James Madison knew better. The closing months of 1814 and the first month of 1815 had been fraught with tension as the nation stood at the brink of disaster. Word from Ghent was not good. The British had made outrageous demands and seemed to be stalling until they gained more victories in North America. British veterans stood poised to overwhelm a hodgepodge army under Andrew Jackson at New Orleans. Federalists in New England seemed eager to break up the nation and had met in a special convention in Hartford. The banking system was a disaster. Congress, even though dominated by Republicans, appeared unable to do anything serious to bolster the war effort. Madison – the man who had masterminded the Constitution, created the Bill of Rights, led Republicans in Congress in opposition to the Federalists in the 1790s, and served ably as Jefferson's secretary of state – was inept and ineffectual as a war president. Then the miracles started to happen. All that the Federalists at Hartford came up with were some proposed amendments that had no chance of ever being ratified. No treason there. On February 4, a dispatch arrived in Washington reporting Jackson's astounding triumph at New Orleans. A British army had been annihilated, and the West was safe. Ten days later a courier arrived from New York with word of a peace treaty, already ratified in Great Britain. The treaty included no concessions of territory. Even if it did not address the causes of the war, commercial protection and impressment (which, with peace in Europe, had become moot anyway), it was a peace. The nation had been staring into a dark and threatening abyss. Now, with cheering crowds in the streets, illuminations that brightened every window, and celebrations sweeping across the country, Madison decided to declare victory regardless of the reality. Yes, Madison knew better, but he also must have heaved a sigh of relief as he began the great lie that the United States had won the war.