The Jay Treaty is not primarily a diplomatic document. It is the moment the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties consolidated into opposing forces. Washington signed it. The House of Representatives tried to block its implementation by refusing appropriations. Washington refused to submit the treaty's negotiating instructions to the House, establishing the executive's control over foreign policy documents.
Relations with Britain had deteriorated by 1794. Britain was seizing American ships trading with France, impressing American sailors into the Royal Navy, and still occupying frontier posts in the Northwest Territory in violation of the 1783 Treaty of Paris. Washington wanted to avoid war. He sent Chief Justice John Jay as special envoy to negotiate.
Jay arrived in London in June 1794. The treaty he signed in November gave the United States almost nothing it had sought. Britain agreed to evacuate the frontier posts by 1796. It made limited concessions on trade. It did not address impressment or the seizure of American ships. When the terms became public, the reaction was immediate and hostile. Jay was burned in effigy. Hamilton was stoned while defending the treaty in New York.
It is not for me to say whether the treaty is the best that could have been obtained. But this I will say -- that so far as my information extends, it is all that patient and skilful negotiation could accomplish.
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