Britain's initial instructions were to be forceful, with some in London hoping that the release of their armies from fighting in Europe might effectively change the seesaw battles of toward British victory. But ten years of constant warfare made most diplomats eager for peace and avoiding the impression that London was now on a war of conquest. Even in the midst of diplomacy, the relative deadlock of the battlefields continued.
Fear of a revived French army led London to ask their champion soldier the Duke of Wellington, currently the ambassador in Paris, to consider leading the forces in North America. The Duke was clear that he did not think even he could make good on the situation in the New World, and London turned its attention to a quick peace. Washington informed their delegation that a return to the status quo ante bellum was desired, due to the worsening economic and trade situation created by the war.
They drafted a treaty of 15 initial points, to which the British agreed to nine, and two more were added. The final 11 articles became the Treaty of Ghent before Christmas Day All conquests were to be returned. Hostilities against the First Nations were to be terminated by both sides, and Britain was not to arm the Aboriginals for operations against the US.
Consequently, none of the issues that had caused the war or that had become critical to the conflict were included in the treaty. There was nothing included on neutral rights or impressment. Outstanding concerns about the western boundaries of both countries were resolved later by a commission.
War prisoners were to be returned to their home countries. The British proposal to create a buffer state for the Native Americans in Ohio and Michigan fell apart after the dissolution of the Native coalition. In , with the downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte , the British were able to allocate more military resources to the American war, and Washington , D.
In Washington, British troops burned the White House , the Capitol and other buildings in retaliation for the earlier burning of government buildings in Canada by U. On September 11, , the tide of the war turned when an American naval force under Thomas Macdonough won a decisive victory at the Battle of Plattsburg in New York on Lake Champlain. A large British army under Sir George Prevost was thus forced to abandon its invasion of the U.
The American victory on Lake Champlain led to the conclusion of U. Although the treaty said nothing about two of the key issues that started the war—the rights of neutral U. News of the treaty took almost two months to cross the Atlantic, and British forces were not informed of the end of hostilities in time to end their drive against the mouth of the Mississippi River.
On January 8, , a large British army attacked New Orleans and was decimated by an inferior American force under General Andrew Jackson in the most spectacular U. The American public heard of the Battle of New Orleans and the Treaty of Ghent at approximately the same time, fostering a greater sentiment of self-confidence and shared identity throughout the young republic. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!
Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Causes of the war included British attempts to restrict U. In the Treaty of Paris, the British Crown formally Yet arguing for the importance of a status quo antebellum treaty that concluded a war in which neither belligerent achieved its war aims, no territory was exchanged, and no victor formally declared can be a tough sell. Compared to the final defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, fought a just a few months later and forty odd miles down the road from Ghent, the end of the War of admittedly lacked cinema-worthy drama.
But the Treaty of Ghent mattered enormously and not just to historians interested in the War of The war it ended saw relatively light casualties, measured in the thousands compared to the millions who died in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars that raged across the rest of the globe. Nevertheless, for the indigenous and colonizing peoples that inhabited the borderlands surrounding the United States, the conflict had proved devastating.
Moreover, public support for the war in the British Empire and the United States had been lukewarm with plenty of outspoken opposition who had worked tirelessly to prevent and then quickly end the war. Not surprisingly, peace resulted in widespread celebration across the Atlantic.
Far more interesting than what the relatively brief Treaty of Ghent includes is what was left out. When the British delegation arrived at Ghent in August , they had every possible advantage. Later that month British troops would humiliatingly burn Washington. Even Ghent itself was a home field advantage, as it was occupied by British troops and within a couple of days of communication with ministers in London.
These lands would be used to create an independent American Indian state—promises of which the British had used to recruit wary Indian allies. Britain also demanded a new border for Canada, which included the southern shores of the Great Lakes and a chunk of British-occupied Maine—changes that would have given Canada considerable natural defenses.
The significance of the terms is difficult to underestimate. Western expansion would have ground to a halt in the face of a powerful British-led alliance with the Spanish Empire and new American Indian state.
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