One of the challenges of celebrating the War of 1812 is the failure to recognize that it was not settled in the West for 60 years after the Treaty of Ghent. The suggestion that the War of 1812 settled all claims the U.S. had north of the 49th parallel is not borne out by the history of our two countries, as the United States and Britain were still in an armed standoff until 1871 in the San Juan Islands, the same year B.C. joined Confederation.
It is correct that the war of 1812-14 mostly took place in the east. However, it was a Royal Navy sailing ship that brought the War of 1812 to the region known to Americans as the Oregon Territory and to the British as the Columbia District.
The Treaty of Ghent that followed the war of 1812 and the follow-up 1818 convention confirmed the joint occupancy of the Columbia District, but it was the actions of the Royal Navy's senior officer at Astoria in 1813 that set one of the conditions for Britain to eventually give up the territory that is today Washington and Oregon - and produce the armed standoff between Britain and the U.S. on the San Juan Islands that was not settled until 1871 on the west side of the continent.
It took seven months until the inhabitants of the first American settlement in the Pacific at Fort Astoria learned on Jan. 15, 1813, that the United States had declared war on Britain the previous summer. Most of the inhabitants at Astoria were on one hand British subjects bound to serve King George and not give aid to his enemies. On the other hand, they were bound by contract or indenture to advance the interests of the American John Astor.
Hearing that a Royal Navy warship was on the way to seize the fort, the Astorians overcame the dilemma by selling the fort to the competing British Northwest Company on Oct. 16, 1813. Down came the Stars and Stripes and up went the Union Jack. There was no longer an American settlement on the Pacific Coast.
At the end of November, HMS Raccoon arrived. Captain W. Black could hardly believe his eyes. He and his men had visions of prize money by capturing Astoria. Had he not taken the next step, Oregon and Washington might be part of Canada.
He raised the Union Jack on a staff set up for the purpose and, taking a bottle of Madeira, he smashed it against the pole and proclaimed that he took possession of the fort and the country in the name of his Britannic Majesty and named it Fort George.
The terms of the Treaty of Ghent after the war of 1812 caused all captured territory to be returned to its original owner. This would have grave consequences 33 years later. If occupation had determined the fate of Washington and Oregon in 1846, the region would have inevitably become British territory. While occupied and used by the British Hudson Bay Company, Astoria, as a result of the Treaty of Ghent, had been recognized by the British as belonging to the U.S.
The joint occupancy of the Western territory was unacceptable to both the U.S. and Britain, and the Americans were crying 54-40 or fight, meaning that the U.S. would extend north to 54°40' west of the Rocky Mountains. Negotiations brought no resolution, but neither country wanted to go to war.
In 1846, the then-prime minister of Britain, George Gordon, considered the Oregon triangle as a "tract of barren pine swamp."
With Fort Astoria abandoned and the Hudson Bay moving its operations from Fort Vancouver to Victoria, he convinced the British public and parliament that the disputed territory was of insignificant importance. Thus on June 15, 1846, the Oregon Treaty extended the Canada/U.S. boundary along the 49th parallel to tidewater, and then mid-channel to the Pacific Ocean.
On June 15, 1859, exactly 13 years after the adoption of the Oregon Treaty, the ambiguity led to direct conflict when an American farmer shot a British Hudson Bay farmer's pig on San Juan Island. When British authorities threatened to arrest the American farmer, the American settlers called for military protection. By Aug. 10, 1859, 461 Americans with 14 cannon were opposed by five British warships mounting 70 guns and carrying 2,140 men. Local commanding officers on both sides had been given essentially the same orders: defend yourselves, but absolutely do not fire the first shot. The British and U.S. soldiers exchanged insults, each side attempting to goad the others into firing the first shot, but discipline held on both sides, and thus no shots were fired.
Among the conventions and agreements that resulted from the Treaty of Ghent was the decision to resolve disputes by international arbitration. Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany was chosen to act as arbitrator in the San Juan dispute, who referred the issue to a three-man arbitration commission that met in Geneva for nearly a year. On Oct.
21, 1872, the commission decided in favour of the United States, choosing the American-preferred marine boundary via Haro Strait, to the west of the islands, over the British preference for Rosario Strait which lay to their east. Thus the last armed conflict between U.S. and British troops ended. On Nov. 25, 1872, the British withdrew their Royal Marines. The Americans followed by July 1874, and today the San Juan Islands are part of the U.S.
If the captain of HMS Raccoon had not performed the "showpiece" capture of Astoria, the Americans may not have been able to rely upon the terms of the Treaty of Ghent in the negotiations regarding the Columbia District and perhaps the British PM might not have caved to U.S. president Polk's bellicose posture. However, the threat of war gave the U.S. Oregon and Washington.
The Treaty of Ghent did establish the tone of all future relations between what is now Canada and the United States. That process continues today in more than 400 treaties, agreements and memoranda of understanding Canada and the U.S. have with regard to the defence of North America and the ongoing border disputes on which we agree to disagree on all three coasts. That idea of "agreeing to disagree" is exactly what we are celebrating - 200 years of "peace amongst people of a common mother and brethren dwelling in unity," as is inscribed on the Peace Arch that was built in 1921 to commemorate the Treaty of Ghent.
Gerald Pash is a retired broadcaster and public-affairs practitioner.
