TREATY OF GHENT

'The Treaty of Ghent', signed on December 24, 1814, in Ghent, (Belgium), was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The war was becoming futile and the treaty returned to the status quo before the war. Negotiators for Britain included minor diplomats William Adams, James Lord Gambier, and Henry Goulburn. Meetings were often delayed a week or more as the British diplomats awaited orders from London. The American delegates, however, included senior political leaders who had full authority to negotiate: John Quincy Adams, James A. Bayard, Sr., Henry Clay, Albert Gallatin, and junior member Jonathan Russell.
The war was regarded as futile by both sides. The USA had been resoundingly unsuccessful in its invasions of Lower and Upper Canada, while Britain had not made any significant gains (albeit the burning of Washington D.C.) with its retaliatory raids into the USA (The U.S. "warhawks" in Congress wanted to conquer Canada and Florida^[1]), however British strength far surpassed that of America's, and it is likely that had public opinion not been so anti-War, Great Britain would have defeated the United States. The prewar issues of trade restraints and impressment were so closely tied to the war against Napoleon (now in exile) that they no longer mattered and were not mentioned. Public opinion in the USA strongly desired peace and there was no reason to continue the war (most of the British public were oblivious to it as it was overshadowed by the far more important happenings in Europe). The treaty restored prewar boundaries and released all prisoners. The treaty made no major changes, but did make a few promises. Britain promised to return captured slaves, but instead a few years later paid the U.S. £250,000 for them. British proposals to create an Indian buffer zone (in Ohio and Michigan) collapsed after the Indian coalition fell apart. Weak guarantees regarding American treatment of the Indians in article IX were ignored.
Fighting immediately stopped when news of the treaty reached the battlefronts. The U.S. Senate unanimously approved on February 16, 1815 and President James Madison exchanged ratification papers with a British diplomat in Washington on February 17; the treaty was proclaimed on February 18. Eleven days later (March 1) Napoleon escaped from Elba starting the European wars up again, and forcing the British to concentrate on the threat he posed.

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References

1. American Military History, Army Historical Series, Ch. 6, ''p.'' 123, states "While the western "war hawks" urged war in the hope of conquering Canada, the people of Georgia, Tennessee, and the Mississippi Territory entertained similar designs against Florida, a Spanish possession".[1]

Sources

★ ''American Military History: Army Historical Series. Chapter 6: The War of 1812.'' Center of Military History, U.S. Army, Washington, DC, 1989. Official US Army history, available online.

★ Bemis, Samuel Flagg. ''John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy'' (1950).

★ A. L. Burt. ''The United States, Great Britain and British North America from the Revolution to the Establishment of Peace after the War of 1812'', 1940 (Online Edition.

★ Engelman, Fred L. ''The Peace of Christmas Eve'' (1962), popular account; online excerpt from ''American Heritage Magazine'' (Dec 1960) v 12#1.

★ Donald R. Hickey. ''The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict'' (1990) pp. 281-98.

★ Perkins, Bradford. ''Castelereagh and Adams: England and the United States, 1812-1823'', 1964.

★ Robert Vincent Remini. ''Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union'' (1991) pp. 94-122.

See also

★ List of treaties

★ Timeline of United States diplomatic history

★ Results of the War of 1812

External links

★ Full text of the Treaty of Ghent online.

★ Text of treaty from the Avalon Project

★ Treaty of Ghent and related resources at the Library of Congress

★ Library of Congress Guide to the War of 1812