The Treaty Of Ghent – February 17. 1815 – ends war between Britain and U.S.

This “Treaty of Peace and Amity Between the United States and Great Britain” aka “Treaty Of Ghent”, was signed by negotiators on December 24, 1814, and became effective on February 17, 1815. It ended the War of 1812, fought between Great Britain and the United States.

The United States did not “win” the war, but neither did the British. After two and a half years of conflict, both sides were weary. The United States and the United Kingdom were financially stressed, and there had not yet been a decisive military action to determine a “winner.” The British negotiators could have pressed for punitive terms against a small country that had recently broken away from the Crown. The American team, led by John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay, pressed for and won a settlement of status quo ante bellum, or a return to the way things were before the war.

For the United States, a draw was as good as a win. The British recognized the legitimacy of United States as an independent entity, and the world saw the young nation in a more favorable light after it had faced the power of Great Britain and stood its ground.

The relative deadlock of the battlefields continued. Fear of a revived French army led London to ask their champion soldier the Duke of Wellington, currently the ambassador in Paris, to consider leading the forces in North America. The Duke was clear that he did not think even he could make good on the situation in the New World, and London turned its attention to a quick peace. Washington informed their delegation that a return to the status quo ante bellum was desired, due to the worsening economic and trade situation created by the war. They drafted a treaty of 15 initial points, to which the British agreed to nine, and two more were added. The final 11 articles became the Treaty of Ghent before Christmas Day 1814. All conquests were to be returned. Hostilities against the First Nations were to be terminated by both sides, and Britain was not to arm Indigenous peoples for against the US.

Consequently, none of the issues that had caused the war or that had become critical to the conflict were included in the treaty. There was nothing included on neutral rights or impressment. All captured territory in Upper and Lower Canada and the US was returned to its original owner. Outstanding concerns about the western boundaries of both countries were resolved later by a commission. War prisoners were to be returned to their home countries. The British proposal to create a buffer state for the Native Americans in Ohio and Michigan fell apart after the dissolution of the Native coalition.

But news was slow to travel from Europe to North America, and as news of the Treaty made its way to both British and American forces. The American victory at New Orleans, under the command of future US president Andrew Jackson, took place two weeks after the signing; a month later, the British achieved one last land victory at the Battle of Fort Bowyer, under Major General John Lambert. London and Washington were to settle their differences peacefully.

What emerged from this peace was the survival of Upper and Lower Canada as part of British North America, and with it a growing sense of identity different from that of their American neighbours and, indeed, the Imperial motherland. Washington had hoped that the once-American populations of Upper and Lower Canada would side with the invading forces, a hope that was never realized. SOURCE US NATL ARCHIVES, THE CANADIAN ENCY