Treaty of Ghent

The Treaty of Ghent was signed between the United States of America and Great Britain in the year 1814. Do you want to know what did the treaty signify, what were the various terms of the treaty or who gained the most by signing this treaty? Then this article is for you. Read on to know more.

On the 24th of December 1814, the United States of America, Great Britain and Ireland signed a treaty in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (modern-day Belgium), which ended the famous War of 1812, a war which the Americans had declared on the English. This treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on 16th February, 1815 under the Presidency of President James Madison and Britain ratified the papers on the 17th of February of the same year and on the 18th, the treaty was proclaimed. I am sure you would like to know what was the Treaty of Ghent, 1814, and how it played an important role in the American history as well as the world history, and also what were the terms of the Treaty of Ghent. Given below are more information about this treaty which is sure to help you in your research.

Treaty of Ghent: Summary and Definition

Before we learn more about the Treaty of Ghent definition and significance, let us first try and understand why was the treaty signed in the first place; what were the factors that led to the signing of the treaty. The main reason (as it has already been mentioned above) was the War of 1812 (read more about in the history of the war 1812). This war was declared by the Americans on the British on 18th June 1812 due to several reasons, one being that the English, despite having no control over United States (after losing to George Washington during the American Revolution), still obtained most of its supplies from them in order to support the English soldiers who were fighting a battle with Napoleon Bonaparte. Not a country who will sit back and take orders from others, America retorted back in the form of a war, the War of 1812. In order to end this war, both the sides signed the Treaty of Ghent in the year 1814. The treaty was signed in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (which is the modern-day Belgium), a neutral state. The delegates who represented United States were:
John Q. Adams
Jonathan Russel
Henry Clay
James A. Bayard
Albert Gallatin
The treaty declared the end of any kind of hostilities between the two groups, and also that the conquered territories should be given back to the original owners and even the prisoners of wars were to be sent back to their respective countries. The various provisions of the Treaty of Ghent has been described below in details.

Treaty of Ghent: Significance and Terms

As per the treaty, both the countries decided to end the slave trade that was going on till then. All the prisoners of war were released and sent back to their respective countries. The region of Astoria was restored to the United States. Besides this, the other lands that were taken up during the war, were restored back to the previous owners. The Americans were given the right to control the fishing lands of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and Britain gave back United States nearly 10 million acres of land and USA in return gave back the areas (Upper Canada) which they had held during the war of 1812, back to the Britishers. Both the countries recognized the pre-war boundary that was present between the United States and Canada. Not only were the lands and prisoners of war, that were captured during the war, returned, even the war ships that were captured, were also returned. The most significant thing that we can see from this treaty is that though the Americans were able to defeat the Britishers, they failed to demand much from them while signing the treaty.

The Treaty of Ghent clearly showed that the wastage of such a large amount of money and property and the death of so many people, were all for nothing. No one gained anything or no one lost much from this treaty. But, still it did end the war of 1812 which was slowly tiring both the nations.