Managing discord in the Americas Great Britain and the United States 1886--189

From the mid-1880s through the mid-1890s, a series of disputes erupted involving Great Britain and the United States in locales across the Western Hemisphere. The diplomatic settlement achieved earlier in the nineteenth century broke down, leading to a succession of confrontational situations that created discord between these two powers, with implications for regional security. Managing Anglo-American discord became a process, which eventually promoted a degree of accommodation, informing the foreign policies of each, and in turn facilitating a trajectory towards rapprochement.;Three analytical concepts are used to assess the events discussed in this dissertation. First of all, Anglo-American discord was based in local disturbances that were crucial in their impact on the workings of the broader relationship. Secondly, the Western Hemisphere was an interconnected region of prime importance to the development of Anglo-American relations. Thirdly, Anglo-American discord in its various guises generated processes that ultimately moved Anglo-American relations in the direction of accommodation.;The thesis examines the controversial British presence in the strategic isthmian area of Central America, especially in relation to the Mosquito Reserve, as well as the Brazilian naval revolt and British annexation of Trinidad Island in the South Atlantic. The thesis also considers the disputes over the North Atlantic fishery and the right to harvest seals in the Bering Sea. Some economic factors, including reciprocal trade relations are assessed, as are the relative expansion of British and American naval forces in the region. The study concludes with an examination of particular aspects of the pivotal Venezuelan boundary dispute, and it addresses how that crisis contributed to Anglo-American discord and reconciliation.;In an endeavour to manage the discord created by these situations and factors, British policy-makers let it be known that the leadership role their country had enjoyed for many years in Western Hemispheric affairs, arguably by default, was one their government was prepared to relinquish. At the same time, American leaders made clear their country's determination to act as the leading power in the region. This study analyses the process by which the management of these sources of discord contributed to the transfer of hemispheric leadership from Britain to the United States, and steered Anglo-American relations in the direction of rapprochement.