The treaty set theboundaries betweenBritish North America, later calledCanada, 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 andprisoners of war.
This treaty and the separate peace treaties between Great Britain and the nations that supported the American cause, includingFrance,Spain, and theDutch Republic are known collectively as thePeace of Paris.[3][4] Only Article 1 of the treaty, which acknowledges the United States' existence as free,sovereign, andindependent states, remains in force.[5]
Treaty of Paris, a 1783 portrait byBenjamin West depicting the American delegation at the Treaty of Paris, including (left to right):John Jay,John Adams,Benjamin Franklin,Henry Laurens, andWilliam Temple Franklin. The British delegation refused to pose, and the portrait was never completed.The 1781 French proposal for the territorial division ofNorth America, which was rejected by the AmericansA commemorative plaque of the Treaty of Paris on the site where the treaty was signed, 56 Rue Jacob inParis, on September 3, 1783
The treaty was drafted on November 30, 1782,[a] and signed at the Hôtel d'York at present-day 56 Rue Jacob inParis on September 3, 1783, by Adams, Franklin, Jay, and Hartley.[6]
In September 1782, French Foreign MinisterVergennes proposed a solution to deadlocked negotiations between the United States and the British, which was rejected by the United States. France was exhausted by the war, and all parties sought peace, except for Spain, which insisted on continuing the Revolutionary War until it couldcapture Gibraltar from the British. Vergennes developed treaty terms under which Spain would forego holding Gibraltar and the United States would be granted independence, but it would be confined to the area east of theAppalachian Mountains. Britain would keep thearea north of the Ohio River, which was part of theProvince of Quebec. In the area south of that would be an independentIndian barrier state, under Spanish control.[7]
The American delegation perceived that they could obtain a better treaty in negotiating directly with the British inLondon. John Jay promptly told the British that he was willing to negotiate directly with them and to bypass France and Spain, and British Prime MinisterLord Shelburne agreed. In charge of the British negotiations, some of which took place in his study atLansdowne House, now a bar in theLansdowne 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 theMississippi River, north of present-dayFlorida, and south of present-dayCanada. The northern boundary would be almost the same as it is today.[9]
The United States would gain fishing rights offNova 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.[11] In the treaty with Spain, the territories ofEast andWest Florida were ceded to Spain without a clear northern boundary, which resulted in a territorial dispute resolved by theTreaty of Madrid in 1795. Spain also received the island ofMenorca, butthe Bahamas,Grenada, andMontserrat, which had been captured by the French and Spaniards, were returned to Britain. The treaty with France was mostly about exchanges of captured territory. France's only net gains were the island ofTobago, andSenegal in Africa, but it also reinforced earlier treaties, guaranteeing fishing rights offNewfoundland. Dutch possessions in theEast Indies, captured in 1781, were returned by Britain to the Netherlands in exchange for trading privileges in theDutch East Indies by a treaty, which was not finalized until 1784.[12]
TheCongress of the Confederation, operating as the legislative body of the newly established United States, ratified the Treaty of Paris onJanuary 14, 1784, inAnnapolis, Maryland, in the Old Senate Chamber of theMaryland 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]
The last page of the Treaty of ParisMap of theUnited States and its territories following the signing of the Treaty of Paris
The treaty and the separate peace treaties between Great Britain and the three colonial powers that supported the American cause,France,Spain, and theDutch Republic, are known collectively as thePeace of Paris.[3][4] Only Article 1 of the treaty, which acknowledges the United States' existence as freesovereign andindependent states, remains in force.[5] The U.S. borders changed in later years, which is a major reason specific articles of the treaty were superseded.[citation needed]
Preamble. Declares the treaty to be "in the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity" followed by a reference to thedivine providence,[15] states thebona 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."
Establishing the boundaries of the United States, including but not limited to those between the United States andBritish North America from the Mississippi River to the Southern colonies. Britain surrenders their previously owned land,
"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."[17]
TheCongress 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 theMississippi 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."
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 MinisterVergennes 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 agovernment that considered Vermont not to be a part of the United States.[18]
Privileges that the Americans had automatically received from Britain when they had colonial status, including protection fromBarbary corsairs in theMediterranean Sea, were lost. Individual states ignored federal recommendations, under Article 5, to restore confiscatedLoyalist property and Article 6, which provided for confiscating Loyalist property for "unpaid debts". TheCommonwealth of Virginia defied Article 4 and maintained laws against payment of debts to British creditors. Several Loyalists attempted to file for a return for their property in the US legal system after theAmerican Revolutionary War, but most were unsuccessful.[19]
The actualgeography of North America turned out not to match the details used in the treaty. The treaty specified a southern boundary for the United States, but the separate Anglo-Spanish agreement did not specify a northern boundary for Florida. The Spanish government assumed that the boundary was the same as in the 1763 agreement by which it had first given its territory in Florida to Great Britain. While theWest Florida Controversy continued, Spain used its new control of Florida to block American access to the Mississippi, in defiance of Article 8.[20] To the north, the treaty stated that the boundary of the United States extended from the "most northwesternmost point" of theLake of the Woods in present-dayMinnesota,Manitoba, andOntario, directly westward until it reached theMississippi River. However, the Mississippi does not extend that far northward, and the line going west from the Lake of the Woods never intersects the river. Additionally, the Treaty of Paris did not explain how the new border would function in terms of controlling the movement of people and trade betweenBritish North America and the United States. The American diplomats' expectation of negotiating a commercial treaty with Britain to resolve some of the unfinished business of the Treaty of Paris failed to materialize in 1784. Despite government agreements for British evacuation of northern forts, Britain continued to occupy the forts. Meanwhile, the British were dissatisfied with the American harassment ofLoyalists.[21][22] The United States would thus wait until 1794 to negotiate its first commercial agreement with the British Empire, theJay Treaty.[23]
A major point of tension in Anglo-American relations after US independence was the British refusal to relinquish control over eight forts in what was technically American territory "with all convenient speed". Six of the forts were located in theGreat Lakes region and two were located at the north end ofLake Champlain. The British also built another fort in present-dayOhio in 1794 during theNorthwest Indian War. They justified the continued occupation of the forts by citing the United States' failure to abide by the terms of the Treaty of Paris, specifically the American promise to compensate British subjects, including Loyalists, for their wartime losses.[24] All of the forts were relinquished peacefully through diplomatic means as a result of the Jay Treaty:
^The same day as the lopsided American loss at theBattle of Kedges Strait inChesapeake Bay, one of the numerous ongoing engagements with the British and Loyalist forces throughout 1782 and 1783.
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