Treaty of Paris (1783)
The Definitive Treaty of Peace Between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United States of America | |
---|---|
Drafted | November 30, 1782 |
Signed | September 3, 1783 |
Location | Paris, Kingdom of France |
Effective | May 12, 1784 |
Condition | Ratification by the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United States |
Signatories | |
Parties | |
Depositary | United States government[1] |
Language | English |
Full text | |
Treaty of Paris (1783) at Wikisource |
The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States on September 3, 1783, officially ended the American Revolutionary War and recognized the Thirteen Colonies, which had been part of colonial British America, to be free, sovereign and independent States.
The treaty set the boundaries between British North America, later called Canada, and the United States, on lines the British labeled as "exceedingly generous",[2] although exact boundary definitions in the far-northwest and to the south continued to be subject to some controversy. Details included fishing rights and restoration of property and prisoners of war.
This treaty and the separate peace treaties between Great Britain and the nations that supported the American cause, including
Agreement
Peace negotiations began in Paris in April 1782, following the victory of George Washington and the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. The negotiations continued through the summer of 1782. Representing the United States were Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Henry Laurens, and John Adams. Representing the Kingdom of Great Britain and King George III were David Hartley and Richard Oswald.
The treaty was drafted on November 30, 1782,[a] and signed at the Hôtel d'York at present-day 56 Rue Jacob in Paris on September 3, 1783, by Adams, Franklin, Jay, and Hartley.[6]
In September 1782, French Foreign Minister
The American delegation perceived that they could obtain a better treaty in negotiating directly with the British in London. John Jay promptly told the British that he was willing to negotiate directly with them and to bypass France and Spain, and British Prime Minister Lord Shelburne agreed. In charge of the British negotiations, some of which took place in his study at Lansdowne House, now a bar in the Lansdowne Club, Shelburne now saw a chance to split the United States from France and to establish the new nation as a valuable economic partner.[8] The terms were that the United States would gain all of the area east of the Mississippi River, north of present-day Florida, and south of present-day Canada. The northern boundary would be almost the same as it is today.[9]
The United States would gain fishing rights off Nova Scotia's coasts and agreed to allow British merchants and Loyalists to try to recover their property. The treaty was highly favorable for the United States and deliberately so from the British point of view. Shelburne foresaw highly profitable two-way trade between Britain and the rapidly-growing United States, which came to pass.[10]
Great Britain also signed separate agreements with France and Spain, and provisionally with the Netherlands.
The Congress of the Confederation, operating as the legislative body of the newly established United States, ratified the Treaty of Paris on January 14, 1784, in Annapolis, Maryland, in the Old Senate Chamber of the Maryland State House.[13] Copies were sent back to Europe for ratification by the other parties involved, the first reaching France in March 1784. British ratification occurred on April 9, 1784, and the ratified versions were exchanged in Paris on May 12, 1784.[14]
Terms
The treaty and the separate peace treaties between Great Britain and the three colonial powers that supported the American cause,
Preamble. Declares the treaty to be "in the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity" followed by a reference to the Divine providence[15] states the bona fides of the signatories, and declares the intention of both parties to "forget all past misunderstandings and differences" and "secure to both perpetual peace and harmony."
- Britain acknowledges the United States, comprising what had been the British Crownand all heirs and successors relinquish claims to the Government, property, and territorial rights of the same, and every part thereof,
- Establishing the boundaries of the United States, including but not limited to those between the United States and British North America from the Mississippi River to the Southern colonies. Britain surrenders their previously owned land,
- Granting fishing rights to United States fishermen in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence;
- Recognizing the lawful contracted debts to be paid to creditors on either side;
- The Congress of the Confederation will "earnestly recommend" to state legislatures to recognize the rightful owners of all confiscated lands and "provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties, which have been confiscated belonging to British subjects" (Loyalists);
- The United States will prevent future confiscations of the property of Loyalists;
- Prisoners-of-war on both sides are to be released. All British property now in the United States is to remain with them and to be forfeited;
- Both Great Britain and the United States are to be given perpetual access to the Mississippi River;
- Territories captured by either side subsequent to the treaty will be returned without compensation;
- Ratification of the treaty is to occur within six months from its signing.
Eschatocol. "Done at Paris, this third day of September in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three."
Consequences
Historians have often commented that the treaty was very generous to the United States in terms of greatly enlarged boundaries. Historians such as Alvord, Harlow, and Ritcheson have emphasized that British generosity was based on a statesmanlike vision of close economic ties between Britain and the United States. The concession of the vast trans-Appalachian region was designed to facilitate the growth of the American population and to create lucrative markets for British merchants without any military or administrative costs to Britain.[8] The point was that the United States would become a major trading partner. As French Foreign Minister Vergennes later put it, "The English buy peace rather than make it."[2] Vermont was included within the boundaries because the state of New York insisted that Vermont was a part of New York although Vermont was then under a government that considered Vermont not to be a part of the United States.[17]
Privileges that the Americans had received from Britain automatically when they had colonial status, including protection from
The actual
Great Britain violated the treaty stipulation that it would relinquish control of forts in United States territory "with all convenient speed." British troops remained stationed at six forts in the Great Lakes region and at two at the north end of Lake Champlain. The British also built an additional fort in present-day Ohio in 1794, during the Northwest Indian War. They justified their treaty violations during the unstable and extremely tense time that existed in the area following the Revolutionary War, and in the failure of the newly established Federal government of the United States to fulfill commitments made to compensate loyalists for British losses, forcing the British to liquidate various assets in the region.[23] All of the posts were relinquished peacefully through diplomatic means as a result of the Jay Treaty:
Name | Present-day location |
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Fort au Fer | Lake Champlain – Champlain, New York |
Fort Dutchman's Point | Lake Champlain – North Hero, Vermont |
Fort Lernoult (including Fort Detroit) | Detroit River – Detroit, Michigan |
Fort Mackinac | Straits of Mackinac – Mackinac Island, Michigan |
Fort Miami | Maumee River – Maumee, Ohio |
Fort Niagara | Niagara River – Youngstown, New York |
Fort Ontario | Lake Ontario – Oswego, New York |
Fort Oswegatchie | Saint Lawrence River – Ogdensburg, New York
|
Notes
- ^ The same day as the lopsided American loss at the Battle of Kedges Strait in Chesapeake Bay, one of the numerous ongoing engagements with the British and Loyalist forces throughout 1782 and 1783.
See also
- Confederation Period, the era of United States history in the 1780s following the American Revolutionary War and prior to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution
- Diplomacy in the American Revolutionary War
- History of the United States (1776–1789)
- List of United States treaties
- Ratification Day (United States)
- Transcript of the Treaty of Paris
References
- ^ Miller, Hunter (ed.). "British-American Diplomacy: Treaty of Paris". The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
- ^ ISBN 978-1305172104.
- ^ a b Morris, Richard B. (1965). The Peacemakers: the Great Powers and American Independence. Harper and Row.
- ^ ISBN 978-0521466844.
- ^ a b "Treaties in Force A List of Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States in Force on January 1, 2016" (PDF). United States Department of State. p. 477. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
- ^ Miller, Hunter (ed.). "British-American Diplomacy: The Paris Peace Treaty of September 30, 1783". The Avalon Project at Yale Law School.
- ^ Smith, Dwight L. "A North American Neutral Indian Zone: Persistence of a British Idea." Northwest Ohio Quarterly 61#2–4 (1989): 46–63.
- ^ JSTOR 40105313.
- ISBN 978-0873511537.
- ISBN 978-0300038866.
- ISBN 9780598216410.
- ISBN 978-0815303961.
- ^ "Stairwell Room: The Treaty of Paris at Annapolis Wall". The Maryland State House. Maryland State Archives. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
- ^ Smith, Dwight L. (October 1963). "Josiah Harmar, Diplomatic Courier". Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 87 (4): 420–430.
- ^ Federer, William. American Clarion (September 3, 2012). http://www.americanclarion.com/2012/09/03/holy-undivided-trinity-11934/
- ^ Peters, Richard, ed. (November 1963). "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875". Buffalo, New York: Dennis & Co. Retrieved February 22, 2020 – via Library of Congress.
- ^ Bemis, Samuel Flagg (1957). The Diplomacy of the American Revolution. Indiana University Press.
- ISBN 978-0199724529.
- ISBN 978-0-8420-2916-2.
- ^ "Treaty of Paris – Definition, Date & Terms". History.com. June 21, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
- ^ "Milestone: 1784–1800 – Office of the Historian". Office of the Historian. February 1, 2024. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
- ^ Lawrence B. A. Hatter, Citizens of Convenience: The Imperial Origins of American Nationhood on the U.S.-Canadian Border (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017)
- ISBN 978-0-920474-79-2.
Further reading
- Bemis, Samuel Flagg (1935). The Diplomacy of the American Revolution. Indiana University Press.
- Dull, Jonathan R. (1987). "Chapters 17-20". A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-03886-6.
- Graebner, Norman A.; Burns, Richard Dean; Siracusa, Joseph M. (2011). Foreign affairs and the founding fathers: from Confederation to constitution, 1776–1787. ABC-CLIO. p. 199. ISBN 9780313398261.
- Harlow, Vincent T. (1952). The Founding of the Second British Empire 1763–1793. Volume 1: Discovery and Revolution. UK: Longmans, Green.
- Hoffman, Ronald (1981). Albert, Peter J. (ed.). Diplomacy and Revolution: The Franco-American Alliance of 1778. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-0864-9.
- Hoffman, Ronald (1986). Albert, Peter J. (ed.). Peace and the Peacemakers: The Treaty of 1783. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-1071-0. Specialized essays by scholars
- Kaplan, Lawrence S. (September 1983). "The Treaty of Paris, 1783: A Historiographical Challenge". International History Review. 5 (3): 431–442. .
- Morris, Richard B. (1983). "The Great Peace of 1783". Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings. 95: 29–51. JSTOR 25080922.
a summary of his long book
- Morris, Richard G, The Peacemakers; The great powers and American independence (1965) online, a standard scholarly history
- Perkins, James Breck (1911). "Negotiations for Peace". France in the American Revolution. Houghton Mifflin.
- Ritcheson, Charles R. (1983). "The Earl of Shelbourne and Peace with America, 1782–1783: Vision and Reality". International History Review. 5 (3): 322–345. .
- Stockley, Andrew (2001). Britain and France at the Birth of America: The European Powers and the Peace Negotiations of 1782–1783. University of Exeter Press. Archived from the original on July 19, 2008.
Primary sources
- Franklin, Benjamin. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin: January 21 Through May 15, 1783 (Vol. 39. Yale University Press, 2009)
- Franklin, Benjamin (1906). The Writings of Benjamin Franklin. The Macmillan company. p. 108.
External links
- Treaty of Paris, 1783; International Treaties and Related Records, 1778–1974; General Records of the United States Government, Record Group 11; National Archives.
- Approval of the American victory in England Unique arch inscription commemorates "Liberty in N America Triumphant MDCCLXXXIII"
- The Paris Peace Treaty of September 30, 1783 text provided by Yale Law School's Avalon Project
- Provisional Treaty signed November 30, 1782, text provided by Yale Law School's Avalon Project