Editing James Monroe (section)

====Treaties with Britain and Russia====

Upon taking office, Monroe pursued warmer relations with Britain in the aftermath of the War of 1812.<ref name="sdmilestone">{{cite web |title=Milestones: 1801–1829: Rush-Bagot Pact, 1817 and Convention of 1818 |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/rush-bagot |access-date=February 25, 2017 |publisher=Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs United States Department of State}}</ref> In 1817, the United States and Britain signed the [[Rush–Bagot Treaty]], which regulated naval armaments on the [[Great Lakes]] and [[Lake Champlain]] and demilitarized the border between the U.S. and [[British North America]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Uphaus-Conner |first=Adele |date=April 20, 2012 |title=Today in History: Rush-Bagot Treaty Signed |url=http://jamesmonroemuseum.umw.edu/2012/04/20/today-in-history-rush-bagot-treaty-signed/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226131211/http://jamesmonroemuseum.umw.edu/2012/04/20/today-in-history-rush-bagot-treaty-signed/ |archive-date=February 26, 2017 |access-date=February 25, 2017 |publisher=James Monroe Museum, Univ. of Mary Washington}}</ref> The [[Treaty of 1818]], also with Great Britain, was concluded October 20, 1818, and fixed the present [[Canada–United States border]] from [[Minnesota]] to the [[Rocky Mountains]] at the [[49th parallel north|49th parallel]]. The accords also established a joint U.S.–British occupation of [[Oregon Country]] for the next ten years.<ref name="JMforeign">{{cite web |date=October 4, 2016 |title=James Monroe: Foreign Affairs |url=http://millercenter.org/president/biography/monroe-foreign-affairs |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226131420/http://millercenter.org/president/biography/monroe-foreign-affairs |archive-date=February 26, 2017 |access-date=February 25, 2017 |publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia}}</ref> Though they did not solve every outstanding issue between the U.S. and Britain, the treaties allowed for greater trade between the United States and the British Empire and helped avoid an expensive naval arms race in the Great Lakes.<ref name="sdmilestone" /> In the Pacific Northwest, American territorial claims clashed with those of [[Tsarist Russian Empire|Tsarist Russia]], which had trading posts as far south as [[San Francisco Bay]], and those of Great Britain. The situation intensified in the fall of 1821 when [[Saint Petersburg]] closed America's Pacific coastal sea north of 51° latitude to foreign ships within a 100-mile zone, thus shifting its territorial claim four degrees of latitude to the south.<ref name=":7">{{Harvnb|Hart|2005|pp=97–99}}</ref> Late in Monroe's second term, the U.S. concluded the [[Russo-American Treaty of 1824]] with the Russian Empire, setting the southern limit of Russian sovereignty on the Pacific coast of [[North America]] at the [[parallel 54°40′ north|54°40′ parallel]] (the present southern tip of the [[Alaska Panhandle]]).<ref>{{cite book |last1=McDougall |first1=Allan K. |title=A Companion to Border Studies |last2=Philips |first2=Lisa |publisher=Wiley |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-1191-1167-2 |editor1-last=Wilson |editor1-first=Thomas M. |series=Wiley Blackwell Companions to Anthropology Series |page=186 |chapter=Chapter 10: The State, Hegemony and the Historical British-US Border |access-date=February 25, 2017 |orig-date=1st pub. 2012 |editor2-last=Donnan |editor2-first=Hastings |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yu4kFC_vNokC&pg=PA186}}</ref>