Treaty of Ghent
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The Treaty of Ghent, signed on December 24, 1814, in Ghent, Flanders (Belgium), United Kingdom of the Netherlands, ended the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Signatories for the UK included James Lord Gambier, Henry Goulburn, and William Adams. The Peace Commission representing the United States included John Quincy Adams, James A. Bayard, Sr., Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gallatin.
In signing the treaty, the Americans ended up abandoning both of their primary goals in starting the war: to expand their territory by seizing control of the British colonies to the north in what would later become Canada (although their territory was expanded in some places), and to stop the forcible boarding of sovereign U.S. ships on the high seas by the warships of the Royal Navy searching for deserters and enforcing the British blockade against Napoléon and the resulting impressment of US citizens into the Royal Navy. However, as the Napoleonic Wars ended, the second issue began to fade on its own as the Royal Navy had less need for sailors, and in fact had stopped the process even before the war had begun.
The Treaty called for both countries to look at the abolition of the slave trade. It also called for the US to halt all hostilities with Native Americans (though it was only two years after the close of the war that Americans started attacking Seminoles, in 1816).
Fighting continued for several weeks after signing the treaty, including the Battle of New Orleans, because news of the treaty took time to reach North America. However, by terms of the treaty, the war was not officially over until ratifications were exchanged and the treaty proclaimed. The U.S. Senate unanimously advised ratification on February 16, 1815. President James Madison ratified the treaty on February 17 at which time the ratifications were exchanged. The treaty was proclaimed on February 18.
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