I tested this, and if you push Grok 4.1 to explain its claim in more detail, it’ll admit that a second treaty, signed by the same delegation on the same day, includes the opium ban:
Grok’s response
The treaty you are probably thinking of (same year, different treaty)
There was a separate treaty signed in 1880 between the United States and China that did address opium, but it is not the Angell Treaty.
Name: Treaty for the Suppression of the Opium Trade (sometimes called the 1880 Opium Treaty or Chefoo Agreement supplementary protocol on opium)
Signed: 17 November 1880 (exactly the same day as the Angell Treaty)
Negotiated by: The same American mission (James B. Angell, John F. Swift, and William Henry Trescot) that negotiated the immigration treaty
Content: It prohibited U.S. citizens from engaging in the opium trade between China and the United States or within China, and allowed Chinese authorities to seize opium belonging to American citizens in China.
Key article (Article II of the 1880 opium treaty):
“The Governments of the United States and China mutually agree that no citizen or vessel of the United States shall be permitted to import opium into any of the open ports of China, or to transport it from one open port to another open port of China, or to buy and sell opium in China…”
Full title: “Agreement between the United States and China relative to the opium trade, concluded November 17, 1880”
This is published separately in the Statutes at Large (22 Stat. 829) and in Bevans Vol. 6, pp. 685–686.
Prompt (written by Claude 4.5 Sonnet)
I need you to verify a specific historical claim for me. I’ve been told that the Angell Treaty of 1880 between the US and China included provisions that banned or regulated opium trade between the two countries.
I’m skeptical because when I look at the 1880 Angell Treaty, it appears to only deal with Chinese immigration—it’s the precursor to the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Here’s what I need from you:
Does the 1880 Angell Treaty contain opium-related provisions? Yes or no?
If yes, quote the specific text from the treaty that deals with opium.
If no, is there a DIFFERENT treaty from 1880 (signed the same year) that dealt with opium?
Explain your level of confidence in your answer and what sources you’re drawing on.
Please be very precise—I’m specifically asking about treaties signed in 1880, not 1888, 1903, or other years.
Note that Grok confabulates the name of the treaty, some of the wording, the title, and the places where it is published.
Interesting test, thanks. Also hm I checked that Wikipedia page but missed that line apparently. It seems the auction site I found first actually took that exact line from Wikipedia as well.
There’s a degree to which my confusion on the matter was my own fault (there are sources about this if you dig enough/use better queries), but that’s the point—the AIs knew better than me. Though, the mistakes on my part do lower the competence level the AIs had to beat...
I tested this, and if you push Grok 4.1 to explain its claim in more detail, it’ll admit that a second treaty, signed by the same delegation on the same day, includes the opium ban:
Grok’s response
The treaty you are probably thinking of (same year, different treaty)
There was a separate treaty signed in 1880 between the United States and China that did address opium, but it is not the Angell Treaty.
Name: Treaty for the Suppression of the Opium Trade (sometimes called the 1880 Opium Treaty or Chefoo Agreement supplementary protocol on opium)
Signed: 17 November 1880 (exactly the same day as the Angell Treaty)
Negotiated by: The same American mission (James B. Angell, John F. Swift, and William Henry Trescot) that negotiated the immigration treaty
Content: It prohibited U.S. citizens from engaging in the opium trade between China and the United States or within China, and allowed Chinese authorities to seize opium belonging to American citizens in China.
Key article (Article II of the 1880 opium treaty):
Full title: “Agreement between the United States and China relative to the opium trade, concluded November 17, 1880”
This is published separately in the Statutes at Large (22 Stat. 829) and in Bevans Vol. 6, pp. 685–686.
Prompt (written by Claude 4.5 Sonnet)
I need you to verify a specific historical claim for me. I’ve been told that the Angell Treaty of 1880 between the US and China included provisions that banned or regulated opium trade between the two countries.
I’m skeptical because when I look at the 1880 Angell Treaty, it appears to only deal with Chinese immigration—it’s the precursor to the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Here’s what I need from you:
Does the 1880 Angell Treaty contain opium-related provisions? Yes or no?
If yes, quote the specific text from the treaty that deals with opium.
If no, is there a DIFFERENT treaty from 1880 (signed the same year) that dealt with opium?
Explain your level of confidence in your answer and what sources you’re drawing on.
Please be very precise—I’m specifically asking about treaties signed in 1880, not 1888, 1903, or other years.
Note that Grok confabulates the name of the treaty, some of the wording, the title, and the places where it is published.
This is also mentioned in passing in the Wikipedia article on the 1880 Angell Treaty:
Interesting test, thanks. Also hm I checked that Wikipedia page but missed that line apparently. It seems the auction site I found first actually took that exact line from Wikipedia as well.
There’s a degree to which my confusion on the matter was my own fault (there are sources about this if you dig enough/use better queries), but that’s the point—the AIs knew better than me. Though, the mistakes on my part do lower the competence level the AIs had to beat...