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Meeting of the Arbitrators on the Alabama Claims. The Alabama Claims were a series of claims for damages by the United States government brought in 1869 against the British government as a result of ships, such as the Alabama, it built that aided the Confederate cause in seizing American merchant ships during the American Civil War. After international arbitration endorsed the United States position in 1872, Britain settled the matter by paying the United States $15.5 million for damages done by the Alabama and other warships built in Britain and sold to the Confederacy. They ended the dispute and restored friendly relations through an 1872 treaty with the US. Using international arbitration set a precedent, and the case also aroused interest in codifying public international law.