On December 24th, the Treaty of Ghent was signed between the United States and the United Kingdom ending the War of 1812 and restoring relations between the two nations to status quo ante bellum. That is the borders of the two countries were restored to those before the war started in June 1812. The Treaty went into effect when it was ratified by the U.S. Senate unanimously on February 17, 1815. The treaty released all prisoners and restored all captured land and ships. America released lands it held during the war in Upper Canada back to Great Britain and Great Britain returned the land it occupied near Lakes Superior and Michigan. It was almost as if the war had never been fought. The treaty ended the war, but it did nothing to officially secure maritime rights for American merchants. Given that the British maintained Canada and their maritime policies, many historians say that the British won the war. If we stop there, they may be right. But America ended the war in strength, not in weakness. America gained more control of the Great Lakes, won their final engagements against the British, and the American Indians had been defeated. Victories like the Battle of New Orleans gave America an sense of being fully independent from Great Britain. While some historians say that Great Britain won the war, most agree that Americans felt a sense of victory after the war. But was that sense of victory justified.
Perhaps it was while, the treaty of Ghent did not change British maritime policy, America was able to enjoy peace on the seas for a full century until World War I. During that time American rights on the seas were not seriously violated. This was in part due to a trade agreement between America and Great Brittan worked out by the Madison administration in the months after the war had ended. In his seventh annual address to Congress at the end of 1815, Madison described the agreement as "a measure which, at the same time that it might have that conciliatory tendency, would have the further advantage of increasing the independence of our navigation and the resources for our maritime defense." Madison was holding out an olive branch of peace, but a the same time signaling to the Great Brittan and to the world that America would vigorously defend her territory and economic interests.
The Convention itself was attended by plenipotentiaries from both Great Britain and the United States who were given full power to treat and conclude a treaty of commerce between the "Territories of the Untied States and of His Britannick Majesty". Madison appointed John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and Albert Gallatin. The British appointed Frederick John Robinson, Henry Goulburn Esquire, and William Adams Esquire. The treaty itself consisted of five articles. The first article provided "reciprocal liberty of Commerce", each country was free to enter and reside in any part of said territories, so long as they respected each Nation's laws respectively. The second article removed all discriminatory duties between the countries excepting that of British West Indies. The third article opened up trade with India to America. The fourth article allowed for Consuls to be appointed in territories of the the other party and the fifth article bound both countries to the convention for a period of four years.
The convention was signed on July 3rd 1815. While the Treaty of Ghent is often referred to as nothing more than a status quo ante bellum peace and one that ignored the Orders in Council, the Convention of 1815 is evidence that America had earned it's place in the world. After 1815, the defeat of Napoleon left Great Britain as the post powerful naval country in the world without any real rivals. But America had stood up to her in war, and now could stand toe to toe with her in negotiating a treaty of commerce. Canada maintained their land, Great Britain remained the sole power on the oceans, and in the end, "Mr. Madison's war" achieved it's objective of maritime rights. America's sense of victory was justified, and perhaps one can argue that America did in a sense win the War of 1812.
"It is another source of satisfaction that the treaty of peace with Great Britain has been succeeded by a convention on the subject of commerce concluded by the plenipotentiaries of the two countries. In this result a disposition is manifested on the part of that nation corresponding with the disposition of the United States, which it may be hoped will be improved into liberal arrangements on other subjects on which the parties have mutual interests, or which might endanger their future harmony. Congress will decide on the expediency of promoting such a sequel by giving effect to the measure of confining the American navigation to American sea men - a measure which, at the same time that it might have that conciliatory tendency, would have the further advantage of increasing the independence of our navigation and the resources for our maritime defense."
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29457
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Ghent
http://news.wypr.org/post/who-won-war-1812#stream/0
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/madison-presents-trade-agreement-to-congress
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/conv1816.asp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Royal_Navy
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