s hand; significant alterations noted below; on verso of sheet endorsed in unidentified hand: “John Barnes. 14 Nov 1805.”
TJ likely began drafting this projet for a treaty with Spain in the days following the cabinet meeting held on 12 Nov. The alterations reflected in the subsequent version, such as the addition of the third article, reflect changes coming out of the cabinet meeting held on 19 Nov. Doubts about the efficacy of negotiating a treaty with Spain without congressional authorization for the necessary funds encouraged the administration to shelve the proposed treaty and pursue a different strategy. Before the end of the month, TJ turned his attention to drafting resolutions on relations with Spain to be presented to Congress. An appropriation of $2 million intended for negotiations with Spain did pass Congress, but the instructions that the administration sent to its appointed negotiators, John Armstrong and James Bowdoin, bore little resemblance to TJ’s proposed treaty (, 5:62-4, 74-7, 91-3; , 10:313-14; 11:378-85; Document II at Resolutions for Congress on Relations with Spain at 4 Dec. 1805; Statement from Albert Gallatin, with Jefferson’s Note, 4 Apr. 1806).
1. In Dft TJ here canceled “all.”
2. In Dft, preceding ampersands and seven words interlined along with “immedly.” in place of “thereto appertaining & which they recieved with the same.”
3. In Dft TJ first wrote “The US. shall pay to Spain in the city of Madrid on delivery of possn 5. M. D. within months after signing” before replacing the last word with “the treaty shall have been ratified by Spain.”
4. Article 3 interlined in Dft.
5. Preceding 11 words and ampersand interlined in Dft.
6. In Dft TJ first wrote and arranged the text after “river” as it appears here, with braces. He then canceled “Guadaloupe if to be obtd” and “if not” to leave “Colorado.”
7. Word lacking in Dft.
8. In Dft TJ first wrote “Western boundary of Orleans & Louisa. & the Rio Bravo & Eastern or Saltriver branch thereof & thence” before altering the text to read as above with slight variation.
9. Dft: “coast.”
10. In Dft TJ first wrote “50,” then altered it to “30.”
11. Preceding word and ampersand interlined in Dft.
12. Remainder of article interlined in Dft.
13. Word interlined in Dft in place of “pay.”
14. Word interlined (lacking in Dft).
15. Preceding three words interlined in Dft.
16. In Dft TJ here canceled “sd country between the Western boundy. of the territories of.”
17. In Dft TJ wrote “be answerable,” which he altered to “pay” and then altered again to “be answble.”
18. TJ reached the foot of his page here and wrote the remainder of the text perpendicularly in the margin.
19. Preceding four words interlined in Dft in place of “for on acct.”