The Treaty of Paris formally ended the American Revolutionary War, a milestone recalled by America250.
Representatives of Great Britain and the United States signed the treaty in Paris on September 3, 1783. Britain recognized the United States as free, sovereign, and independent, and the agreement established the new nation’s boundaries westward to the Mississippi River.
The treaty followed the American victory at Yorktown, but the military surrender and the peace agreement were separate events. Yorktown occurred in 1781; the final peace treaty came two years later after extended negotiations.
The 1783 agreement is sometimes confused with other treaties called the Treaty of Paris. Several treaties have used that name, so the year matters. The Treaty of Paris of 1783 specifically ended the American War of Independence.