1814, agreement ending the War
of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain. It was signed at Ghent,
Belgium, on Dec. 24, 1814, and ratified by the U.S. Senate in Feb., 1815. The
American commissioners were John Q. Adams,
James A. Bayard, Henry
Clay, Jonathan
Russell, and Albert Gallatin.
Negotiations were begun in August, with the recent defeat of Napoleon I giving
the British an advantage reinforced by the burning of the Capitol at Washington
shortly afterward. Only the victory of Thomas Macdonough at Plattsburg and the
threat of further hostilities in Europe induced the British to give up their
demands to control the Great Lakes and erect a Native American state under
British control in the country NW of the Ohio River. Thus the agreement to
restore territory and places taken by either party was a diplomatic victory for
the United States. It was provided that commissions would be set up to determine
the boundary from the St. Croix River west to Lake of the Woods. Both parties
were to use their best endeavors to abolish the slave trade. No mention was made
of the fisheries question, the impressment of American seamen, or the rights of
neutral commerce.
Bibliography:
See F. L. Engelman, The Peace of Christmas Eve (1962).