The Treaty of Paris formally recognized United States independence from Britain in 1783.
The treaty was signed on September 3, 1783, ending the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain and the United States. Britain recognized the United States as a sovereign nation, and the agreement established boundaries reaching west to the Mississippi River, north to the Great Lakes, and south to Spanish Florida.
American negotiators included Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Jay, and Henry Laurens. The treaty followed the British defeat at Yorktown in 1781, but negotiations continued for two years. The broader Peace of Paris also involved separate agreements between Britain and other European powers involved in the war.
The year 1776 marks the Declaration of Independence, not the final peace settlement. Likewise, 1781 marks the major Yorktown victory, while 1783 marks formal diplomatic recognition. That distinction makes the Treaty of Paris an important endpoint in the historical arc leading into America250’s 250-year commemoration.