The Treaty of Ghent was the peace agreement that ended the War of 1812 (1812-15). Although it did not change any boundaries and did not address the issues that triggered the war, it was considered a diplomatic triumph by many in the United States and trumpeted as signaling the success of the republic in not only surviving but persevering in a war with the most powerful nation in the world--Great Britain.

The British had agreed to direct negotiations to end the war as early as November 1813, but it took until August 1814 before both sides were ready to talk. In the meantime, the British naval blockade, stalled campaigns in Canada, British occupation of northern Maine, and the burning of Washington, D.C., gave the British an advantage. Eager to end this unpopular and unsuccessful conflict, the United States sent major political figures such as John Quincy Adams, James Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gallatin to Ghent. There they encountered two British unknowns, since the British foreign secretary, Lord Castlereagh was preoccupied with the preparation for the Congress of Vienna. Confident of their military superiority, the British delegation demanded removal of U.S. fishing rights off Newfoundland, free British access to the Mississippi River, U.S. demilitarization of the Great Lakes, and finally the establishment of a Native American state northwest of the Ohio River. The U.S. delegation refused these demands, and by October, news of British defeats at Lake Champlain, and Baltimore had undermined the British position. They were therefore willing to settle for keeping all of the territory that each side occupied--a solution that left the British with Fort Niagara, Mackinaw Island, and parts of Maine and gave the United States a few square miles of captured outposts in the Great Lakes region. The British position, however, continued to deteriorate as U.S. privateers and naval vessels attacked their shipping and increased insurance costs. Moreover, there remained the threat of further hostilities in Europe. A final compromise was worked out in December 1814: Boundaries would revert to prewar lines, and the British would give up their demands to control the Great Lakes and to create a Native American state. The U.S. diplomats compromised by omitting the fisheries question, concerns about the impressment of seamen, and the rights of neutral commerce. The treaty also provided for joint commissions to negotiate outstanding boundary issues, making it a diplomatic victory for the United States. It was signed at Ghent on December, 24, 1814, and ratified by the U.S. Senate in February 1815.

The real losers of the agreement were the Native Americans, many of whom had fought as British allies in the hope of being rewarded with an independent country of their own. The treaty did stipulate that any territory taken from Native Americans by the United States during the conflict would be returned to them, but this provision was not complied with. The loss of British support left the Indians between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River little choice but to sign peace treaties with the United States.

News of the treaty did not reach North America quickly. Unaware that the war had ended, General Andrew Jackson successfully fought the Battle of New Orleans (January 8, 1815) against the British in the war's most famous and unnecessary battle. Since the news of the treaty and the victory arrived simultaneously, many people in the United States enthusiastically embraced them both, feeling their national pride and honor were restored.

Bibliography:

Fred L. Engelman, The Peace of ChristmasEve (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1962).

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