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 of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The war was becoming 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. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1188x719, 189 KB) US signs the Treaty of Ghent with Great Britain in 1814; source: [1] File links The following pages link to this file: Treaty of Ghent ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1188x719, 189 KB) US signs the Treaty of Ghent with Great Britain in 1814; source: [1] File links The following pages link to this file: Treaty of Ghent ... December 24 is the 358th day of the year (359th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1814 (MDCCCXIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... Geography Country Belgium Community Flemish Community Region Flemish Region Province East Flanders Arrondissement Ghent Coordinates , , Area 156. ... Combatants United States Great Britain Canada Bermuda Eastern Woodland Indians Commanders James Madison Henry Dearborn Jacob Brown Winfield Scott Andrew Jackson George Prevost Isaac Brock† Tecumseh† Strength •U.S. Regular Army: 35,800 •Rangers: 3,049 •Militia: 458,463* •US Navy & US Marines: (at start of war): •Frigates:6 •Other... Motto Dieu et mon droit(French) God and my right1 Anthem God Save the King (Queen) Territory of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Capital London Language(s) English2 Government Constitutional monarchy Monarch  - 1801–1820 George III  - 1820–1830 George IV  - 1830–1837 William IV  - 1837–1901... People called William Adams include: William Adams (1564-1620), English sailor and visitor to Japan. ... Admiral John James Gambier (13 October 1756 New Providence, Bahamas- 19 April 1833 Iver,England) Governor of Newfoundland 1802 - 1804 In 1807, he took part in the Battle of Copenhagen (1807). ... Henry Goulburn (1784–1856) was an English statesman and a member of the Peelite faction after 1846. ... John Quincy Adams (July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was a diplomat, politician, and President of the United States (March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1829). ... James Asheton Bayard (July 28, 1767 – August 6, 1815) was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. ... Henry Clay, Sr. ... Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin (January 29, 1761 – August 12, 1849) was a Swiss-American ethnologist, linguist, politician, diplomat, Congressman, and the longest-serving United States Secretary of the Treasury. ... Jonathan Russell (February 27, 1771 - February 17, 1832) was a United States Representative from Massachusetts and diplomat. ...

The war had become a stalemate.^{[citation needed]} The USA had been resoundingly unsuccessful in its invasions of Lower and Upper Canada, while Britain had not made any significant gains (albeit the burning of Washington D.C.) with its retaliatory raids into the USA (The U.S. "warhawks" in Congress wanted to conquer Canada and Florida^[1]). 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. Public opinion in the USA strongly desired peace and there was no reason to continue the war (most of the British public were oblivious to it as it was overshadowed by the far more important happenings in Europe). 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. Combatants Great Britain United States Commanders Robert Ross George Cockburn Unknown Strength 4,250 Unknown The Burning of Washington is the name given to the razing of Washington, D.C., by British forces during the War of 1812. ...

Fighting immediately stopped when news of the treaty reached the battlefronts. 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. Federal courts Supreme Court Chief Justice Associate Justices Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Politics Portal      The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the bicameral United States Congress, the... February 16 is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... April 5-12: Mount Tambora explodes, changing climate. ... James Madison (March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836), an American politician and fourth President of the United States of America (1809–1817), was one of the most influential Founders of the United States. ... February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

1. ^ American Military History, Army Historical Series, Ch. 6, p. 123, states "While the western "war hawks" urged war in the hope of conquering Canada, the people of Georgia, Tennessee, and the Mississippi Territory entertained similar designs against Florida, a Spanish possession".[1]

Sources

• American Military History: Army Historical Series. Chapter 6: The War of 1812. Center of Military History, U.S. Army, Washington, DC, 1989. Official US Army history, available online.
• Bemis, Samuel Flagg. John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy (1950).
• A. L. Burt. 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 (1962), popular account; online excerpt from American Heritage Magazine (Dec 1960) v 12#1.
• Donald R. Hickey. The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict (1990) pp. 281-98.
• Perkins, Bradford. Castelereagh and Adams: England and the United States, 1812-1823, 1964.
• Robert Vincent Remini. Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (1991) pp. 94-122.

See also

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Treaty of Ghent

• List of treaties
• Timeline of United States diplomatic history
• Results of the War of 1812

Image File history File links Wikisource-logo. ... The original Wikisource logo. ... This is a chronological list of international treaties, historic agreements, peaces, edicts, pacts, etc. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... // Results of the War of 1812 between the Great Britain and the United States involved no geographical changes, and no major policy changes. ...

External links

• Full text of the Treaty of Ghent online.
• Text of treaty from the Avalon Project
• Treaty of Ghent and related resources at the Library of Congress