McLane-Ocampo Treaty

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The McLane-Ocampo Treaty, formally the Treaty of Transit and Commerce, was an 1859 agreement between the United States and Mexico which would have sold the perpetual right of transit to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the U.S. for $4 million, through the Mexican ports of Tehuantepec in the south, to Coatzacoalcos in the Gulf of Mexico. All the transit would be free of any charge or duty, both for military and commercial effects and troops. It even granted the obligation of Mexican troops to assist in the enforcement of the rights permanently granted to the U.S.

Additionally, it granted rights of passage through two strings of Mexican land: one that would run from the port of Guaymas in the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California), to Nogales in the State of Sonora, bordering Arizona; and another one from the western Mexican port of Mazatlán, in the State of Sinaloa, going through Monterrey all the way through Matamoros, south of present-day Brownsville, in the Gulf of Mexico. Mexico was also compelled to build storage facilities on either side of the Tehuantepec isthmus. All rights of passage would benefit the U.S. on a perpetual basis.

Of the $4 million for the total cost of these benefits, the U.S. would pay immediately only two million to the Mexican government, while the remaining half would stay in U.S. hands in provision for payments to American citizens suing the Mexican government for damages to their rights.

Although President James Buchanan strongly favored the arrangement, and Mexican President Benito Juárez badly needed the money to finance the war he was waging against the Conservative Party, it was never ratified by the Senate.

The U.S. hoped to build a railroad or canal across the isthmus to speed transport of mail and trade goods between the east and west coasts. Roads there and in Nicaragua and Panama already carried considerable traffic.

The treaty derives its name from Robert Milligan McLane, then ambassador to Mexico, and liberal politician Melchor Ocampo, in hopes the money would boost the faction's chances in the Mexican Reform War. [1] The treaty would also have placed Mexico under the military protection of the U.S. [2] and reduced or eliminated tariffs [3] [4]

[edit] Treaty provisions

Extending the Gadsden Treaty, Mexico agreed to grant the US a right "in perpetuity" to transit across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
Both parties agreed to protect the region's trade routes
Mexico agreed to establish "ports of deposit" at both coasts

Goods in transit from port to port would be subject to no tariff or duty
Goods imported to Mexico at these ports would be subject to normal tariffs

Mexico agreed to grant the US the right to intervene at the request of Mexico, or in emergencies without, in the case of danger to the trade routes
Mexico agreed to grant the US the right of military transit, with due notice
Mexico agreed to grant US citizens the right of transit across Mexico by various routes
Both parties agreed to reciprocal and equal tariff policies
Mexico agreed not to grant other parties similar rights