The Hartford Convention 203Macomb. Prevost called up his supporting fleet of
four ships and a dozen gunboats. An American fleet
of roughly similar strength under Captain Thomas
Macdonough, a youthful officer who had served
with Decatur against the Barbary pirates, came for-
ward to oppose the British. On September 11, in a
brutal battle at point-blank range, Macdonough
destroyed the British ships and drove off the gun-
boats. With the Americans now threatening his
flank, Prevost lost heart and retreated to Canada.
The Treaty of Ghent
The war might as well have ended with the battles of
Plattsburgh, Washington, and Baltimore, for later
military developments had no effect on the out-
come. Earlier in 1814 both sides had agreed to dis-
cuss peace terms. Commissioners were appointed
and negotiations begun during the summer at
Ghent, in Belgium. The American delegation con-
sisted of former Secretary of the Treasury Albert
Gallatin; Speaker Henry Clay of the House of
Representatives; James A. Bayard, a former senator;
and two veteran diplomats, Jonathan Russell, minis-
ter to Sweden, and John Quincy Adams, minister to
Russia. Adams was chairman. The British commis-
sioners were lesser men by far, partly because they
could refer important questions to the Foreign
Office in nearby London for decision and partly
because Britain’s topflight diplomats were engaged
in settling the future of Europe at
the Congress of Vienna.
The talks at Ghent were drawn
out and frustrating. The British
were in no hurry to sign a treaty,
believing that their three-pronged
offensive in 1814 would swing the
balance in their favor. They
demanded at first that the United
States abandon practically all the
Northwest Territory to the Indians
and cede other points along the
northern border to Canada. On
the issues of impressment and neu-
tral rights, they would make no
concessions at all. The Americans
would yield no territory, for public
opinion at home would have been
outraged if they had. Old John
Adams, for example, told President
Madison at this time, “I would
continue this war forever rather
than surrender an acre... .”
Fortunately, the British came
to realize that by pressing this
point they would only spur the Americans to fight on.
News of the defeat at Plattsburgh modified their
ambitions, and when the Duke of Wellington advised
that from a military point of view they had no case for
territorial concessions so long as the United States
controlled the Great Lakes, they agreed to settle for
status quo ante bellum, to leave things as they were
before the war. The other issues, everyone suddenly
realized, had simply evaporated. The mighty war trig-
gered by the French Revolution seemed finally over.
The seas were free to all ships, and the Royal Navy no
longer had need to snatch sailors from the vessels of
the United States or of any other power. On
Christmas Eve 1814 the treaty, which merely ended
the state of hostilities, was signed. Although, like
other members of his family, he was not noted for
tact, John Quincy Adams rose to the spirit of the
occasion. “I hope,” he said, “it will be the last treaty
of peace between Great Britain and the United
States.” And so it was.The Treaty of Ghentatmyhistorylab.comThe Hartford Convention
Before news of the treaty could cross the Atlantic,
two events took place that had important effects but
that would not have occurred had the news reached
America more rapidly. The first was the Hartford
Convention, a meeting of New England FederalistsReadtheDocumentThe Bombardment of Fort McHenryby John Bower, with the Stars and Stripes flying over the
fort (center). The British fleet fired 1,800 bombs and red-glaring incendiary rockets. The fort
did not return fire because the British ships were beyond the range of its cannon. Although
“The Star Spangled Banner” celebrates the “home of the brave,” the defenders of Fort
McHenry sensibly fled the ramparts and took cover below during the bombardment; they
sustained only thirty casualties.