Treaty of Ghent (1814)
For the early decades of the nation’s history, relations between the United States and Great Britain remained strained. Their relationship deteriorated sharply with the outbreak of war in Europe in 1803. Britain imposed a blockade on neutral countries such as the United States. In addition, the British took American sailors from their ships and "impressed" them into the British Navy. In Congress, southern and western Democratic-Republican "War Hawks," such as the new Speaker of the House, Henry Clay of Kentucky, and Representative John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, led the sentiment for war, calling for a defense of American interests and honor. On June 1, 1812, President James Madison asked for a declaration of war. Shortly afterward, Congress, despite the opposition of every Federalist, approved the declaration.
The War of 1812 produced a string of American military disasters. The most shocking of these was the British Army’s burning of the Capitol, the President’s house, and other public buildings in Washington on August 24 and 25, 1814. (Americans had previously burned public buildings in Canada.)
In 1814, both sides were working to come to a resolution and agreed to discuss peace terms. A meeting in Belgium of American delegates and British commissioners ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814. Great Britain agreed to relinquish claims to the Northwest Territory, and both countries pledged to work toward ending the slave trade. America, in turn, gained influence as a foreign power. News of the treaty spread slowly, and word of peace did not reach the American and British armies for some time. American forces, led by Andrew Jackson, won the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, ending the hostilities after the official peace.
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Treaty of Peace and Amity between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America..
ARTICLE THE FIRST.
There shall be a firm and universal Peace between His Britannic Majesty and the United States, and between their respective Countries, Territories, Cities, Towns, and People of every degree without exception of places or persons. All hostilities both by sea and land shall cease as soon as this Treaty shall have been ratified by both parties as hereinafter mentioned. All territory, places, and possessions whatsoever taken by either party from the other during the war, or which may be taken after the signing of this Treaty, excepting only the Islands hereinafter mentioned, shall be restored without delay and without causing any destruction or carrying away any of the Artillery or other public property originally captured in the said forts or places, and which shall remain therein upon the Exchange of the Ratifications of this Treaty, or any Slaves or other private property;
ARTICLE THE THIRD.
All Prisoners of war taken on either side as well by land as by sea shall be restored as soon as practicable after the Ratifications of this Treaty as hereinafter mentioned on their paying the debts which they may have contracted during their captivity. The two Contracting Parties respectively engage to discharge in specie the advances which may have been made by the other for the sustenance and maintenance of such prisoners.
ARTICLE THE SIXTH.
Whereas by the former Treaty of Peace that portion of the boundary of the United States from the point where the fortyfifth degree of North Latitude strikes the River Iroquois or Cataraquy to the Lake Superior was declared to be "along the middle of said River into Lake Ontario, through the middle of said Lake until it strikes the communication by water between that Lake and Lake Erie, thence along the middle of said communication into Lake Erie, through the middle of said Lake until it arrives at the water communication into the Lake Huron; thence through the middle of said Lake to the water communication between that Lake and Lake Superior:" and whereas doubts have arisen what was the middle of the said River, Lakes, and water communications, and whether certain Islands lying in the same were within the Dominions of His Britannic Majesty or of the United States: In order therefore finally to decide these doubts, they shall be referred to two Commissioners to be appointed, sworn, and authorized to act exactly in the manner directed with respect to those mentioned in the next preceding Article unless otherwise specified in this present Article. The said Commissioners shall meet in the first instance at Albany in the State of New York, and shall have power to adjourn to such other place or places as they shall think fit. The said Commissioners shall by a Report or Declaration under their hands and seals, designate the boundary through the said River, Lakes, and water communications, and decide to which of the two Contracting parties the several Islands lying within the said Rivers, Lakes, and water communications, do respectively belong in conformity with the true intent of the said Treaty of one thousand seven hundred and eighty three. And both parties agree to consider such designation and decision as final and conclusive. And in the event of the said two Commissioners differing or both or either of them refusing, declining, or wilfully omitting to act, such reports, declarations, or statements shall be made by them or either of them, and such reference to a friendly Sovereign or State shall be made in all respects as in the latter part of the fourth Article is contained, and in as full a manner as if the same was herein repeated.
ARTICLE THE NINTH.
The United States of America engage to put an end immediately after the Ratification of the present Treaty to hostilities with all the Tribes or Nations of Indians with whom they may be at war at the time of such Ratification, and forthwith to restore to such Tribes or Nations respectively all the possessions, rights, and privileges which they may have enjoyed or been entitled to in one thousand eight hundred and eleven previous to such hostilities. Provided always that such Tribes or Nations shall agree to desist from all hostilities against the United States of America, their Citizens, and Subjects upon the Ratification of the present Treaty being notified to such Tribes or Nations, and shall so desist accordingly. And His Britannic Majesty engages on his part to put an end immediately after the Ratification of the present Treaty to hostilities with all the Tribes or Nations of Indians with whom He may be at war at the time of such Ratification, and forthwith to restore to such Tribes or Nations respectively all the possessions, rights, and privileges, which they may have enjoyed or been entitled to in one thousand eight hundred and eleven previous to such hostilities. Provided always that such Tribes or Nations shall agree to desist from all hostilities against His Britannic Majesty and His Subjects upon the Ratification of the present Treaty being notified to such Tribes or Nations, and shall so desist accordingly.
ARTICLE THE TENTH.
Whereas the Traffic in Slaves is irreconcilable with the principles of humanity and Justice, and whereas both His Majesty and the United States are desirous of continuing their efforts to promote its entire abolition, it is hereby agreed that both the contracting parties shall use their best endeavours to accomplish so desirable an object.
War of 1812On 18 June 1812, at the height of the Napoleonic conflict (see NAPOLEONIC WARS), the US declared war on Great Britain and struck at the only British possession on the continent: Canada. Most of the battles that followed took place along the international border. The war ended in stalemate. The Treaty of GHENT, signed 24 Dec 1814, solved nothing, since the reasons for the war - British high-handedness on the high seas, including searching American ships during the Napoleonic blockade and impressment - had been rendered academic by France's defeat. Yet Canada owes its present shape to negotiations that grew out of the peace, while the war itself - or the myths created by the war - gave Canadians their first sense of community.
The British and Canadians were badly outnumbered by the Americans but better prepared for war, thanks to the prescience of Maj-Gen Isaac BROCK, administrator of UPPER CANADA. If the enemy could move up the traditional Champlain-Richelieu invasion route, seize Montréal and cut the lifeline between Upper and Lower Canada, the war would be as good as over. Brock thought this impossible because his Indian allies, under the Shawnee war chief TECUMSEH, had the American NW frontier in a ferment. The Americans would thus first try to secure their left flank. The bloodless British capture of a key US post at Michilimackinac I in Lk Huron, on July 17, and of Detroit, Aug 16, frustrated that strategy and gave the British control of Michigan territory and the Upper Mississippi.
At this point Thomas Jefferson's remark that the capture of Canada was "a mere matter of marching" returned to haunt Washington. Having lost one army at Detroit, the Americans lost another at Queenston Heights (see QUEENSTON HEIGHTS, BATTLE OF), Oct 13, after their militia stood on its constitutional guarantee and refused to cross into Canada. But Brock was killed - an irreparable loss. A new American army under William Henry Harrison struggled up from Kentucky to try to retake Detroit. One wing was so badly mauled at Frenchtown, 22 Jan 1813, by a force of British, Canadians and Indians under Lt-Col Henry PROCTOR, that further attempts at invasion that winter were abandoned. The only Americans in Canada were prisoners of war.
British strategy was to act defensively and allow the invaders to make mistakes. Gov Sir George PREVOST husbanded his thin forces carefully, a sensible precaution given the US's overwhelming numerical superiority. As the campaign of 1813 opened, the invaders determined to seize Kingston to cut the link between the Canadas. But a weakness of resolve diverted the attack to the lesser prize of York [Toronto]. The Americans briefly occupied the town, burning the public buildings and seizing valuable naval supplies destined for Lk Erie; but the British, by burning their half-completed warship, frustrated the enemy's plan to appropriate it and change the balance of naval power on Lk Ontario. Neither side totally controlled that lake for the balance of the war.
The Americans abandoned York and on 27 May 1813 their fleet seized FT GEORGE at the mouth of the Niagara R. The British army escaped, however, repulsing the advance of the enemy up the Niagara peninsula by winning the battles at Stoney Creek and Beaver Dams (see BEAVER DAMS, BATTLE OF; STONEY CREEK, BATTLE OF), and driving the Americans back into the enclave of the fort. For all of that season the Niagara peninsula was a no-man's-land of marauding parties. Finally, worn down by sickness, desertion, and the departure of short-term soldiers, the American command evacuated Ft George on Dec 10 and quit Canada. On leaving, the militia burned the town of Newark [ NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE ], an act that drove the British to brutal retaliation at Buffalo. These incendiary reprisals continued until Washington itself was burned the following Aug.
The US fared better on the western flank. The British tried and failed to take Harrison's stronghold at Ft Meigs on the Maumee R. A struggle for control of Lk Erie followed. The 2 rival fleets, both built of green lumber on the spot, met Sept 10 at PUT-IN-BAY. The British were hampered by the American seizure of naval supplies at York the previous spring and by the loss, early in the battle, of several senior officers.
American commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, a bold seaman, used unorthodox tactics to turn defeat into victory and become the first man in history to capture an entire British fleet. Erie became an American lake, Detroit was abandoned, and the British retreated up the Thames R. At Moraviantown (see MORAVIANTOWN, BATTLE OF) Harrison defeated Proctor. Tecumseh died in the battle, an event signalling the end of the northwestern Indian alliance. But Harrison, his lines extended, could not follow up his victory; his Kentuckians were eager to get back to their farms at harvest time.
Meanwhile, the US was mounting a 2-pronged attack designed to take Montréal, but this was so halfhearted that it was foredoomed to failure. On the Châteauguay R on Oct 26, a handful of French Canadian VOLTIGEURS under Lt-Col Charles de SALABERRY drove an American army of 4000 back across the border (see CHATEAUGUAY, BATTLE OF). At CRYSLER'S FARM (near Morrisburg, Ont) on Nov 11, Lt-Col Joseph Wanton Morrison's regulars won a resounding victory over James Wilkinson's superior force, which also quit Canada. Thus the 1813 campaign ended with the Americans in possession of Ft AMHERSTBURG on the Detroit R, and the British holding the 2 American forts, Niagara and Michilimackinac.
The following year the Americans again crossed the Niagara, seized Ft Erie on July 3, and defeated the British at Chippawa on July 5, but failed to retake Ft George. The bitter battle of LUNDY'S LANE followed on July 25 within earshot of the Niagara cataract. Fought in the pitch dark of a sultry night by exhausted troops who could not tell friend from foe, it ended in stalemate. The Americans withdrew to Ft Erie. Here they badly mauled the forces of the new British commander, Lt-Gen Gordon Drummond, when he attempted a night attack (Aug 14-15). With both sides exhausted a 3-month standoff followed. Finally, on Nov 5, the Americans again withdrew. Meanwhile, NS Lt-Gov Sir John SHERBROOKE led a force from Halifax into Maine, capturing Castine on Sept 3. By mid-month British forces held much of Maine, which was returned to the US only with the signing of the peace treaty.
In the west, the Canadian voyageurs took Prairie du Chien on the Upper Mississippi and beat off an American attack on Michilimackinac I, capturing 2 warships on Lk Huron. In the east, the story was different. With Napoleon defeated, the British army now outnumbered the thin American force at Plattsburgh on Lk Champlain. Prevost marched S with 11 000 of Wellington's veterans but his hesitancy to attack - he was no Brock - together with the Sept 11 defeat of the hastily built British fleet in Plattsburgh Bay by the American commodore, Thomas Macdonough, caused Prevost to abort the ground attack and withdraw (see PLATTSBURGH, BATTLE OF).
That single action tipped the scales, forcing the British peace negotiators at Ghent to lower their demands and accept the status quo. Had Prevost succeeded, much of upper NY state might be Canadian today. On the other hand, if the Americans had won the battle of Stoney Creek, or taken Montréal, much of Ontario and Québec - perhaps all - might now be under the Stars and Stripes.
Washington had expected the largely American population of Upper Canada to throw off the British yoke as soon as its army crossed the border. This did not happen. Lured northwards by free land and low taxes, the settlers wanted to be left alone. Nor was it wise after such a bitter war to advocate American political ideals, such as democracy and republicanism. Thus the British and LOYALIST elite were able to set Canadians on a different course from that of their former enemy. And the growing belief that they, the civilian soldiers, and not the Indians and British regulars, had won the war - more mythic than real - helped to germinate the seeds of nationalism in the Canadas. See also NIAGARA HISTORIC FRONTIER; FORT HENRY.
Causes and Events of the War of 1812: A Timeline
Compiled by Robert Henderson