This treaty, signed on September 3, 1783, between the American
colonies and Great Britain, ended the American Revolution and formally
recognized the United States as an independent nation. print-friendly
version
The American War for Independence (1775-83) was actually a world
conflict, involving not only the United States and Great Britain but
also France, Spain, and the Netherlands. The peace process brought a
vaguely formed, newly born United States into the arena of
international diplomacy, playing against the largest, most
sophisticated, and most established powers on earth.
The three American negotiators, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and
John Jay, proved themselves to be masters of the game, outmaneuvering
their counterparts and clinging fiercely to the points of national
interest that guaranteed a future for the United States. Two crucial
provisions of the treaty were British recognition of U.S. independence
and the delineation of boundaries that would allow for American
western expansion.
The treaty is named for the city in which it was negotiated and
signed. The last page bears the signatures of David Hartley, who
represented Great Britain, and the three American negotiators, who
signed their names in alphabetical order.
In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity.
It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the hearts of the
most serene and most potent Prince George the Third, by the grace of
God, king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, defender of the
faith, duke of Brunswick and Lunebourg, arch- treasurer and prince
elector of the Holy Roman Empire etc., and of the United States of
America, to forget all past misunderstandings and differences that
have unhappily interrupted the good correspondence and friendship
which they mutually wish to restore, and to establish such a
beneficial and satisfactory intercourse , between the two countries
upon the ground of reciprocal advantages and mutual convenience as may
promote and secure to both perpetual peace and harmony; and having for
this desirable end already laid the foundation of peace and
reconciliation by the Provisional Articles signed at Paris on the 30th
of November 1782, by the commissioners empowered on each part, which
articles were agreed to be inserted in and constitute the Treaty of
Peace proposed to be concluded between the Crown of Great Britain and
the said United States, but which treaty was not to be concluded until
terms of peace should be agreed upon between Great Britain and France
and his Britannic Majesty should be ready to conclude such treaty
accordingly; and the treaty between Great Britain and France having
since been concluded, his Britannic Majesty and the United States of
America, in order to carry into full effect the Provisional Articles
above mentioned, according to the tenor thereof, have constituted and
appointed, that is to say his Britannic Majesty on his part, David
Hartley, Esqr., member of the Parliament of Great Britain, and the
said United States on their part, John Adams, Esqr., late a
commissioner of the United States of America at the court of
Versailles, late delegate in Congress from the state of Massachusetts,
and chief justice of the said state, and minister plenipotentiary of
the said United States to their high mightinesses the States General
of the United Netherlands; Benjamin Franklin, Esqr., late delegate in
Congress from the state of Pennsylvania, president of the convention
of the said state, and minister plenipotentiary from the United States
of America at the court of Versailles; John Jay, Esqr., late president
of Congress and chief justice of the state of New York, and minister
plenipotentiary from the said United States at the court of Madrid; to
be plenipotentiaries for the concluding and signing the present
definitive treaty; who after having reciprocally communicated their
respective full powers have agreed upon and confirmed the following
articles.
Article I.
His Brittanic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz., New
Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia,
North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be free sovereign and
independent states, that he treats with them as such, and for himself,
his heirs, and successors, relinquishes all claims to the government,
propriety, and territorial rights of the same and every part thereof.
Article II.
And that all disputes which might arise in future on the subject of
the boundaries of the said United States may be prevented, it is
hereby agreed and declared, that the following are and shall be their
boundaries, viz.; from the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, viz., that
angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of
St. Croix River to the highlands; along the said highlands which
divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence,
from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the northwesternmost
head of Connecticut River; thence down along the middle of that river
to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude; from thence by a line due
west on said latitude until it strikes the river Iroquois or
Cataraquy; thence along the middle of said river into Lake Ontario;
through the middle of said lake until it strikes the communication by
water between that lake and Lake Erie; thence along the middle of said
communication into Lake Erie, through the middle of said lake until it
arrives at the water communication between that lake and Lake Huron;
thence along the middle of said water communication into Lake Huron,
thence through the middle of said lake to the water communication
between that lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior
northward of the Isles Royal and Phelipeaux to the Long Lake; thence
through the middle of said Long Lake and the water communication
between it and the Lake of the Woods, to the said Lake of the Woods;
thence through the said lake to the most northwesternmost point
thereof, and from thence on a due west course to the river
Mississippi; thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of the said
river Mississippi until it shall intersect the northernmost part of
the thirty-first degree of north latitude, South, by a line to be
drawn due east from the determination of the line last mentioned in
the latitude of thirty-one degrees of the equator, to the middle of
the river Apalachicola or Catahouche; thence along the middle thereof
to its junction with the Flint River, thence straight to the head of
Saint Mary's River; and thence down along the middle of Saint Mary's
River to the Atlantic Ocean; east, by a line to be drawn along the
middle of the river Saint Croix, from its mouth in the Bay of Fundy to
its source, and from its source directly north to the aforesaid
highlands which divide the rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean
from those which fall into the river Saint Lawrence; comprehending all
islands within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United
States, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points
where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part and
East Florida on the other shall, respectively, touch the Bay of Fundy
and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such islands as now are or
heretofore have been within the limits of the said province of Nova
Scotia.
Article III.
It is agreed that the people of the United States shall continue to
enjoy unmolested the right to take fish of every kind on the Grand
Bank and on all the other banks of Newfoundland, also in the Gulf of
Saint Lawrence and at all other places in the sea, where the
inhabitants of both countries used at any time heretofore to fish. And
also that the inhabitants of the United States shall have liberty to
take fish of every kind on such part of the coast of Newfoundland as
British fishermen shall use, (but not to dry or cure the same on that
island) and also on the coasts, bays and creeks of all other of his
Brittanic Majesty's dominions in America; and that the American
fishermen shall have liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the
unsettled bays, harbors, and creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands,
and Labrador, so long as the same shall remain unsettled, but so soon
as the same or either of them shall be settled, it shall not be lawful
for the said fishermen to dry or cure fish at such settlement without
a previous agreement for that purpose with the inhabitants,
proprietors, or possessors of the ground.
Article IV.
It is agreed that creditors on either side shall meet with no lawful
impediment to the recovery of the full value in sterling money of all
bona fide debts heretofore contracted.
Article V.
It is agreed that Congress shall earnestly recommend it to the
legislatures of the respective states to provide for the restitution
of all estates, rights, and properties, which have been confiscated
belonging to real British subjects; and also of the estates, rights,
and properties of persons resident in districts in the possession on
his Majesty's arms and who have not borne arms against the said United
States. And that persons of any other decription shall have free
liberty to go to any part or parts of any of the thirteen United
States and therein to remain twelve months unmolested in their
endeavors to obtain the restitution of such of their estates, rights,
and properties as may have been confiscated; and that Congress shall
also earnestly recommend to the several states a reconsideration and
revision of all acts or laws regarding the premises, so as to render
the said laws or acts perfectly consistent not only with justice and
equity but with that spirit of conciliation which on the return of the
blessings of peace should universally prevail. And that Congress shall
also earnestly recommend to the several states that the estates,
rights, and properties, of such last mentioned persons shall be
restored to them, they refunding to any persons who may be now in
possession the bona fide price (where any has been given) which such
persons may have paid on purchasing any of the said lands, rights, or
properties since the confiscation.
And it is agreed that all persons who have any interest in confiscated
lands, either by debts, marriage settlements, or otherwise, shall meet
with no lawful impediment in the prosecution of their just rights.
Article VI.
That there shall be no future confiscations made nor any prosecutions
commenced against any person or persons for, or by reason of, the part
which he or they may have taken in the present war, and that no person
shall on that account suffer any future loss or damage, either in his
person, liberty, or property; and that those who may be in confinement
on such charges at the time of the ratification of the treaty in
America shall be immediately set at liberty, and the prosecutions so
commenced be discontinued.
Article VII.
There shall be a firm and perpetual peace between his Brittanic
Majesty and the said states, and between the subjects of the one and
the citizens of the other, wherefore all hostilities both by sea and
land shall from henceforth cease. All prisoners on both sides shall be
set at liberty, and his Brittanic Majesty shall with all convenient
speed, and without causing any destruction, or carrying away any
Negroes or other property of the American inhabitants, withdraw all
his armies, garrisons, and fleets from the said United States, and
from every post, place, and harbor within the same; leaving in all
fortifications, the American artilery that may be therein; and shall
also order and cause all archives, records, deeds, and papers
belonging to any of the said states, or their citizens, which in the
course of the war may have fallen into the hands of his officers, to
be forthwith restored and delivered to the proper states and persons
to whom they belong.
Article VIII.
The navigation of the river Mississippi, from its source to the ocean,
shall forever remain free and open to the subjects of Great Britain
and the citizens of the United States.
Article IX.
In case it should so happen that any place or territory belonging to
Great Britain or to the United States should have been conquered by
the arms of either from the other before the arrival of the said
Provisional Articles in America, it is agreed that the same shall be
restored without difficulty and without requiring any compensation.
Article X.
The solemn ratifications of the present treaty expedited in good and
due form shall be exchanged between the contracting parties in the
space of six months or sooner, if possible, to be computed from the
day of the signatures of the present treaty. In witness whereof we the
undersigned, their ministers plenipotentiary, have in their name and
in virtue of our full powers, signed with our hands the present
definitive treaty and caused the seals of our arms to be affixed
thereto.
Done at Paris, this third day of September in the year of our Lord,
one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three.
—D. Hartley
—John Adams
—B. Franklin
—John Jay
