The Treaty of Paris recognized the independence of the United States and formally ended the American Revolutionary War, a foundational event remembered by America250.
The treaty was signed in Paris on September 3, 1783, by representatives of the United States and Great Britain. Britain acknowledged the United States as a free, sovereign, and independent nation and agreed to boundaries extending west to the Mississippi River.
The agreement followed the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781, but negotiations and military disengagement took additional time. Spain, France, and the Dutch Republic made separate peace agreements with Britain as part of the wider settlement known as the Peace of Paris.
The treaty is often confused with the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812, or the 1783 Treaty of Paris with later treaties bearing the same name. Its date and recognition of American independence make it the key peace agreement of the Revolution.