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THE PARIS PEACE TREATY (PEACE TREATY of 1783)
In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity.
It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the hearts of
the most serene and most potent Prince George the Third, by the grace
of God, king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, defender of the
faith, duke of Brunswick and Lunebourg, arch-treasurer and prince
elector of the Holy Roman Empire etc., and of the United States of
America, to forget all past misunderstandings and differences that
have unhappily interrupted the good correspondence and friendship
which they mutually wish to restore, and to establish such a
beneficial and satisfactory intercourse , between the two countries
upon the ground of reciprocal advantages and mutual convenience as
may promote and secure to both perpetual peace and harmony; and
having for this desirable end already laid the foundation of peace
and reconciliation by the Provisional Articles signed at Paris on
the 30th of November 1782, by the commissioers empowered on each
part, which articles were agreed to be inserted in and constitute
the Treaty of Peace proposed to be concluded between the Crown of
Great Britain and the said United States, but which treaty was not
to be concluded until terms of peace should be agreed upon between
Great Britain and France and his Britannic Majesty should be ready
to conclude such treaty accordingly; and the treaty between Great
Britain and France having since been concluded, his Britannic Majesty
and the United States of America, in order to carry into full effect
the Provisional Articles above mentioned, according to the tenor
thereof, have constituted and appointed, that is to say his Britannic
Majesty on his part, David Hartley, Esqr., member of the Parliament
of Great Britain, and the said United States on their part,
John Adams, Esqr., late a commissioner of the United States of
America at the court of Versailles, late delegate in Congress from
the state of Massachusetts, and chief justice of the said state,
and minister plenipotentiary of the said United States to their
high mightinesses the States General of the United Netherlands;
Benjamin Franklin, Esqr., late delegate in Congress from the state
of Pennsylvania, president of the convention of the said state, and
minister plenipotentiary from the United States of America at the
court of Versailles; John Jay, Esqr., late president of Congress and
chief justice of the state of New York, and minister plenipotentiary
from the said United States at the court of Madrid; to be
plenipotentiaries for the concluding and signing the present
definitive treaty; who after having reciprocally communicated their
respective full powers have agreed upon and confirmed the following
articles.
Article 1:
His Brittanic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz.,
New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to
be free sovereign and independent states, that he treats with them
as such, and for himself, his heirs, and successors, relinquishes
all claims to the government, propriety, and territorial rights of
the same and every part thereof.
Article 2:
And that all disputes which might arise in future on the subject
of the boundaries of the said United States may be prevented, it is
hereby agreed and declared, that the following are and shall be
their boundaries, viz.; from the northwest angle of Nova Scotia,
viz., that nagle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the
source of St. Croix River to the highlands; along the said highlands
which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river
St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the
northwesternmost head of Connecticut River; thence down along the
middle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude;
from thence by a line due west on said latitude until it strikes the
river Iroquois or Cataraquy; thence along the middle of said river
into Lake Ontario; through the middle of said lake until it strikes
the communication by water between that lake and Lake Erie; thence
along the middle of said communication into Lake Erie, through the
middle of said lake until it arrives at the water communication
between that lake and Lake Huron; thence along the middle of said
water communication into Lake Huron, thence through the middle of
said lake to the water communication between that lake and Lake
Superior; thence through Lake Superior northward of the Isles Royal
and Phelipeaux to the Long Lake; thence through the middle of said
Long Lake and the water communication between it and the Lake of the
Woods, to the said Lake of the Woods; thence through the said lake
to the most northwesternmost point thereof, and from thence on a due
west course to the river Mississippi; thence by a line to be drawn
along the middle of the said river Mississippi until it shall
intersect the northernmost part of the thirty-first degree of north
latitude, South, by a line to be drawn due east from the determination
of the line last mentioned in the latitude of thirty-one degrees of
the equator, to the middle of the river Apalachicola or Catahouche;
thence along the middle thereof to its junction with the Flint River,
thence straight to the head of Saint Mary's River; and thence down
along the middle of Saint Mary's River to the Atlantic Ocean; east,
by a line to be drawn along the middle of the river Saint Croix,
from its mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its source, and from its source
directly north to the aforesaid highlands which divide the rivers
that fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the
river Saint Lawrence; comprehending all islands within twenty leagues
of any part of the shores of the United States, and lying between
lines to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid
boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part and East Florida on
the other shall, respectively, touch the Bay of Fundy and the
Atlantic Ocean, excepting such islands as now are or heretofore have
been within the limits of the said province of Nova Scotia.
Article 3:
It is agreed that the people of the United States shall continue
to enjoy unmolested the right to take fish of every kind on the
Grand Bank and on all the other banks of Newfoundland, also in the
Gulf of Saint Lawrence and at all other places in the sea, where the
inhabitants of both countries used at any time heretofore to fish.
And also that the inhabitants of the United States shall have liberty
to take fish of every kind on such part of the coast of Newfoundland
as British fishermen shall use, (but not to dry or cure the same on
that island) and also on the coasts, bays and creeks of all other of
his Brittanic Majesty's dominions in America; and that the American
fishermen shall have liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the
unsettled bays, harbors, and creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands,
and Labrador, so long as the same shall remain unsettled, but so soon
as the same or either of them shall be settled, it shall not be
lawful for the said fishermen to dry or cure fish at such settlement
without a previous agreement for that purpose with the inhabitants,
proprietors, or possessors of the ground.
Article 4:
It is agreed that creditors on either side shall meet with no
lawful impediment to the recovery of the full value in sterling money
of all bona fide debts heretofore contracted.
Article 5:
It is agreed that Congress shall earnestly recommend it to the
legislatures of the respective states to provide for the restitution
of all estates, rights, and properties, which ave been confiscated
belonging to real British subjects; and also of the estates, rights,
and properties of persons resident in districts in the possession on
his Majesty's arms and who have not borne arms against the said United
States. And that persons of any other decription shall have free
liberty to go to any part or parts of any of the thirteen United States
and therein to remain twelve months unmolested in their endeavors to
obtain the restitution of such of their estates, rights, and properties
as may have been confiscated; and that Congress shall also earnestly
recommend to the several states a reconsideration and revision of all
acts or laws regarding the premises, so as to render the said laws or
acts perfectly consistent not only with justice and equity but with
that spirit of conciliation which on the return of the blessings of
peace should universally prevail. And that Congress shall also
earnestly recommend to the several states that the estates, rights,
and properties, of such last mentioned persons shall be restored to
them, they refunding to any persons who may be now in possession the
bona fide price (where any has been given) which such persons may have
paid on purchasing any of the said lands, rights, or properties since
the confiscation.
And it is agreed that all persons who have any interest in
confiscated lands, either by debts, marriage settlements, or otherwise,
shall meet with no lawful impediment in the prosecution of their just
rights.
Article 6:
That there shall be no future confiscations made nor any
prosecutions commenced against any person or persons for, or by reason
of, the part which he or they may have taken in the present war, and
that no person shall on that account suffer any future loss or damage,
either in his person, liberty, or property; and that those who may be
in confinement on such charges at the time of the ratification of the
treaty in America shall be immediately set at liberty, and the
prosecutions so commenced be discontinued.
Article 7:
There shall be a firm and perpetual peace between his Brittanic
Majesty and the said states, and between the subjects of the one and
the citizens of the other, wherefore all hostilities both by sea and
land shall from henceforth cease. All prisoners on both sides shall
be set at liberty, and his Brittanic Majesty shall with all convenient
speed, and without causing any destruction, or carrying away any
Negroes or other property of the American inhabitants, withdraw all
his armies, garrisons, and fleets from the said United States, and
from every post, place, and harbor within the same; leaving in all
fortifications, the American artillery that may be therein; and shall
also order and cause all archives, records, deeds, and papers belonging
to any of the said states, or their citizens, which in the course of
the war may have fallen into the hands of his officers, to be forthwith
restored and delivered to the proper states and persons to whom they
belong.
Article 8:
The navigation of the river Mississippi, from its source to the
ocean, shall forever remain free and open to the subjects of Great
Britain and the citizens of the United States.
Article 9:
In case it should so happen that any place or territory belonging
to Great Britain or to the United States should have been conquered
by the arms of either from the other before the arrival of the said
Provisional Articles in America, it is agreed that the same shall be
restored without difficulty and without requiring any compensation.
Article 10:
The solemn ratifications of the present treaty expedited in good
and due form shall be exchanged between the contracting parties in
the space of six months or sooner, if possible, to be computed from
the day of the signatures of the present treaty. In witness whereof
we the undersigned, their ministers plenipotentiary, have in their
name and in virtue of our full powers, signed with our hands the
present definitive treaty and caused the seals of our arms to be
affixed thereto.
Done at Paris, this third day of September in the year of our Lord,
one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three.
D. HARTLEY - SEAL -
JOHN ADAMS - SEAL -
B. FRANKLIN - SEAL -
JOHN JAY - SEAL -
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The Peace Treaty of 1783, also known as The Paris Peace Treaty, ended
the United States War for Independence.
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