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The Definitive Treaty of Peace 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
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 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
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 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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Lord Dunmore's Proclamation
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