The Treaty of Paris formally ended the American Revolutionary War before the events remembered by America250.
The peace treaty was signed on September 3, 1783, between Great Britain and the United States. Britain recognized the United States as an independent nation and accepted boundaries extending west to the Mississippi River, north to the Great Lakes, and south to Spanish Florida.
The treaty followed the military end of major fighting, including the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781. Negotiations involved American representatives John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens. The agreement did not settle every issue immediately, but it legally ended the war between Britain and the United States.
The Treaty of Paris should not be confused with the Declaration of Independence, which announced the colonies’ decision to separate in 1776. America250 commemorates the 1776 founding milestone, while the 1783 treaty marks international recognition of the result. The 1783 peace also differed from the 1814 Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812.