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The Paris 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 commissioners 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 have 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 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 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 artilery 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 U. S. Constitution
