When it was ratified, the Treaty of Ghent was met with a sigh of relief (by the British) and a cheer of victory (by the Americans). Nowadays, historians tend to view it through the lens of the War of 1812's reputation. They tend to see this war as being kinda-sorta unnecessary, and historians love to point out that the Treaty of Ghent didn't actually address the underlying causes of the war—maritime disagreements, impressment, etc. The "forgotten war" and its peace treaty really can't catch a break in the history books.

An Unnecessary War?

Almost as soon as the War of 1812 started, people disagreed on whether it was worth fighting. The American public was divided. One political faction called the War Hawks favored trying to stick it to Britain, while New England Federalists were worried about how the war would affect New England's manufacturing businesses, for which Britain was a major trading partner. They even considered seceding from the U.S.

On the other side of the Atlantic, many Brits were even more skeptical. At the time, Britain's main problem was Napoleon, the French military leader who had been at war with Britain since 1803.

Before the Treaty of Ghent was even a gleam in the plenipotentiaries' eyes, another world power thought the whole war was an unnecessary exercise. Russia, led by Tsar Alexander I, tried to broker a peace between the U.S. and Britain as early as 1812. For Europeans, Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia was the more important war.

Getting It Over With

The British—having levied enormous taxes and incurred massive expenses fighting wars on two continents—took a stalemate on the War of 1812 as an acceptable substitute to clear victory.

At the time, Americans came to think that they won the war. When Andrew Jackson totally crushed it at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, a surge of national pride surrounded the Treaty of Ghent. Never mind that the battle was fought after the treaty was completed. Reviewing the outcome, President James Madison and American negotiator Albert Gallatin echoed the sentiment https://www.jstor.org/stable/1832365?seq=19#page_scan_tab_contents that the war was a victory for American unity and patriotism.

War of 1812—What Was It Good For?

Historians still study the War of 1812, but apart from it's "greatest hits," most Americans (present readership obviously excepted) don't really know why it was fought or what, if anything, we got out of it. That's probably because Americans like to win and this war was a stalemate.

But really, who can forget "Don't give up the ship," and "We have met the enemy and he is ours"?

Everyone, apparently.

Today, historians seem to agree that most of the American gains were more intangible. As History Prof Donald Hickey puts it:

[…] it promoted national self-confidence and encouraged the heady expansionism that lay at the heart of American foreign policy for the rest of the century. Finally, the war gave the fledgling republic a host of sayings, symbols, and songs that helped Americans define who they were and where their young republic was headed. (Source)

So, let's hear it for the victory at Baltimore and "The Star-Spangled Banner," but can somebody please learn to sing this thing?

Seriously, we haven't heard a decent rendition since Woodstock.