Treaty of Ghent Signed: War of 1812 Ends in Peace

British and American diplomats signed the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, in the Carthusian monastery at Ghent, Belgium, ending a war that both sides were eager to forget and that neither had decisively won. The treaty restored all conquered territory to prewar boundaries, said nothing about the maritime grievances that had caused the conflict, and left every major issue between the two nations unresolved on paper. Yet the peace it established between the United States and Britain proved permanent. The War of 1812 had been a confused and often embarrassing affair for both combatants. The United States declared war primarily over British impressment of American sailors and trade restrictions during the Napoleonic Wars. American invasions of Canada failed repeatedly, the British burned Washington and the White House in August 1814, and the Royal Navy blockade strangled American commerce. Neither side had the resources or the will for a prolonged conflict: Britain was exhausted from twenty years of war against Napoleon, and the American treasury was nearly empty. Negotiations at Ghent dragged on for four months, with British demands initially including the creation of a Native American buffer state in the Northwest Territory and territorial concessions along the Great Lakes. As the talks progressed, the Duke of Wellington advised the British government that its military position in North America did not justify such demands, and the treaty settled on a simple return to the status quo ante bellum. News traveled slowly, and the treaty most famous consequence occurred before word of peace reached America. On January 8, 1815, Andrew Jackson forces destroyed a British army at New Orleans, a victory that became a founding myth of American military prowess despite being strategically meaningless. The Treaty of Ghent led to the Rush-Bagot Agreement of 1817, demilitarizing the Great Lakes and producing the longest undefended border in the world.