Talk:Treaty of Ghent

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[edit] Ghent

There are a couple of cities called Ghent. Is this the Belgian one ? Lvr 08:39, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

For an international treaty, it is undoubtedly the one in Belgium rather than any of the U.S. places. older ≠ wiser 11:09, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Treaty

There are certainly a large number of examples of encyclopedic articles that include original text, and even complete texts, and I'm sure readers would find the actual text of the treaty very useful. I understand though if this is your article. --Atticus 02:10, Sep 15, 2004 (UTC)

No, it is not my article. It is Wikipedia convention that articles do not contain the entire original text of source documents. That is precisely what Wikisource it for. If you want to add the text there and put a link to it here, that would be just fine. older ≠ wiser 02:41, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I took the text of the Treaty and added it to WikiSource as Treaty of Ghent. Lvr 10:00, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

................................ The negotiators of this treaty included Jonathan Russell and not John Holmes as listed.

In the revision of 22:45, 10 January 2007, user Rjensen added the statement "The U.S. never wanted to annex Canada, only to seize parts for bargaining over other issues." and deleted text from previous revisions that conveyed the opposite view. Rjensen's assertion regarding U.S. intentions towards Canada certainly appear to be at odds with statements made by U.S. "war hawks" preceding the war. In order for Rjensen's change to stand, Rjensen must provide specific references to support his/her assertion about U.S. intentions towards Canada.

R. A. Hicks 07:44, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Myth that US wanted to annex Canada

There is an old Canadian myth that the US wanted to gobble them up. Not so, say the scholars on both sides: The idea that one cause of the war was American expansionism or desire for Canadian land was much discussed among historians before 1940, but is rarely cited by experts any more. see Hacker (1924); Pratt (1925). Goodman (1941) refuted the idea and even Pratt gave it up. Pratt (1955) Some Canadian historians propounded the notion in the early 20th century, but not more recently, and it survives in Canadian mythology. See W. Arthur Bowler, "Propaganda in Upper Canada in the War of 1812," American Review of Canadian Studies (1988) 28:11-32; C.P. Stacey, "The War of 1812 in Canadian History" in Morris Zaslow and Wesley B. Turner, eds. The Defended Border: Upper Canada and the War of 1812 (Toronto, 1964).] Madison and his advisors believed that conquest of Canada would be easy and that economic coercion would force the British to come to terms by cutting off the food supply for their West Indies colonies. Furthermore, possession of Canada would be a valuable bargaining chip. The negotiators at Ghent were told to ask for Canada, then when Britain refused to give up on that demand and ask for other goals (like fishhing rights off Newfoundland). Frontiersmen demanded the attack on Canada not because they wanted the land (they had plenty), but because the British were thought to be arming the Indians and thereby blocking settlement of the west. [ See Stagg (1983)] As Horsman concludes, "The idea of conquering Canada had been present since at least 1807 as a means of forcing England to change her policy at sea. The conquest of Canada was primarily a means of waging war, not a reason for starting it." [Horsman (1962) p. 267. Hickey flatly states, "The desire to annex Canada did not bring on the war." ^[1]