The Treaty of 1783

Signed in 1783, the Treaty of Paris was the formal agreement that ended the War for Independence and created the United States of America. Over many months of negotiation, three teams of delegates—from the United States, Great Britain, and France—had pushed and pulled to secure every advantage. When the ink was dry, the United States had secured rights to all land east of the Mississippi River that was north of Florida and south of Canada as well as important fishing rights, and the restoration of property and prisoners of war. University of Maryland historian Richard Bell argues that the Treaty of Paris was a triumph for US diplomacy that reset relations with Britain and set a new border with Spanish North America. Notably, however, the treaty also damaged the US-French alliance irreparably and left Natives, loyalists, and fugitives from American slavery to fend for themselves.