Ottoman Empire and the United States: Treaty and Envoys

On 11 February 1830 three American negotiators presented their credentials (the letters that show whom an envoy speaks for) to the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the two states recognised each other. A treaty followed on 7 May 1830, a legation (an envoy’s office) opened at İstanbul (Constantinople) in 1831, and it became an embassy in 1906. Relations broke off on 20 April 1917 and were restored on 17 February 1927.

Recognition: 11 February 1830

According to the Office of the Historian, a US negotiating team of Captain James Biddle, David Offley and Charles Rhind presented its credentials to the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs on 11 February 1830. The Office calls this “the first formal act of diplomatic engagement and recognition” between the Ottoman Empire and the United States. Recognition means that one state accepts another as a state to deal with. The team then negotiated a treaty of navigation and commerce, the subject of the next chapter.

What the Ministry says

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye writes that relations between the two countries “developed since the end of the 18th century through maritime trade around the Turkish Mediterranean ports”, and that this period “is considered as the beginning of the first contacts”.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye, Relations between Türkiye and the United States of America · checked 31.10.2026

The treaty of 7 May 1830, article by article

The Statutes at Large of the United States print the text of the “Treaty with the Ottoman Porte”, dated 7 May 1830, “Ratified Feb. 2, 1831”, with the President’s proclamation on 4 February 1832. Its preamble says that no treaty or convention had existed “heretofore” between “the Sublime Porte” and the United States. The Sublime Porte is the Ottoman government; the cover photograph of 1918 is titled “la Sublime Porte” and shows the entrance gate of the grand vizier’s palace. Each card below gives the main rule of one of the nine articles, with the treaty’s own words in quotation marks; the two page scans hold the full text.

The treaty was cited again in 1876. On 8 June 1876 the Secretary of State, Hamilton Fish, answered a note about Ottoman import duties of 20 per cent by referring “to the treaty of 1830” and expecting that no higher duties would be required of American merchants “than are required of those of the most favored nation” (Foreign Relations of the United States, 1876, document 326).

1831: the legation and the ladder of ranks

The Office of the Historian dates the American Legation at Constantinople (İstanbul) to 13 September 1831, the day David Porter presented his credentials as chargé d’affaires. A legation is an envoy’s office; its Turkish name is elçilik (legation). A chargé d’affaires, in Turkish maslahatgüzar (chargé d’affaires), heads a mission without the rank of envoy; it is the first rank on the list.

David Porter, 1780–1843

Appointed

15 April 1831

Credentials

13 September 1831, as chargé d’affaires

Recommissioned

2 January 1832, after Senate confirmation; the first commission was given during a recess of the Senate

Promoted

23 May 1840, to minister resident (appointed 3 March 1839)

Died at his post

3 March 1843

Office of the Historian, David Porter · checked 31.10.2026

The list of chiefs of mission shows four ranks, in the order they first appear. The register under the dial draws all 27 entries; the same entries are in its table.

1. Chargé d’affaires, 1831David Porter, credentials 13 September 1831. The head of a legation with no rank of envoy.
2. Minister resident, 1840David Porter again, from 23 May 1840. A head of a legation one step above a chargé d’affaires.
3. Envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 1882Lewis Wallace, in this rank from 4 September 1882. An envoy with full powers to act for his state.
4. Ambassador, 1906John G.A. Leishman, credentials 5 October 1906. The head of an embassy, the highest of the four.

1862: an order on privateers and a decree on arms

On 6 May 1862 Edward Joy Morris, the American minister resident at Constantinople, wrote to the Secretary of State, William H. Seward, and sent a copy of “the vizerial of the Sublime Porte” that closed Ottoman ports and waters to “privateers or other vessels acting against the shipping of the United States”. A vizierial order is an order of the grand vizier, the Sultan’s chief minister. A privateer, in the order’s Turkish korsan (privateer), is a privately owned ship that a government allows to attack other states’ shipping. Morris added that “the naval vessels of the United States are not subjected to any restrictions whatsoever.”

Morris called the proceeding “confirmatory of the liberal and friendly spirit” that, in his words, marked the Ottoman government’s relations with the United States.

1906: the embassy

Until 1906 the American mission at Constantinople was a legation. The Office of the Historian dates the raising of the Legation to an Embassy to 18 June 1906, and records the credentials of John G.A. Leishman as ambassador on 5 October 1906. An appointment names the person; credentials, handed over on arrival, start the mission. That is why the Office gives two dates. He is the first entry on the list with the rank of ambassador; before that he was envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary.

After Leishman the list gives four ambassadors: Oscar Solomon Straus (4 October 1909 to 3 September 1910), William Woodville Rockhill (28 August 1911 to 20 November 1913), Henry Morgenthau (11 December 1913 to 1 February 1916) and Abram Isaac Elkus (2 October 1916 to 20 April 1917).

1917: the break, and ten years without relations

The Office of the Historian records that “Turkey severed diplomatic relations with the United States on April 20, 1917, after the United States declared war against Germany on April 4, 1917.” To sever diplomatic relations is to end the exchange of envoys. The Office’s “Turkey” here is the Ottoman government of 1917. The mission of Abram Isaac Elkus as ambassador ends that day, and the list of chiefs of mission has no further entry until Joseph Clark Grew, ambassador, from 12 October 1927.

1923–1927: the Lausanne treaty and the notes of 1927

Two sets of agreements were signed at Lausanne, a city in Switzerland, in 1923. The notes of 1927 name both: the treaties and conventions “signed by Turkey and the Allies at Lausanne, July 24, 1923”, and the treaty “signed at Lausanne August 6, 1923, by the United States of America and Turkey”.

On 18 January 1927 the Secretary of State telegraphed the High Commissioner, Mark L. Bristol: “The treaty failed of approval by the Senate, the vote being 50 for and 34 against.” A longer instruction of the same day told him to say at Angora (Ankara) that the Senate’s failure was no sign that the United States did not want friendly relations (documents 720 and 721, printed as paraphrases).

The two notes are dated Angora, 17 February 1927: one from Mark L. Bristol to the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs, whom the document spells “Tewfik Rouschdy” (Tevfik Rüştü Aras in the Ministry’s own list), and his answer.

1. RelationsThe two states “are agreed to establish between themselves diplomatic and consular relations” and to appoint ambassadors “as soon as possible”.
2. Treaties to comeThey will regulate trade and consular matters by treaties or conventions. If the Lausanne treaty of 6 August 1923 is ratified on or before 1 June 1928, it meets that need.
3. In the meantimeThe principles of the note and “the essential provisions” of the 6 August 1923 treaty are the basis for treating each side’s nationals, on condition of reciprocity.
4. WhenThe agreement “shall become effective on the day of signature”, 17 February 1927.

The Office of the Historian writes that relations were “reestablished” on 17 February 1927; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye writes that relations between the United States and the Republic of Türkiye were “established” by an exchange of notes on that day. The list of chiefs of mission has Joseph Clark Grew as ambassador from 12 October 1927.

Turks living in the United States today: Turks in the USA.

The words of the subject

Quick answers

Sources and limits

Photographs are from Wikimedia Commons, and the two scans of the Statutes at Large from GovInfo; each caption gives author, date, licence and file page. The Bâbıâli (1918) and the Golden Horn (about 1890–1900) are not pictures of 1830.

This page reports what the pages above state on the date shown. The pages do not state what the separate article of 1830 said, and the list of chiefs of mission is the Office of the Historian’s, as printed.