Treaty of Ghent

Signing of the 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 and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The war had become a stalemate 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.

War of 1812

The war had become a stalemate. Neither side had been successful in invasions designed to gain bargaining chips. (The U.S. never wanted to annex Canada, only to seize lands for bargaining over other issues.) 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. The Indian menace had been destroyed, ending a major cause of the war. Public opinion strongly desired peace and there was no reason to continue the war. 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, but this happened after the Americans won a decisive victory at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815. 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.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Bailey, Thomas Andrew. A diplomatic history of the American people. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall 1980. ISBN 9780132147262
• Bemis, Samuel Flagg. John Quincy Adams and the foundations of American foreign policy. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press 1981. ISBN 9780313226366
• Heidler, David Stephen, and Jeanne T. Heidler. The War of 1812. Greenwood guides to historic events, 1500-1900. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press 2002. ISBN 9780313316876
• Hickey, Donald R. The War of 1812: a forgotten conflict. Urbana: University of Illinois Press 1989. ISBN 9780252016134
• Remini, Robert Vincent. Henry Clay: statesman for the Union. New York: W.W. Norton 1991. ISBN 9780393030044
• Rodgers, Ned, Ralph Phillips, Leon Ishmael, Greg Heimer, and John Rodgers. Documents of destiny. Just the facts learning series. Thousand Oaks, CA: Goldhil Educational 2003. ISBN 9781585657605
• Van Buren, Martin. Boundary between the United States and Great Britain message from the President of the United States, transmitting the information required by a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 28th May last, in relation to the boundary between the United States and Great Britain. [S.l: s.n.] 1982. ISBN 9780665326318
• White, Patrick Cecil Telfer. The critical years: American foreign policy, 1793-1823. New York: Wiley 1970. ISBN 9780471940708

External links

• Treaty of Ghent and related resources at the Library of Congress Retrieved April 21, 2007.
• War of 1812-1814 Retrieved April 21, 2007.
• Treaty of Ghent Retrieved April 21, 2007.
• Treaty of Ghent 1814 Retrieved April 21, 2007.
• Treaty of Ghent (1814) Retrieved April 21, 2007.

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