The Treaty of Paris formally recognized the United States as independent in 1783.
Representatives of Great Britain and the United States signed the treaty in Paris on September 3, 1783. It ended the American Revolutionary War and acknowledged the former Thirteen Colonies as free, sovereign, and independent states.
The agreement also established important territorial arrangements. Britain recognized American boundaries extending west to the Mississippi River, north toward British North America, and south to Spanish Florida. The treaty addressed fishing rights, debts, prisoners of war, and property claims involving Loyalists.
The treaty was signed nearly seven years after the Declaration of Independence. That distinction matters: the Declaration announced the colonies’ political separation in 1776, while the Treaty of Paris secured Britain’s formal recognition after the military conflict. The Confederation Congress ratified the treaty on January 14, 1784, in Annapolis, Maryland.