[409]
To avoid jeopardizing negotiations, Grant refrained from recognizing Cuban rebels who were fighting for independence from Spain, which would have been inconsistent with American objections to the British granting belligerent status to Confederates.[384][am] A commission in Washington produced a treaty whereby an international tribunal would settle the damage amounts; the British admitted regret, but not fault.[410][an] The Senate, including Grant critics Sumner and Carl Schurz, approved the Treaty of Washington, which settled disputes over fishing rights and maritime boundaries, by a 50–12 vote, signed on May 8, 1871.[412] The Alabama claims settlement would be Grant's most successful foreign policy achievement that secured peace with Great Britain and the United States.[413] The settlement ($15,500,000) of the Alabama Claims resolved troubled Anglo-American issues, ended the bullied demand to take over Canada, and turned Britain into America's strongest ally.[414]

Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)
Main article: Annexation of Santo Domingo
Wharf of Santo Domingo CityDominican Republic
In 1869, Grant initiated his plan, later to become an obsession, to annex the Dominican Republic, then called Santo Domingo.