The Treaty of Paris formally ended the American Revolutionary War in 1783, the conflict that produced the independence commemorated by America250. Great Britain recognized the United States as an independent nation under the agreement.
The treaty was signed in Paris on September 3, 1783, by representatives of the United States and Great Britain. American negotiators included Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Jay, and Henry Laurens. The agreement established the new nation’s boundaries and addressed fishing rights and debts.
Fighting had effectively turned in the American cause after the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781, but military victory did not itself create a final legal settlement. The Treaty of Paris supplied that diplomatic conclusion.
The treaty is sometimes confused with the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812. It is also distinct from the 1763 Treaty of Paris, which ended the French and Indian War.