[327]

Foreign affairs

Engraved portrait of Jackson as president by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. This portrait has appeared on the $20 bill since 1929.[328]

The Jackson administration successfully negotiated trade agreements with Great Britain, Spain, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and Siam.[329] In his First Annual Message to Congress, Jackson addressed the issues of spoliation claims, demands of compensation for the capture of American ships and sailors by foreign nations during the Napoleonic Wars.[330] Using a combination of bluster and tact, he successfully settled these claims with Denmark, Portugal, and Spain,[329] but he had difficulty collecting spoliation claims from France, which was unwilling to pay an indemnity agreed to in an earlier treaty. Jackson asked Congress in 1834 to authorize reprisals against French property if the country failed to make payment, as well as to arm for defense.[330] In response, France put its Caribbean fleet on a wartime footing.[331] Both sides wanted to avoid a conflict, but the French wanted an apology for Jackson's belligerence. 