Olney–Pauncefote Treaty

Both nations realized that a mechanism was desirable to avoid possible future conflicts.

In January 1897, US Secretary of State Richard Olney negotiated an arbitration treaty with the British diplomat Julian Pauncefote.

US President Grover Cleveland and his successor William McKinley both supported the treaty, as did most opinion leaders, academics, and leading newspapers.

The US Senate, however, passed a series of amendments that exempted important issues from any sort of arbitration.

Any issue that was not exempted would need a two-thirds vote of the Senate before arbitration could begin.

February 1897 cartoon by Louis Dalrymple depicts President Cleveland and Secretary of State Olney mourning the treaty as then Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Sherman winks from outside a window