Diplomacy of the War of 1812

Neutrality during a European War

The War of 1812 grew out of the United States’ difficulty in remaining neutral while Britain and Napoleonic France fought for control of Europe and Atlantic commerce. Both belligerents restricted neutral trade. Britain also stopped American vessels and seized sailors for naval service, a practice known as impressment. American embargoes and commercial restrictions failed to settle the dispute. President James Madison asked Congress for war in June 1812 amid arguments about national sovereignty, western expansion, and the future of British territory in North America. [1]

American invasions of Canada failed to produce the expected gains, while British forces attacked the American coast and burned public buildings in Washington in August 1814. Neither government could secure all its objectives. Slow transatlantic communication delayed consultations between negotiators and their governments as the fighting continued. [2] [3]

Talking While Armies Fought

Five American commissioners negotiated at Ghent: John Quincy Adams, James Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gallatin. Britain sent Lord Gambier, Henry Goulburn, and William Adams. The delegates exchanged credentials and proposals while their governments continued fighting. Negotiations began in August 1814, and news of American victories at Baltimore and Lake Champlain subsequently strengthened the American position. [4] [2]

The delegations eventually accepted restoration of the territories captured from one another. British negotiators abandoned more extensive demands as their government became more anxious to conclude the war. The Treaty of Ghent, signed on 24 December 1814, also established machinery to resolve boundary questions. It contained no settlement of the impressment issue that had helped bring the United States into the conflict. [4] [3]

Getting Peace Across the Atlantic

The treaty required ratification and instructed the governments to send orders ending hostilities; its provisions allowed different notification periods for vessels in distant waters. On 8 January 1815, Andrew Jackson’s army defeated British forces at New Orleans before news of the agreement arrived. The treaty reached New York in February. The Senate approved it on 16 February, and ratifications were exchanged in Washington the following day. [4] [2] [3]

Article IX called for the restoration of Indigenous nations’ rights and possessions held in 1811, but American expansion continued and Britain did little to enforce that undertaking. British and American officials continued negotiations over their frontier, agreeing to the Rush–Bagot limits on naval forces on the Great Lakes in 1817. [4] [2] [5]

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