Russian Policy - Early American Relations
Observers struggled to account for what General Rush Hawkins described as “the friendly relations that have always existed ” between two countries “so completely opposed in form of government.” In the mid-nineteenth century, Russia and the United States were drawn together by a common hostility towards Great Britain and a basic agreement on the most foreign policy issues. Of the major European powers, Russia was the only one to support the Union in the American Civil War of 1861-65.
Until the early 20th century, the United States had better relations with Russia than with Britain or France. The United States had fought two bitter wars against Britain: the War of Independence and the War of 1812. Additionally, the two nations endured many years of tension without war, mostly related to border issues in North America, where Canada remained British territory.
The United States had never had a quarrel with Imperial Russia, and, in fact, the relationship was characterized by peace and goodwill. In the period of the Revolution, the ruling empress, Catherine II, with all her professions of neutrality, showed no acts of sympathy for the revolting English colonists, although several Russian Poles allied themselves with the American cause. Empress Catherine II (the Great) refused to send Russian soldiers requested by King George III to suppress the rebellion of his subjects in North America.
In the period of the Revolution, the ruling empress, Catherine II, with all her professions of neutrality, showed no acts of sympathy for the revolting English colonists, although several Russian Poles allied themselves with the American cause.
Although there had been difficulty in getting admission to Russian ports and in determining the limits of the Russian settlements, he found a willingness to adjust all causes of friction. The emperor took a lively interest in American affairs — showing an "obstinate attachment" of which there were frequent evidences in the decade that followed. In the War of 1812, doubtless inspired chiefly by desire to strengthen Great Britain in contest against Napoleon rather than by friendship for the United States, he offered mediation to secure termination of hostilities in a war which was for the United States inglorious. Later he was selected to arbitrate one of the difficulties resulting from the war and the Treaty of Ghent, and in 1822 decided that Americans were entitled to an indemnity, the amount of which was fixed at $1,204,960 by a mixed commission.
Russia continued to maintain a spirit of apparent goodwill toward the United States, co-operating with her in regard to Spanish American affairs (taking an interest in a proposed arbitration between the United States and England, and assisting the United States in arranging contemplated negotiations with Turkey.
In 1832, Russia became the first nation to have “most favored nation” trading status with the United States. In 1832 the United States negotiated with Russia a treaty providing for reciprocal liberty of commerce and navigation and also reciprocal liberty of sojourn and residence in order to attend to their affairs and with the same security and protection as the natives.
After 1835, although the Van Buren administration in 1839 complained of the Russian pretension to exclusive dominion on the northwest coast and a year later exhibited some anxiety in regard to a lease of the Russian American dominions by the Hudson's Bay Company, the continuation of good feeling was shown by the continued expression by the Russian government of a friendly interest in American relations with Great Britain just before the negotiation of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty.
The United States alone stood by Russia in 1854 and 1855 during the Crimean War.
The American government furnished Russian forces with arms and sent a whole shipload of gunpowder to the defenders of the Siberian coast. Frank Golder, no Russophile, would later write of the Crimean War, “By the time it was over the United States was the only nation in the world that was neither ashamed nor afraid to acknowledge boldly her friendship with Russia.”
As the European powers vied for control over the declining Ottoman Empire, American political opinion favored Russian interests over the British and the French. This resulted in US efforts to assist the Russians, particularly in the North Pacific, by allowing Russian ships to sail under American neutrality and by supplying the Russians, whose shipping was frequently disrupted by the British.
In June 1854, Beverly Sanders, President of the American Russian Commercial Company, brokered a deal with Russia that gave Americans a monopoly over the marketing of the Russian America Company's products (such as ice, fish, coal, lumber) throughout the Pacific. In return, Sanders agreed to help supply Russian America and Siberian coastal settlements during the war, and arranged for the fictitious sale of Russian ships to his American Russian Commercial Company, thereby allowing them to sail under the American flag. Other private American citizens also concluded supply deals with the Russians during the war.
The United States also offered to broker peace between the British, French, and Russians in the summer of 1854. Although no U.S.-led peace mediation took place, all parties eventually agreed to basic principles of neutral rights at sea.
Thomas Cottman, a wealthy American doctor, traveled to Russia in early 1854 and met with high ranking members of the St. Petersburg court. Although details of these conversations remain vague, upon Cottman's return to the United States in the summer of 1854, the press reported that he had discussed the possible sale of Russian American territories, including Alaska, to the United States.
Spurred by reports from Thomas Cottman regarding the terrible conditions on the warfront, American doctors traveled to the front in Russia to treat casualties of the Crimean War in 1854 and 1855.
As agreed upon in the early 1850s, American shipbuilders at the New York shipyards began the construction of warships for the Russian Navy in 1857. This included the construction of the General-Admiral, the largest ship ever built in the United States. The launch of this vessel in 1859 spurred special celebrations in both the United States and Russia.
In December 1859, Russia was sounded on negotiations for the cession of Alaska for $5,000,000 which the Russian government regarded as inadequate but as meriting deliberation. In early 1860, high-ranking U.S. officials raised the issue of the future status of Russia's American possessions, particularly since the Russia American Company had fallen on hard times since the Crimean War and its charter was set to expire in late 1861. During these discussions, the Americans formally asked the Russian Minister to the United States, Eduard Stoekel, if Russia would consider ceding these possessions to the United States. St. Petersburg's initial resistance and the American Civil War delayed the sale of Russia's remaining American territories.
Although connection between the United States and Russia was slight they continued to remain on good terms and on several occasions before 1861 acted in harmony in the Far East where both secured advantages from English and French victories which opened China to intercourse with the commercial powers.
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