The Treaty of Paris recognized U.S. independence after the Revolutionary War when it was signed on September 3, 1783, a key America250 milestone.
The agreement was signed in Paris by representatives of Great Britain and the United States. Britain acknowledged the United States as free, sovereign, and independent states, formally ending the War of American Independence. The treaty also set boundaries, granted American fishing rights in waters near Newfoundland, and addressed debts, prisoners, and Loyalist property.
The American negotiators were Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Jay, and Henry Laurens, while David Hartley represented Britain. The treaty followed preliminary articles signed in November 1782, but the final agreement was the decisive diplomatic settlement.
The U.S. Congress of the Confederation ratified the treaty on January 14, 1784, in Annapolis, Maryland. The signing date is therefore different from the ratification date and from the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781, which ended major combat but not the war legally.