Jay’s Treaty (1794)

In 1794 Great Britain and the United States signed the Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, commonly known as Jay’s Treaty (after John Jay, the Chief Justice of the United States, who signed the document). The agreement resolved a number of disputes that had arisen at the end of the American Revolutionary War. For British North America the administration of inland trade was altered by the treaty, which opened free trade with the United States. In 1796 Lower Canada enacted legislation bringing the treaty into effect, and the next year Upper Canada reluctantly followed suit.