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September 3, 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 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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