| The temperance movement, which was sprang up in the early nineteenth century, went to climax after the World War I. The United States Congress approved the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution which was related to alcohol-prohibition, the amendment became effective from January 16th, 1920. From then on, the United States entered the Era of Prohibition. The National Prohibition Act had influenced the American society more than anticipated. As there was drink tradition among the United States, an administrative order couldn't prohibit the national desire to drink liquor completely; moonshine and bootleg whisky were spreading in the United States. Meanwhile, to ease the economic crisis and to maintain the trade position after the World War I, the British smuggled a large amount of liquor through its Crown colony, the Bahamas. The Bahamian Customs even issued two sets of clearance papers to the vessels which would carry the liquor to the United States. Outside the Three-Mile Limit of the United States, the Coast Guard seized these vessels, against which the Department of Justice took legal proceedings. The United Kingdom fell involved in a diplomatic dispute with the United States progressively.Facing the protest from the United States, the United Kingdom thought to reply insincerely at first, but the Department of Treasury of the United States forfeited the sea stores from the foreign vessels which had entered the territorial waters of the United States, and also forbade any foreign passenger vessel take liquor. The British economic interest was touched and the British had to resolve it. The United States proposed to extend the territorial line from the Three-Mile Limit to the Twelve-Mile Limit, for the purpose of preventing smuggling. However, the United Kingdom adhered to the basic principle which had maintained the supremacy of the marine empire, and began the negotiation with the United States which lasted for three years. After compromising between each other, the Anglo-American Liquor Treaty was signed in 1924, the liquor smuggling to the United States was formally controlled, and the sealed-liquor privilege of the United Kingdom was fully guaranteed.However, the treaty couldn't operate well because of its own deficiencies, the Anglo-American disputes on the liquor issue were still alive. After the negotiation between the two countries, the London Conference cleared the obvious defects of the liquor treaty; the Anglo-American dispute on the liquor issue was satisfactorily settled.The thesis is divided into three chapters; in addition, there is an introduction and a conclusion.The introduction is generally about the historical researches of prohibition and prohibition diplomacy at home and aboard, and illustrates my research thread and the theoretical and practical value of my thesis.By penetrating from the National Prohibition Act, Chapter One probes into the process and the causes of the British involvement into the liquor smuggling. After the American prohibition, liquor smuggling increased and remained incessant. Owing to the unique geographical position, the Bahamas became the headquarters of liquor smuggling. To maintain the trade status before the World War I, the United Kingdom chose to cover up and even connive. The Americans seized the British bootleggers outside the territorial waters for many times, as a result, the United Kingdom was involved in the American prohibition completely.Chapter Two sets force on the process, which the British was forced to accept the American treaty proposal and signed the liquor treaty at last, by discussing three parts of contents. First of all, the unilateral actions of the Department of Treasury and the Department of Justice forced the Department of State to respond passively. To improve the Anglo-American relation and to implement the prohibition issue, the Department of State proposed to conclude a treaty, but the British rejected. Secondly, the United Kingdom discovered that, the prohibition made the Anglo-American shipping industry competition and the sea store issue apparent, the economic aspect was injected into prohibition diplomacy. At last, with the adjustment of respective strategies, the Americans changed the original proposal to a reciprocal treaty, while the British interdepartmental committee successfully suggested that the British should conclude the treaty with the Americans.Chapter Three analyses the Anglo-American dispute on the liquor issue after the conclusion of the treaty. The dispute between two countries was unavoidable because of its own deficiencies of the treaty, and the treaty became a dead letter. Meanwhile, the temperance movement in the United States fell into a decline, and there were personnel adjustments in the respective governments, the British interdepartmental committee discussed with the Americans, then the London Conference settled three controversies (self-executing, one hour line, hypothetical measurements) which had troubled them severely. After the London Conference, the Anglo-American liquor dispute calmed down.The conclusion is the additional remark of the thesis and the inspiration of the Anglo-American prohibition diplomacy. On the one hand, it summarizes the origins which the respective policies initiated; on the other hand, it analyses the era characters reflected from the prohibition diplomacy. |
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