War of 1812 Ends December 24, 1814

After less than two years of declared war between the United States and Great Britain, the Treaty of Peace and Amity was signed this day in Ghent, Belgium by British and American representatives.
War had been declared upon Great Britain by the US for three primary reasons: British economic blockade of France; impressments of American seamen into the British Royal Navy against their will (essentially an act of piracy on the high seas); and British support of hostile Indian tribes along the Great Lakes frontier (British forces had yet to pull out of some of the forts they were supposed to leave after the War for Independence).
The young United States had a shaky time of it on land. Three major invasions of Canada were repulsed and Detroit remained in British hands. The new capital, Washington, D.C. was invaded and burned. But things were better at “sea”.

… the USS Constitution and other American frigates won a series of victories over British warships. In 1813, American forces won several key victories in the Great Lakes region, but Britain regained control of the sea and blockaded the eastern seaboard.
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On September 11, 1814, the tide of the war turned when Thomas Macdonough's American naval force won a decisive victory at the Battle of Plattsburg Bay on Lake Champlain…. The American victory on Lake Champlain led to the conclusion of U.S.-British peace negotiations in Belgium, and on December 24, 1814, the Treaty of Ghent was signed, ending the war.

News traveled slowly back then and the signing of the treaty did not end hostilities immediately. On January 8, 1815 a large British army attacked New Orleans but was decisively defeated by a far inferior American force pieced together by General Andrew Jackson. This victory and the peace treaty bolstered the confidence of the young nation and legitimized its existence in the eyes of the world.

This Day in History, The History Channel