Editing Treaty of Ghent (section)

==Negotiations==
At last on 8 August 1814, peace discussions began in neutral Ghent. As the peace talks opened, American diplomats decided not to present President Madison's demands for the end of impressment and his suggestion for Britain to turn Canada over to the United States.{{sfn|Adams|1921|p=11}} They were quiet, and so the British instead opened with their demands, the most important of which was the creation of an [[Indian barrier state|Indigenous state]] in the [[Northwest Territory|former Canadian southwest territory]] (the area from [[Ohio]] to [[Wisconsin]]).{{sfn|Remini|1993|p=117}} It was understood that the British would sponsor the Indigenous state. For decades, the British strategy had been to create a buffer state to block American expansion. The Americans refused to consider a buffer state or to include Indigenous nations directly in the treaty in any fashion. [[Henry Goulburn]], a British negotiator who took part in the treaty negotiations, remarked after meeting with American negotiators that "I had, till I came here, had no idea of the fixed determination which prevails in the breast of every American to extirpate the Indians and appropriate their territory."{{sfn|Taylor|2014|p=258}} Adams argued that there was no precedent for including allied Indigenous nations in bilateral peace treaties and to do so would in effect mean the United States was abandoning its sovereign claims over Indigenous territories, especially under a foreign [[protectorate]] like Britain. In doing so, Adams articulated a strong imperial claim of sovereignty over all peoples living within the boundaries of the United States. The British negotiators presented the barrier state as a ''[[sine qua non]]'' for peace, and the impasse brought negotiations to the brink of breakdown. In the end, the British government backed down and accepted Article IX, in which both governments promised to make peace with their indigenous foes and to restore Indigenous nations to "all possessions, rights and privileges which they may have enjoyed, or been entitled to in 1811."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hatter |first=Lawrence B. A. |title=Citizens of Convenience: The Imperial Origins of American Nationhood on the U.S.-Canadian Border |date=2017 |publisher=University of Virginia Press |location=Charlottesville |page=25}}</ref>

[[File:Verdragvangent 29-01-2009 11-02-06.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Plaque at a building in Veldstraat, [[Ghent]], where the American diplomats stayed and one of the locations where the treaty was negotiated. It was located at the retail "Esprit" store on Veldstraat 47 and placed by the [[United States Daughters of 1812]]. The room in which the treaty was signed is now part of the [[Hotel d'Hane-Steenhuyse]].]]

The British, assuming their planned invasion of New York State would go well, also demanded that Americans not keep any naval forces on the Great Lakes and that the British have certain transit rights to the Mississippi River in exchange for continuation of American fishing rights off of Newfoundland. The United States rejected the demands, and there was an impasse.{{sfn|Tucker|2012|p=1097}}{{sfn|Gates|1940|p=365}} American public opinion was so outraged when Madison published the demands that even the Federalists were willing to fight on.{{sfn|Daughan|2011|p=365}}

During the negotiations, the British had four invasions underway. One force carried out a [[burning of Washington]], but the main mission failed in its goal of [[Battle of Baltimore|capturing Baltimore]]. The British fleet sailed away when the army commander was killed. A small force invaded the [[District of Maine]] from New Brunswick, capturing parts of northeastern Maine and several smuggling towns on the seacoast and re-established the [[New Ireland (Maine)|New Ireland]] colony with the ultimate purpose of incorporating Maine into Canada. Much more important were two major invasions. In northern New York State, 10,000 British troops marched south to cut off New England until a decisive defeat at the [[Battle of Plattsburgh]] forced them back to Canada.{{sfn|Latimer|2007|pp=331, 359, 365}} Nothing was known at the time of the fate of the other major invasion force that had been sent to capture [[Battle of New Orleans|New Orleans]] and control the Mississippi River.

The British prime minister, [[Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool|Lord Liverpool]], wanted the [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]] to go to command in Canada with the assignment of winning the war. Wellington replied that he would go to America but believed that he was needed in Europe.{{sfn|Perkins|1964|p=108–109}} He also stated:

{{Blockquote|I think you have no right, from the state of war, to demand any concession of territory from America... You have not been able to carry it into the enemy's territory, notwithstanding your military success, and now undoubted military superiority, and have not even cleared your own territory on the point of attack. You cannot on any principle of equality in negotiation claim a cession of territory except in exchange for other advantages which you have in your power... Then if this reasoning be true, why stipulate for the ''[[uti possidetis]]''? You can get no territory: indeed, the state of your military operations, however creditable, does not entitle you to demand any.{{sfn|Mills|1921|p=22}} }}

The government had no choice but to agree with Wellington. Lord Liverpool informed the Foreign Secretary, [[Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh|Lord Castlereagh]], who was at Vienna: "I think we have determined, if all other points can be satisfactorily settled, not to continue the war for the purpose of obtaining or securing any acquisition of territory." Liverpool cited several reasons, especially the unsatisfactory negotiations underway at Vienna, the alarming reports from France that it might resume the war, and the weak financial condition of the government. He did not need to tell Castlereagh that the war was very unpopular and that Britons wanted peace and a return to normal trade. The war with America had ruined many reputations and promised no gain.{{sfn|Bickham|2012|p=258–259}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Allen |url=https://www.fulltextarchive.com/page/Jefferson-and-his-Colleagues-A-Chronicle-of/ |title=Jefferson and His Colleagues, A Chronicle of the Virginia Dynasty |date=1921 |page=55 |chapter=Part 3 |chapter-url=https://www.fulltextarchive.com/page/Jefferson-and-his-Colleagues-A-Chronicle-of3 |via=fulltextarchive.com}}</ref>

After months of negotiations, against the background of changing military victories, defeats, and losses, the parties finally realized that their nations wanted peace and that there was no real reason to continue the war. Each side was tired of the war since export trade was all but paralyzed, and after the fall of Napoleon in 1814, France was no longer an enemy of Britain and so the Royal Navy no longer needed to stop American shipments to France or more seamen. The British were preoccupied in rebuilding Europe after the apparent final defeat of Napoleon. Liverpool told British negotiators to offer a status quo. That was what the British government had desired since the start of the war and was offered by British diplomats immediately to the US negotiators, who dropped demands for an end to British maritime practices and Canadian territory, ignored their war aims, and agreed to the terms. Both sides would exchange prisoners, and Britain would return all [[Slavery|slaves]] that they had freed from their [[Slavery in the United States|American enslavers]] or offer financial compensation instead.{{Sfn|Adams|1921|pp=115–119}}