The Jay-Gardoqui Treaty - An Agreement That Never Was
Diego de Gardoqui was the Spanish Minister to the United States in the years following the Revolutionary War.
During this time, he negotiated a treaty with John Jay to promote friendship and trade between the two nations, but conflict about the right to use the Mississippi River led to it being rejected by the Confederation Congress.
Gardoqui also had an interesting role as, in my personal opinion, the Father of Catholicism in NYC.
Diego de Gardoqui
By the time he arrived in the United States in 1785, Diego de Gardoqui was well known to many prominent Americans.
He was one of the sons in the Spanish firm Gardoqui and Sons which had supplied the Continental Army with tens of thousands of weapons, uniforms and pounds of gunpowder, not to mention half a million musket balls and a few hundred cannons.
Now, Gardoqui was going to be the first minister representing Spain to the United States.
The Jay-Gardoqui Treaty
Gardoqui negotiated with John Jay who was the US Secretary of Foreign Affairs and had himself served as the Minister to Spain just a few years earlier.
Jay and Gardoqui got along swimmingly, quickly agreeing to a trade agreement that opened Spanish ports to American ships around the world.
Additionally it gave aid to the US in pushing out British soldiers who were still stationed in the Northwest Territory.
Known as the Jay-Gardoqui Treaty, this agreement was doomed to fail because of one major sticking point...the Mississippi River.
Rejected Over The Mississippi
Gardoqui was given one particular instruction by the King of Spain: do not permit the Americans the right to navigate on the Mississippi.
The southern States gave Jay one particular instruction: get the right to navigate on the Mississippi.
Despite careful haggling by each side, the Continental Congress voted to abandon the Jay-Gardoqui Treaty.
Rumblings of Western Secession
Interestingly, the people most upset by Spain’s refusal to permit Americans to trade on the Mississippi River were the thousands of people who relocated west of the Appalachian Mountains in the aftermath of the Revolutionary War.
The people who were living in Kentucky and Tennessee (then calling itself the State of Franklin) were hoping to start farms and the easiest way to sell their goods would be shipping down the river.
In fact, the people in this area secretly negotiated with Spain in a plot to secede from the United States and ally with them instead. (This was primarily led by the Revolution's greatest traitor, James Wilkinson.)
Fortunately, Virginia transitioned Kentucky to Congress and they dropped plans of secession in favor of a path to Statehood, with Tennessee following soon thereafter.
The Father of NYC Catholicism?
After five years of trying, Gardoqui got the hint that no treaty would be concluded and returned to Spain to become Finance Minister.
However, during his stay in the United States, his house became the de facto place of worship for Catholics in New York City.
Not only did the French and Portuguese Ambassadors worship at his house, but Catholic members of the Continental Congress including the Carroll Family and Thomas Fitzsimmons.
Gardoqui was also asked to lay the cornerstone for St. Peter’s Church, the first permanent Catholic place of worship in NYC.
For a more detailed account of the debates surrounding the Jay-Gardoqui Treaty, check out this article:
Here is another story regarding international relations in the months after Gardoqui left:
The French Mourn Franklin and Hilarity Ensues
Although there are several biographies of Gardoqui, they are all written in Spanish.
Since the majority of people reading this are English-only speakers (like I am), today’s recommendation is ‘The American Revolution: A World War.’
Pick up a copy through the Amazon affiliate link below (you’ll support this site, but don’t worry, Amazon pays me while your price stays the same).
Want to get fun American Revolution articles straight to your inbox every morning?
Subscribe to my email list here.
You can also support this site on Patreon by clicking here.
Thanks for your support!
