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Treaty of Ghent

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Signing of the Treaty of Ghent. Admiral of the Fleet James Gambier is shaking hands with United States Ambassador to Russia John Quincy Adams; British Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies Henry Goulburn is carrying a red folder.
Plaquette at the building in the Veldstraat, Ghent. This where the American plenipotentiaries stayed and one of the locations where the treaty was negotiated. Located at the retail 'Esprit' store on Veldstraat 47.

The Treaty of Ghent (8 Stat. 218), signed on 24 December 1814, in Ghent (modern-day Belgium), was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The treaty restored relations between the two nations to status quo ante bellum - that is, there was no loss of territory either way.[1] The Treaty was ratified by the UK Parliament on 30 December 1814 and signed into law by the Prince Regent. Because of the era's slow communications it took weeks for news of the peace treaty to reach the United States; the Americans scored a major victory at the Battle of New Orleans after it was signed. However, the treaty was not in effect until it was ratified by Congress in February, 1815.

Negotiations

After the abdication of Napoleon in April 1814 British public opinion demanded major gains in the war against the U.S. The senior American representative in London told Secretary of State James Monroe:

There are so many who delight in War that I have less hope than ever of our being able to make peace. You will perceive by the newspapers that a very great force is to be sent from Bordeaux to the United States; and the order of the day is division of the States and conquest. The more moderate think that when our Seaboard is laid waste and we are made to agree to a line which shall exclude us from the lakes; to give up a part of our claim on Louisiana and the privilege of fishing on the banks, etc peace may be made with us.[2]

However the Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, aware of growing opposition to wartime taxation and the demands of Liverpool and Bristol merchants to reopen trade with America, realized Britain had little to gain and much to lose from prolonged warfare.[3][4]

After rejecting Russian proposals to broker peace negotiations, Britain reversed course in 1814. With the defeat of Napoleon the main British goals of stopping American trade with France and impressing sailors from American ships were dead letters. Negotiations were held in Ghent, Kingdom of the Netherlands, starting in August, 1814. The Americans sent top leaders, including Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams and Albert Gallatin, while the British sent minor officials who kept in close touch with their (much closer) superiors in London.[5][6]

As the peace talks opened, the British demanded the creation of an Indian barrier state in the American Northwest Territory (the area from Ohio to Wisconsin). It was understood the British would sponsor this Indian state. They also demanded that Americans not have any naval forces on the Great Lakes and that the British get certain transit rights to the Mississippi River in exchange for continuation of American fishing rights off Newfoundland. The U.S. rejected the demands and there was an impasse.[7][8] American public opinion was outraged when Madison published the demands; even the Federalists were now willing to fight on.[citation needed]

During the negotiations the British had three invasions underway. One force burned Washington but failed to capture Baltimore, and sailed away when its commander was killed. In northern New York State, 10,000 British veterans marched south until a decisive defeat at the Battle of Plattsburgh forced them back to Canada.[nb 1] Nothing was known of the fate of the third large invasion force, aimed at capturing New Orleans and southwest. The Prime Minister wanted the Duke of Wellington to command in Canada and finally win the war; Wellington said that he would go to America but he believed he was needed in Europe.[9][10][11] He also stated:

I think you have no right, from the state of war, to demand any concession of territory from America ... You have not been able to carry it into the enemy's territory, notwithstanding your military success and now undoubted military superiority, and have not even cleared your own territory on the point of attack. You cannot on any principle of equality in negotiation claim a cession of territory except in exchange for other advantages which you have in your power ... Then if this reasoning be true, why stipulate for the uti possidetis? You can get no territory: indeed, the state of your military operations, however creditable, does not entitle you to demand any.[12][13]

The British dropped all their demands and the negotiators agreed to a treaty that called for no change in territory. Prisoners would be exchanged, and captured slaves returned to the U.S. or be paid for by Britain (who paid for them).[citation needed]

Agreement

On December 24, 1814, the members of the British and American negotiating teams signed and affixed their individual seals to the document. It didn't end the war itself—that required formal ratification by their governments, which came in February 1815.[14] The treaty released all prisoners and restored all captured lands and ships. Returned to the United States were approximately 10,000,000 acres (40,000 km2) of territory, near Lakes Superior and Michigan, and in Maine.[15] American-held areas of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) were returned to British control. The treaty thus made no significant changes to the pre-war boundaries, although the U.S. did gain territory from Spain. Britain promised to return the freed black slaves that they had taken. In actuality, a few years later Britain instead paid the United States $1,204,960 for them.[16] Both nations also promised to work towards an ending of the international slave trade.[17]

Aftermath

News of the treaty finally reached the United States after the major American victory in the Battle of New Orleans and the local British victory in the Second Battle of Fort Bowyer, but before the British assault on Mobile, Alabama.[18] Skirmishes occurred between U.S. troops and British-allied Indians along the Mississippi River frontier for months after the treaty, including the Battle of the Sink Hole in May 1815.[citation needed]

Carr argues that Britain negotiated the Treaty of Ghent with the goal of ending the war, even though it knew a major British expedition had been ordered to seize New Orleans. Carr says that Britain had no intention of repudiating the treaty and continuing the war had victory been theirs at the Battle of New Orleans[19]

The U.S. Senate unanimously approved the treaty on 16 February 1815, and President James Madison exchanged ratification papers with a British diplomat in Washington on 17 February; the treaty was proclaimed on 18 February. Eight days later, on 26 February, Napoleon escaped from Elba, starting the war in Europe again, and forcing the British to concentrate on the threat he posed.

Memorials

The Peace Bridge between New York and Ontario

In 1922, the Fountain of Time was dedicated in Washington Park, Chicago, commemorating 100 years of peace between the United States and Britain.[20] The Peace Bridge between Buffalo, New York, and Fort Erie, Ontario, opened in 1927 to commemorate a century of peace between the United States and Canada.[21]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The British were unsure whether the attack on Baltimore was a failure, but Plattsburgh was a humiliation that called for court martial.(Latimer 2007, pp. 331, 359, 365)

References

  1. ^ The U.S. gained some territory from Spain, but that was not mentioned in the Treaty.
  2. ^ Reuben Beasley to Monroe, May 9, 1814, cited in Wood (1940) p. 503
  3. ^ Latimer 2007, pp. 389–91.
  4. ^ Gash 1984, pp. 111–119.
  5. ^ Robert V. Remini, Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (1993) pp 103-22
  6. ^ Samuel Flagg Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the foundations of American foreign policy (1949) pp 196-220
  7. ^ Spencer C. Tucker (2011). The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607–1890: A Political, Social, and Military History: A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO. p. 1097.
  8. ^ Charles M. Gates, "The West in American Diplomacy, 1812-1815," Mississippi Valley Historical Review (1940) 26#4 pp. 499-510 in JSTOR
  9. ^ Perkins 1964, pp. 108–109.
  10. ^ Hickey 2006, pp. 150–151.
  11. ^ Hibbert 1997, p. 164.
  12. ^ Dudley Mills, "The Duke of Wellington and the Peace Negotiations at Ghent in 1814," Canadian Historical Review (1921) 2#1 pp 19-32, quote at p. 22
  13. ^ Toll 2006, p. 441.
  14. ^ Engelman, 1960
  15. ^ W.G. Dean; et al. (1998). Concise Historical Atlas of Canada. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help) plate 38
  16. ^ Arnett G. Lindsay, "Diplomatic Relations Between the United States and Great Britain Bearing on the Return of Negro Slaves, 1783-1828," Journal of Negro History (1920) 5#4 pp 391-419 in JSTOR
  17. ^ For text see Avalon Project – British-American Diplomacy – Treaty of Ghent
  18. ^ "Chapter 6: THE WAR OF 1812". 25 August 2005. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
  19. ^ James A. Carr, "The Battle of New Orleans and the Treaty of Ghent," Diplomatic History (1979) 3#3 pp 273-282.
  20. ^ MobileReference (2007). Travel Chicago: City Guide and Maps. p. 287.
  21. ^ Peter R. Eisenstadt; Laura-Eve Moss (2005). The Encyclopedia Of New York State. Syracuse University Press. p. 240.

Further reading

  • Bemis, Samuel Flagg. John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy (1949), pp 129-60
  • Burt, A. L. 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," American Heritage Magazine (Dec 1960) v 12#1 popular account; online.
  • Hickey, Donald R. The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict (1990) pp. 281–98.
  • Matloff, Maurice. American Military History: Army Historical Series. Chapter 6: The War of 1812. (Center of Military History, 1989). Official US Army history, online.
  • Perkins, Bradford. Castelereagh and Adams: England and the United States, 1812-1823, 1964; the standard scholarly history
  • Remini, Robert Vincent. Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (1991) pp. 94–122.
  • Ward, A.W. and G.P. Gooch, eds. The Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy, 1783-1919 (3 vol, 1921-23), Volume I: 1783-1815 online pp 535-42

Primary sources

  • "Letters relating to the Negotiations at Ghent, 1812-1814," American Historical Review (1914) 20#1 pp. 108-129 in JSTOR
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