From the brick halls of Annapolis to a shipyard off Portsmouth, diplomats inked world-changing accords on American soil. Each treaty sealed here gathered war-weary negotiators, halted campaigns across oceans, and redrew borders from Europe to Asia. The first five pacts that follow span the birth of a republic, a young nation’s 19th-century conflicts, and America’s emergence as a global power. Their signatures still resonate in modern geopolitics.
1. Treaty of Paris Ratification: America Becomes a Nation
In January 1784, the Continental Congress reconvened in Annapolis to ratify the autumn’s Treaty of Paris, thereby securing peace with Britain. As John Adams and Benjamin Franklin watched, Britain formally recognized American independence. The session extended beyond the ceremony; delegates debated boundary lines stretching into the wilderness. Their final affirmation not only ended the Revolutionary War but also planted the United States as a sovereign entity on the world map.
2. Washington Ratification of the Ghent Treaty: The War of 1812 Concludes
The Treaty of Ghent, negotiated in Belgium on December 24, 1814, only went into force after its ratification in Washington on February 17, 1815. President Madison presided over the approval, which restored pre-war boundaries and settled long-standing naval disputes with Britain. The ceremony signaled more than peace; it affirmed a nation’s resilience against naval superpowers and catalyzed an era of continental expansion, free from European entanglements.
3. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Ratified in Washington: U.S.–Mexico Peace
On March 10, 1848, the U.S. Senate concluded its ratification of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, negotiated months earlier in Mexico City. Within the Senate chamber, diplomats finalized terms that ended the Mexican-American War. By ceding over half its land, including regions that would become California and New Mexico, Mexico dramatically reshaped North America’s political map. The decision also intensified domestic debates over the spread of slavery into new western lands.
4. Spanish-American War Peace Protocol: A Washington Cease-Fire
After hostilities in Cuba and the Philippines sputtered through spring 1898, American and Spanish envoys convened in the White House cabinet room on August 12, 1898. There, they signed an armistice protocol that paused fighting pending a formal treaty. The agreement paved the way for the Paris negotiations that December, heralding America’s rise as a colonial power with new possessions in Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
5. Treaty of Portsmouth: Russo-Japanese Peace Sealed in New Hampshire
In August 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt hosted Russian and Japanese negotiators at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. Across polished conference tables in a converted mill, emissaries hammered out terms that concluded the first global conflict of the 20th century. Roosevelt’s role in brokering the peace earned him the Nobel Prize. The settlement reshaped influence in Manchuria and Korea, foreshadowing the Pacific tensions that would follow.
6. Treaty of Washington: Settling Civil War–Era Maritime Disputes
In May 1871, envoys from the United States and Great Britain gathered in Washington, D.C., to ratify a landmark agreement resolving Civil War–era maritime claims. The pact addressed compensation for British-built “Alabama” warships that had preyed on Union shipping. Its adoption of international arbitration set a new model for peaceful dispute resolution. By entrusting neutral tribunals with complex claims, the treaty eased lingering Anglo-American tensions and influenced later mechanisms such as the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
7. San Francisco Peace Treaty: Official End of Hostilities with Japan
From September 4 to 8, 1951, representatives of forty-eight Allied nations assembled at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House to sign the peace treaty formally ending hostilities with Japan. Article after article restored Japanese sovereignty, defined reparations, and outlined security arrangements. The accord cleared the way for Japan’s postwar reconstruction under U.S. guidance and established a security alliance that anchored Pacific stability. Its far-reaching clauses also shaped postcolonial transitions across Asia.
8. Panama Canal Treaties: Torrijos-Carter Handshake in D.C.
On September 7, 1977, Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos and U.S. President Jimmy Carter convened in Washington to sign treaties providing for Panama’s takeover of canal operations by the close of the century. At the OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., President Jimmy Carter signed treaties that paved the way for Panama to assume canal control by the century’s end. The treaties brought decades of diplomatic strain to a close, reaffirmed Panamanian sovereignty, and demonstrated that careful negotiation could resolve key Cold War-era disputes. Their legacy endures in cooperative canal management and regional integration.
