The Treaty of Paris formally ended the American Revolutionary War and recognized the United States as independent.
Representatives of the United States and Great Britain signed the treaty in Paris on September 3, 1783. The American negotiators were Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Jay, and Henry Laurens, while David Hartley represented Britain. The agreement followed preliminary articles negotiated in 1782.
The treaty did more than stop the fighting. Britain recognized the United States as free, sovereign, and independent states and accepted boundaries extending west to the Mississippi River and south to Spanish Florida. The agreement also addressed fishing rights, debts, prisoners of war, and Loyalist property.
The Treaty of Paris is sometimes confused with the broader Peace of Paris, which included separate agreements involving France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic. Congress ratified the American-British treaty on January 14, 1784. Its recognition of independence made it a central document in the long historical arc commemorated by America250.