Chapter XVIII: Appendix: I

TREATY OF PARIS, 1783

DEFINITIVE TREATY OF PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN HIS
BRITANNIC MAJESTY AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, SIGNED AT
PARIS, THE 3RD OF SEPTEMBER, 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 Lunenburg, Arch-Treasurer and Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, &c., 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 2 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 Commissioners empowered on each part; which Articles were agreed to be inserted in, and to 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, Esq.,
Member of the Parliament of Great Britain; and the said
United States, on their part, John Adams, Esq., 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, Esq., 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, Esq., 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
the 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:

Art. I. His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United
States, viz., New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island
and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 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.

II. 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
North-West Angle of Nova Scotia, viz., that Angle 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 North-westernmost head of Connecticut River;
thence down along the middle of that River to the 45th
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 the 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 the
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 North-western 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 31st 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 31 degrees North
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 St.
Mary’s River, and thence down along the middle of St. Mary’s
River to the Atlantic Ocean, East by a line to be drawn along
the middle of the River St. 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
St. Lawrence: comprehending all islands within 20 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.

III. 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 Gulph of St. 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 Britannic Majesty’s
Dominions in America; and that the American Fishermen shall
have liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled
Bays, Harbours, 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.

IV. It is agreed, that Creditors on either side shall meet
with no lawful impedimenta to the recovery of the full
value in sterling money of all bonâ fide debts heretofore
contracted.

V. It is agreed, that the Congress shall earnestly recommend
it to the legislatures of the respective states to provide
for the restitution of all estates, rights and properties
which have been confiscated, belonging to real British
subjects; and also of the estates, rights and properties
of persons resident in districts in the possession of his
Majesty’s arms, and who have not borne arms against the said
United States; and that persons of any other description
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 endeavours 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 bonâ 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.

VI. 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.

VII. There shall be a firm and perpetual Peace between His
Britannic 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 Britannic 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 Port, Place, and Harbour
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.

VIII. The navigation of the River Mississippi, from its
source to the Ocean, shall for ever remain free and open to
the Subjects of Great Britain and the Citizens of the United
States.

IX. 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.

X. The solemn Ratifications of the present Treaty, expedited
in good and due form, shall be exchanged between the
Contracting Parties in the space of 6 months, or sooner if
possible, to be computed from the day of the signature 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 3rd day of September, in the year of our
Lord, 1783.

(L.S.) D. HARTLEY. (L.S.) JOHN ADAMS.
(L.S.) B. FRANKLIN.
(L.S.) JOHN JAY.