Signed on 24 December 1814 and also known as the Peace of Christmas Eve, the Treaty of Ghent brought the War of 1812 to an end. This war was a by-product of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). The United States had declared war on 18 June 1812 to force the British to give up certain maritime practices that grew out of the European war, particularly restrictions on American trade with the Continent, imposed by Orders-in-Council, and impressment, which was the forcible removal of seamen from American merchant ships. Although the British suspended the Orders-in-Council on 23 June 1812, they refused to give up impressment, and American attempts to force them to do so by conquering Canada failed. Hence, on 8 August 1814 representatives of the two powers met in Ghent, in modern-day Belgium, to discuss terms for peace.
The American delegation, which was headed by John Quincy Adams and included Henry Clay and Albert Gallatin, was exceptionally strong, while the British relied on men of more modest accomplishments, most notably Henry Goulburn, an undersecretary in the colonial office. On more than one occasion, the American envoys outmaneuvered their British counterparts.
By the time the negotiations got under way, the United States had dropped its demand for an end to impressment, but the war in Europe now appeared to be over, which enabled the British to concentrate on the American war and thus put them in the driver's seat at Ghent. As a price for peace, the British insisted on significant American concessions: the creation of an Indian barrier state in the Old Northwest; the surrender of territory in northern Maine and Minnesota; the American demilitarization of the Great Lakes; and an end to American fishing privileges in Canadian waters.
Stunned by the scope of these demands, the American delegation refused to make any concessions and contemplated departing for home. The British, however, retreated to a proposal for making peace on the basis of uti possidetis, which meant that each side would keep any conquered territory. If this proposal were acceded to, each power would retain several forts on the other side of the frontier and the British would acquire eastern Maine. When the American envoys rejected this proposal, the British reluctantly agreed to return all conquered territory and establish peace on the basis of the status quo ante bellum (the state that existed before the war).
The treaty did not actually end hostilities. Fearing that the United States might demand changes before approving the agreement, the British insisted that the fighting should end only after both nations had ratified it. The crown ratified almost immediately, on 27 December 1814, but it took six weeks for the treaty to reach the United States. In the meantime, Britain suffered a major defeat—the worst of the war—at the Battle of New Orleans. It was not until 16 February 1815 that President James Madison, with the unanimous consent of the Senate, ratified it on behalf of the United States. Both sides immediately ordered an end to hostilities, although fighting continued for several months in remote parts of North America and in distant seas.