Image: Treaty of Paris, a 1783 portrait by Benjamin West depicting the American delegation at the Treaty of Paris, including (left to right): John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens, and William Temple Franklin. The British delegation refused to pose, and the portrait was never completed. (Wikimedia Commons.)

On this day in history, September 3, 1783, the American Revolution formally ended when delegates of the United States, Great Britain, Spain, and France signed the Treaty of Paris. The signing signified America’s status as a free nation. Britain ceremoniously sanctioned the independence of its 13 former American colonies, and the borders of the new republic were settled upon: Florida north to the Great Lakes and the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River.

History Daily: 365 Fascinating Happenings Volume 1 – September 3, 1783

In 1781, American and British troops engaged in the last major battle of the American Revolutionary War at Yorktown, Virginia.

A combined American and French force, led by George Washington and French General Comte de Rochambeau, surrounded and captured British General Charles Cornwallis and about 9,000 British soldiers during the Siege of Yorktown.

When news of the British defeat at Yorktown reached England, the British Parliament and the public’s support for the war in America faded. England agreed to begin peace talks with the Americans to end the fighting in the Revolutionary War.

After Yorktown, the Continental Congress designated a small group of diplomats to venture to Europe and mediate a peace treaty with the British: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens.

Jefferson, however, could not leave the United States for the negotiations, and the British had captured Laurens. He was held captive in the Tower of London until the war ended, so the primary American mediators were Franklin, Jay, and Adams.

Franklin, who acted as America’s first ambassador to France, had been in Paris since the beginning of the Revolution and was influential in securing French assistance during the war. Peace negotiations between British and American diplomats began early in 1782 and continued into the fall.

The British desired to end the costly war, but peace negotiations stalled when England failed to acknowledge American independence – a point on which the United States delegation refused to compromise. After the election of a more pro-American Parliament, Great Britain soon acquiesced and accepted the terms of American independence.

In 1782, newly elected British Prime Minister Lord Shelburne saw American independence as a way to build a profitable trade alliance with America without the costs of running and defending a colony.

As a result, the Treaty of Paris terms were favorable to the United States, with Great Britain making significant concessions.

The treaty, signed by Franklin, Adams, and Jay at the Hotel d’York in Paris, was finalized on September 3, 1783.

Some critical terms of the Treaty of Paris were: Great Britain formally recognized its former colonies as a new and independent country – the United States of America. Also, the treaty defined the U.S. border, with Great Britain granting the Northwest Territory to the United States. Another key term of the treaty was the opening up of the Mississippi River to travel by citizens of both the United States and Great Britain. The treaty also allowed for good treatment of American citizens who had stayed loyal to Great Britain during the war.

During the negotiations, Franklin demanded Britain relinquish Canada to the United States. This did not happen, but America gained a lot of new territories south of the Canadian border, enough to double its size. The United States also successfully negotiated for important fishing rights in Canadian waters and agreed, among other things, not to prevent British creditors from attempting to recover debts owed to them.

The Northwest Territory – which constituted the present-day states of Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, and parts of Minnesota – doubled the land mass of the United States and helped encourage the westward expansion that would happen over the next century.

In addition to the American colonists, France, Spain, and the Netherlands fought against the British during the American Revolution. In addition to the Treaty of Paris, Great Britain signed separate peace treaties with each of these countries in September 1783.

In the treaties, known broadly as the Peace of Paris, Great Britain surrendered to Spain parts of Florida that it had taken in the last Treaty of Paris. (Spain had relinquished Spanish Florida to the British Empire in 1763 at the end of the French and Indian War.)

Though the Treaty of Paris, 1783 officially ended the war between America and Great Britain, tensions continued to climb between the two nations over issues that remained unsettled by the treaty.

For instance, the British refused to surrender several of its forts in the Northwest Territory. At the same time, the United States, for its part, continued to harass citizens who had stayed loyal to the British Crown during the war.

Two months later, the major details had been worked out, and on November 30, 1782, the United States and Britain signed the introductory articles of the treaty. France signed its own introductory peace treaty on January 20, 1783, with Britain, and then in September of that same year, all three nations and Spain agreed to the final accord. The Continental Congress approved the Treaty of Paris on January 14, 1784.

In 1795, John Jay returned to Europe to resolve the many outstanding issues that remained with Britain. The resulting agreement, known as Jay’s Treaty, helped to postpone another costly war between the two countries.

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