In the late 1830s, the territory comprising the river's drainage area was the scene of the Aroostook War, a boundary dispute between the United States and the United Kingdom.
While Lord Palmerston and many Conservatives in Parliament denounced the treaty, the British government was pleased, and Conservatives such as Benjamin Disraeli supported it.
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On 24 January 1839, the Maine Legislature authorized the newly elected Governor John Fairfield to send Maine's land agent, Rufus McIntire, the Penobscot County sheriff, and a posse of volunteer militia to the upper Aroostook to pursue and arrest the New Brunswickers.
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The treaty, named for US Secretary of State Daniel Webster and United Kingdom Privy Counsellor Lord Ashburton, ended the Aroostook War and also set the US–Canada border further west.