President Andrew Johnson Authorizes the U.S. Ambassador to China to Finalize the Burlingame-Seward Treaty of 1868 With the Emperor
The new treaty outlined a friendly relationship between China and the United States, and gave citizens of both nations rights to move freely in each other's respective countries
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The Burlingame Treaty was the first international agreement signed since the Opium War that dealt with Chinese on equal terms
The U.S. ambassador – J. Ross Browne – was one of America’s best known authors who wrote travel books and knew or influenced Mark Twain and Edgar Allan Poe
“I hereby authorize...
The Burlingame Treaty was the first international agreement signed since the Opium War that dealt with Chinese on equal terms
The U.S. ambassador – J. Ross Browne – was one of America’s best known authors who wrote travel books and knew or influenced Mark Twain and Edgar Allan Poe
“I hereby authorize J. Ross Browne Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to the Government of His Majesty the Emperor of China…[to] exchange my ratification for that of His Majesty the Emperor of China”
China and the United States concluded the Burlingame-Seward Treaty in 1868 to expand upon the Treaty of Tianjin of 1858. The new treaty outlined a friendly relationship between China and the United States, and gave citizens of both nations rights to move freely in each others’ respective countries. It also established some basic principles that aimed to ease immigration restrictions, and also represented a Chinese effort to limit American interference in internal Chinese affairs.
When in 1867 the American Ambassador to China Anson Burlingame returned to the United States, his post was empty. President Andrew Johnson filled it by appointing noted author and traveler J. Ross Browne as Ambassador to China.
J. Ross Browne was a noted 19th century author, adventurer, artist, government agent, and ambassador. A colorful character, Browne was considered to be one of the most widely traveled and versatile writers of his time. He also illustrated many of his own works. It is said he influenced the work of Mark Twain, and knew Edgar Allan Poe. In 1849, Browne came to California to report the proceedings of California’s Constitutional Convention. He became an agent for the Treasury Department and surveyed custom houses and mints, reporting on irregularities. He also looked into Indian and Land Office affairs. Then Browne traveled to Europe and the Middle East, and published his impressions serially at Harper’s Magazine and then in book form. In 1863 he returned to the American West, vividly describing Arizona, Sonora, and other regions in his Adventures in the Apache Country. He was appointed Minister to China in 1868.
Letter signed, Washington, October 29, 1868, to the Emperor of China, giving Browne authority to exchange treaty ratifications. “I hereby authorize J. Ross Browne Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to the Government of His Majesty the Emperor of China, to effect with any person duly authorized by His Majesty the Emperor of China for that purpose, the exchange of my ratification for that of His Majesty the Emperor of China of the additional articles to the Treaty between the United States and the Ta Tsing Emperor [China] of the 18th of June 1858, which additional articles were concluded at the city of Washington on the 28th of July 1868.” The letter is countersigned by Secretary of State William Seward.
A very early memento of American diplomatic relations with China.
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