<P> On December 24, 1814, the members of the British and American negotiating teams signed and affixed their individual seals to the document . This did not itself end the war: that required formal ratification by their governments, which came in February 1815 . The treaty released all prisoners and restored all captured lands and ships . Returned to the United States were approximately 10,000,000 acres (40,000 km) of territory, near Lakes Superior and Michigan, and in Maine . American - held areas of Upper Canada (present - day Ontario) were returned to British control, and the American - held territory in Spanish Florida taken from Britain and officially uninvolved Spain were returned to Spanish control . The treaty thus made no changes to the pre-war boundaries . Britain promised to return the freed black slaves that they had taken . In actuality, a few years later Britain instead paid the United States $1,204,960 for them . Both nations also promised to work towards an ending of the international slave trade . </P> <P> Pierre Berton wrote of the treaty, "It was as if no war had been fought, or to put it more bluntly, as if the war that was fought was fought for no good reason . For nothing has changed; everything is as it was in the beginning save for the graves of those who, it now appears, have fought for a trifle:...Lake Erie and Fort McHenry will go into the American history books, Queenston Heights and Crysler's Farm into the Canadian, but without the gore, the stench, the disease, the terror, the conniving, and the imbecilities that march with every army ." </P> <P> The Treaty of Ghent failed to secure official British acknowledgment of American maritime rights, and Britain had already stopped its policy of impressing seamen off American ships . In the century of peace among the naval powers from 1815 until World War I American rights were not seriously violated . The course of the war resolved and ended all of the original issues, especially since the American Indians had been defeated and the Americans scored enough victories (especially at New Orleans) to satisfy honor and the sense of becoming fully independent from Britain . Notably, the Americans won the final engagements against the British . The Americans also controlled more of the Great Lakes than the British throughout the duration of the war, possessing lakes Michigan and Erie . The British controlled only Huron . Engagements for Ontario ended indecisively with both sides maintaining a large presence on the lake, but neither in full control . No actions took place on Superior . </P> <P> On receiving news of the treaty, the British forces near New Orleans immediately departed . </P>

The treaty of ghent ending the war of 1812 quizlet