Rush-Bagot

Like every great capital city, Washington DC is a place of a number of monuments, statues and commemorations. Tourists flock to some of the most famous, often walking by interesting small and obscure monuments. One of my favorites is this small monument that denotes where the Rush-Bagot Agreement of 1817, at the former site of the British Mission on L Street, was negotiated and signed. The treaty provided for the disarmament of the Great Lakes and paved the way for better relations between Great Britain (the colonial holder of Canada) and the United States in the aftermath of the War of 1812. Today, the treaty is still in effect between the United States and Canada and is seen as one of the great achievements of arms control.