Immediate Impact: Diplomatic Tension
Below is a series of exchanges between former secretary of state Daniel Webster and British representative Lord Ashburton. In an 1842 letter to Ashburton, Webster demanded the slaves return, arguing that the slaves were legal property of the United States, and expressed his sentiments towards those who were killed in the rebellion. However, Ashburton responded -- he emphasized that the slaves had entered a British Colony, governed by British law that forbade slavery, and argued that there were unanswered questions about which laws would apply to the slave ships. This displays a global trend of abolitionism, contrasting with the United States' growing population of slaves.
"scenes of violence and collision between the people of the two countries would be of almost daily occurrence; resentments would be kindled; and a war...would prevail" - Abel Upshur, part of the John Tyler Administration, on the future impacts of the Creole Case. The tension was ultimately resolved during the negotiations of the Webster-Ashburton treaty of 1842, in which the British agreed to pay America for compensation, but not return the slaves.
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The Webster-Ashburton Treaty
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