President James Buchanan Announces Proclamation of the Commercial Treaty with Thailand (Then Siam), Part of the First U.S. Treaty With Any Asian Nation

The Treaty of Amity and Commerce between His Majesty the Magnificent King of Siam and the United States of America, signed in 1833, was the first treaty between the United States and any Asian nation. In 1856, U.S. diplomat Townsend Harris and Siamese King Rama IV negotiated a revised “Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation,” which placed limits on import duties and export taxes. That same year, the J.W. Parker Company became the first American firm to open in Bangkok, followed by the American Rice Mill in 1858.

On December 10, 1858, Buchanan wrote “To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit to Congress a copy of the treaty between the United States and the Kingdom of Siam, concluded on the 29th of May, 1856, and proclaimed on the 16th of August last, and call the attention of that body to the necessity of an act for carrying into effect the provisions of Article II of the said treaty, conferring certain judicial powers upon the consul of the United States who may be appointed to reside at Bangkok. I would also suggest that the extension to the Kingdom of Siam of the provisions of the act approved August 11, 1848, entitled “An act to carry into effect certain provisions in the treaties between the United States and China and the Ottoman Porte, giving certain judicial powers to ministers and consuls of the United States in those countries,” might obviate the necessity of any other legislation upon the subject.”

At a time when trade with Bangkok was at its relative peak, Buchanan looked to install a consul and give him plenipotentiary powers, evidently feeling that revising existing legislation might be all that is necessary.

Document signed, Washington, August 16, 1858, authorizing the Secretary of State to affix the Great Seal of the United States “to my proclamation of the Treaty between the United States and Siam, of May 29 1856.”