The Paris Peace Treaty 1783 | |
The Treaty of Paris terms:
1783. This is one of those cases where dates in American history are important, for there were at least three Paris peace treaties—in 1763, 1783, and 1898; if you include the Versailles Treaty of 1919, that makes four, and of course the treaty that ended the Vietnam War was also signed in Paris. In the last years of the Revolutionary war Great Britain was in serious trouble, and not only on the American continent. France was openly aiding the United States, and France had been a thorn in England side for centuries. Although Spain did not join in the American Revolution, they did declare war on Britain as they had territorial issues to resolve and took advantage of Britain’s entanglement with the Americans. Other nations including Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Prussia and the Netherlands formed a League of Armed Neutrality, not exactly declaring war on Great Britain but certainly making her ministers in Paris uncomfortable. Great Britain had other colonies around the world as far away as India, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. Although the United States had an agreement with France not to negotiate a separate peace, the Americans nevertheless secretly entered into negotiations, and the French government looked the other way. It was clear that the United States would become independent, and France had nothing to lose by letting the American negotiators go their own way. In the end the United States got a very favorable treaty from Great Britain. American independence was recognized, the American boundary in the West was set at the Mississippi River, and Great Britain promised to evacuate all its forts in the northwest, among other things. During negotiations, however, there was one minor setback for the United States in that Florida was restored to the Spanish Empire. United States would have to negotiate with Spain at a later date to acquire that territory. With the signing of the treaty a fact, the United States was free to develop on its own terms. Although the European nations did not think that an independent republic could survive very long, they were not in a position to interfere in its development. Thus Americans can consider themselves lucky that the French Revolution did not start earlier than it did, for in the turmoil generated by the turmoil and wars that accompanied the French Revolution, the United States would not have had the luxury of creating its own constitutional government in peace. |
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