12. What was the main accomplishment of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842, arguably the most important accomplishment of the Tyler administration?
From Quiz And John Tyler, Too!
Answer:
It fixed the boundary between Maine and New Brunswick, Canada.
This boundary had long been in dispute. Both the U.S. and Canada had laid claim to roughly 12,000 square miles along the Aroostook River. Things finally boiled over in 1839 when Canadian officials arrested Rufus McIntire, an American, who had been trying to expel Canadian citizens from the region on the orders of Maine officials. The resulting Aroostock "War," if it can be called that, was really nothing more than a staring contest between Canadian and Maine militias. It could have, however, escalated into something much worse. Working upon a truce that had been arranged in 1839 by President Van Buren's envoy, Winfield Scott, the treaty awarded 7,000 square miles of the disputed area to the U.S. and set the present-day border between Maine and Canada, as well as making minor adjustments which settled the U.S.-Canadian border from the East Coast to the Rockies.