The Treaty of Paris (1784)

234 years ago today in 1784, the Continental Congress officially ratifies the Treaty of Paris ending the American War of Independence.

One important fact to consider about the treaty is that it did not grant independence to a single nation but individual states, and listed them each by name:

“His Brittanic 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 & Successors, relinquishes all claims to the Government, Propriety, and Territorial Rights of the same and every Part thereof.”

These 13 sovereign states would be in a loose confederation until they ratified the constitution creating a more centralized Federal government 5 years later.

[Online References]

(http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/paris.asp )

(https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=6&page=transcript )

(http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/continental-congress-ratifies-the-treaty-of-paris )

(http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/adams-jefferson-and-madison-help-to-ratify-the-treaty-of-paris )

Author: R.E. Foy