AN OFFICIAL SITE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA REPUBLIC NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
Treaty of Peace and Friendship Between the United States and the Moorish Empire
The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States of America and the Empire of Morocco is part of the official treaty record of the United States.
The original Treaty of Peace and Friendship was concluded in 1786 and was formally ratified by the United States in Congress assembled on July 18, 1787. Congress expressly approved the Treaty, ordered it published, and directed that it be faithfully observed and fulfilled by the citizens of the United States. The original federal record remains preserved in the Library of Congress.
The original treaty provided for a fifty-year term. Before that period expired, the United States and the Empire of Morocco entered into the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of September 16, 1836, which renewed and replaced the earlier treaty. The renewed Treaty received the advice and consent of the United States Senate on January 17, 1837, was ratified by the United States on January 28, 1837, and was proclaimed on January 30, 1837.
THE 1836 TREATY WAS DESIGNED TO CONTINUE WITHOUT PERIODIC RE-SIGNING
Article 25 of the 1836 Treaty is particularly important.
The Treaty provided that it would remain in force for fifty years. But unlike an agreement that simply expires at the conclusion of a fixed term, Article 25 further provided that after the fifty-year period the Treaty would continue to be binding upon both parties until one party gave the other twelve months' notice of an intention to abandon it.
Accordingly, the Treaty did not require the parties to return every fifty years and execute a new treaty merely to keep their relationship in force. Its continuation was built directly into Article 25. Termination required an affirmative act: notice by one of the parties followed by the twelve-month period established by the Treaty.
The United States itself later relied upon this provision internationally. In proceedings before the International Court of Justice, the United States stated that because the 1836 Convention had not been denounced, the United States continued to claim rights arising under it.