In 1862, relations between the United States and Great Britain hung on a knife edge, and had the power to determine the course of America’s ongoing civil war. This document is a copy of an Act "to carry into effect the Treaty between Her Majesty and the United States of America for the Suppression of the African Slave Trade". It was proclaimed by the President of the United States on 17 July 1862 and is evidence of the sensitive diplomacy taking place between the two countries at this time.

The treaty stated that the navy of each country would have the right to board and search the ships of the other, in order to root out those illegally transporting enslaved people. This was one in a long succession of treaties that Great Britain had entered into with countries around the word in a bid to ensure the suppression and eventual cessation of the slave trade. As part of the triangular slave route, both countries had played key roles in the transportation of enslaved people from Africa to the Caribbean and mainland North America. Although slavery would not be entirely abolished in the United States for another three years, this treaty was intended to set forth forceful measures that would put an end to the trading of new enslaved people. 

The treaty was brokered by American Secretary of State, William H. Seward, and British naval officer and diplomat, Lord Lyons. The diplomatic relationship between Lyons and Seward at this time was strained. The two had, just months earlier, negotiated a resolution to the Trent Affair, the moment of the Civil War where it appeared most likely that Britain would become involved. The incident occurred when Union troops boarded the British mail ship Trent and removed two Confederate diplomats. Seward disliked Lyon due to the belief of many Union supporters that Britain favoured the Confederacy. Similarly Lyon had a distrust for Seward as it was feared that he would wage a foreign war against Britain in order to unite the interests of the Confederacy and the Union.

If secession had not occurred, and members of the southern states had still been sat in congress, it is doubtful that such a treaty, allowing the British the right to search American ships, would have occurred. In fact Britain had suggested such treaties before and they had been declined. Although the American Navy was now growing in size due the Civil War, it had always been inferior in size and might to the British. When the treaty was completed, Seward was quick to press the point that the treaty had been freely offered by the United States, and was not the desperate act of a nation under pressure. However, it was to the advantage of the Union to keep relations with Britain amicable, and paramount that they keep them from acknowledging the Confederacy.

Whilst surrendering some of the pride of the American Navy by allowing British to stop and search them, this treaty secured a good relationship between the United States and Great Britain, protecting the Union from an Anglo-Confederate alliance.

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