The Treaty of Paris formally ended the American Revolutionary War, the conflict behind America250’s founding story.
Representatives of the United States and Great Britain signed the treaty on September 3, 1783. Britain recognized the United States as an independent nation and accepted boundaries reaching west to the Mississippi River.
The treaty followed the Declaration of Independence by more than seven years. The Declaration announced the colonies’ claimed separation in 1776, while the treaty brought the war to a diplomatic conclusion after the American victory at Yorktown and subsequent negotiations.
This Treaty of Paris is often confused with other agreements carrying the same name. The 1783 treaty ended the American Revolutionary War; the 1783 peace settlement also involved separate agreements between Britain and other European powers. The Treaty of Ghent, by contrast, ended the War of 1812.