This article explores the diplomatic negotiations that U.S. Navy Commander Richard W. Meade conducted in Samoa in 1872. The resulting agreement that came to be known as “the Meade Treaty” was the first the United States negotiated with Samoa, but scholars usually have not explored the details of it and the process that produced it because the U.S. Senate rejected the treaty. Meade’s motivations and actions in Samoa provide a case study in how the interactions of naval officers, business leaders, islanders, and diplomats converged to produce early U.S. diplomacy in the Pacific. The article sketches the situation in Samoa in 1872 when Commander Meade and his ship, the uss Narragansett, arrived. The role of the United States in the Pacific was changing in the last third of the 19th Century, and Commander Meade’s motivations, influences, and actions illustrate the new wave of U.S. Pacific expansion during the years after the American Civil War.

本文探讨了美国海军司令理查德·米德（Richard W. Meade）于1872年在萨摩亚进行的外交谈判。由此产生的协议被称为“《米德条约》”，这是美国与萨摩亚进行的首次谈判，但学者们通常没有进行探讨。它的细节以及产生过程，因为美国参议院拒绝了该条约。米德在萨摩亚的动机和行动为海军军官，商业领袖，岛民和外交官之间的互动如何融合以产生美国在太平洋的早期外交提供了案例研究。文章概述了1872年萨摩亚的局势，当时米德指挥官和他的飞船纳拉甘西特（US Narragansett）， 到达的。在19世纪后半叶，美国在太平洋中的作用正在发生变化，米德司令的动机，影响和行动说明了美国内战后几年美国太平洋扩张的新趋势。