1. The clerk evidently omitted the word “and” here.

2. The resolution was introduced by Rufus King, after the Senate had ratified the Treaty of Ghent (Senate Exec. Proceedings, description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America (3 vols.; Washington, 1828). description ends 2:618–19).

3. For the instructions previously sent to the Senate, see JM to Congress, 13 Oct. 1814, and n. 1. The enclosure marked “A” was a copy of Monroe to the peace commissioners, 22 Mar. 1814 (2 pp.), stating that if they were able to negotiate with Great Britain a mutual restoration of territory captured during the war, they should try to include the “post at the mouth of the River Columbia” if the British had taken possession of it. In no case were they to acknowledge any British claim to territory south of the United States’ northern border. The post Monroe referred to was Astoria, the headquarters of John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company; for its establishment and fate, see Astor to JM, 27 July 1813, PJM-PS, description begins Robert A. Rutland et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Presidential Series (8 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1984–). description ends 6:472–75 and nn.

The enclosure marked “B” was a copy of Monroe to the commissioners, 19 Oct. 1814 (2 pp.), informing them that he had received their dispatches “by the John Adams” (for the letters, see JM to Congress, 10 Oct. 1814, n. 1), which had been submitted to Congress, as had the instructions sent to them. JM approved of their intention to refuse the British demands, Monroe wrote, although it was expected to put an end to the negotiations. The commissioners were authorized, however, to agree to a treaty based on “the Status ante Bellum” if the talks somehow continued.

4. The enclosure marked “1” was a copy of the American commissioners to the British commissioners, 10 Nov. 1814 (8 pp.), offering a projet of a peace treaty and explaining its articles; enclosure “2,” of the same date, was a copy of the projet (22 pp.), with British alterations and objections written in the margin. The British commissioners rejected five of the articles proposed by the Americans, addressing alliances with Indians, impressment, neutral shipping rights and blockades, indemnification for captures and damages violating the law of nations and the rules of war, and clemency for partisans of one nation living within the other. The enclosure marked “3” was a copy of the British commissioners to the American commissioners, 25 Nov. 1814 (2 pp.; dated 26 Nov. 1814 in ASP description begins American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States … (38 vols.; Washington, 1832–61). description ends , Foreign Relations, 3:740), explaining their objections and noting that their agreement to restore territory captured by Great Britain during the war was valid only if the present negotiations succeeded. Enclosure “4,” a copy of the American commissioners’ 30 Nov. 1814 response (2 pp.), assented to various of the changes proposed by the British, noted that the omission from the treaty of statements on impressment and indemnities should not negate the rights of either nation with regard to those topics, and requested a meeting to discuss the alterations with which they did not concur; enclosure “5,” a copy of the British reply of the same date (1 p.), scheduled a conference for the following day. Copies of the protocols of that 1 Dec. conference and those of 10 and 12 Dec. 1814 (9 pp.) constituted the enclosure marked “6,” showing that the primary areas of contention related to the possession of islands in Passamaquoddy Bay, to time limits within which border commissioners were to complete their work, and to U.S. and British rights to the Canadian fisheries and the Mississippi River, respectively. The enclosure marked “7” was a copy of the American commissioners to the British commissioners, 14 Dec. 1814 (4 pp.), contesting Great Britain’s claim to the Passamaquoddy Bay islands but agreeing to leave them in British possession pending the boundary commission’s decision and enclosing a revised article to that effect; the Americans also refused the British proposal of an article providing for negotiations on the fisheries and the Mississippi. Enclosure “8” was a copy of the British reply, 22 Dec. 1814 (3 pp.), assenting to the American proposal regarding the Passamaquoddy Islands, with the exception of the time limit specified, and enclosing a corresponding revision of the article; the British also agreed to omit discussion of the fisheries and the Mississippi from the treaty. The enclosure marked “9” (4 pp.) was a copy of the protocol of the conference of 23 Dec. 1814, in which the American commissioners accepted the most recent British revisions and the final details of the treaty were agreed upon.