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How to . . . research treaties

In the United States, the word “treaty” is reserved for an agreement that is made “by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate” (Article II, section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution). When the Senate considers a treaty, it may approve it as written, approve it with conditions, reject and return it, or prevent its entry into force by withholding approval. The Senate historically has given its unconditional advice and consent to the vast majority of treaties submitted to it.

International agreements not submitted to the Senate are known as “executive agreements” in the United States, but they are considered treaties and therefore binding under international law. For a lengthy discussion and history of the Senate’s role in treaties and international agreements, see Treaties and Other International Agreements: The Role of the United States Senate.

Web Access

You can research the status of treaties submitted to the U.S. Senate on THOMAS. This database provides information from 1967 to the present.

Links to the full text of treaties submitted to the U.S. Senate from 1995 to the present are available on the Government Printing Office (GPO) Web site.

The U.S. Department of State publishes Treaties in Force, an annual listing of bilateral and multilateral treaties and other international agreements to which the United States is a party. This publication is available electronically and may also be available in local public and college libraries. In addition, the State Department provides records on treaty actions through the Office of Treaty Affairs.

Libraries

The Department of State publishes United States Treaties and Other International Agreements. This annual publication, published since 1950, is a compilation of treaties and agreements the United States has been party to in years past. Before 1950, the texts of treaties and other international agreements were printed in United States Statutes at Large. Both of these publications may be available in large public library systems, college libraries, or a federal depository library.

You can find your public library by looking it up in the phone book; libraries are often listed in the local government section of the blue pages or they may be listed in the yellow pages under “libraries.” Or you can look at a list of libraries that have Web sites (courtesy of the University of California-Berkeley Library) or a list of state libraries (via the State Library of Wisconsin).

U.S. Statutes at Large is generally available in a federal depository library. The federal depository library system is made up of over 1,300 libraries that collect government documents and make them available to the public for borrowing or reading. A list of depository libraries is available on GPO’s Web site. Most depository libraries are within a university or state library, so sometimes borrowing privileges are restricted.


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