President Madison's Message to Congress on the End of the War
February 18 1815


To the Senate and House of Representatives of the U.S.

I lay before Congress copies of the treaty of peace and amity between the United States and his Britannic Majesty, which was signed by the commissioners of both parties at Ghent, on the 24th of December 1814, and the ratifications of which have been duly exchanged.

While performing this act, I congratulate you, and our constituents, upon an event which is highly honorable to the nation, and terminates with peculiar felicity a campaign signalised by the most brilliant successes.

The late war, though reluctantly declared by Congress, had become a necessary resort, to assert the rights and independence of the nation. It has been waged with a success which is the natural result of the legislative counsels, of the patriotism of the people, of the public spirit of the militia, and of the valor of the military and naval forces of the country. Peace, at all times a blessing, is peculiarly welcome, therefore, at a period when the causes for war have ceased to operate; when the government has demonstrated the efficiency of its powers of defence; and when the nation can review its conduct without regret, and without reproach.