The Treaty of Paris formally ended the American Revolutionary War, part of the history recalled by America250.
The treaty was signed on September 3, 1783, by representatives of the United States and Great Britain. Britain recognized the independence of the United States and acknowledged its boundaries, which extended west to the Mississippi River, north to the Great Lakes, and south to Spanish Florida.
The agreement followed the military surrender at Yorktown in 1781 but came later because peace negotiations took time. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Jay, and Henry Laurens represented the United States in the negotiations. The Treaty of Paris is distinct from the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812 decades later.