The end of the war and the terms of the Peace of Paris (1783)
Preliminary articles of peace were signed on November 30, 1782. The Peace of Paris, which was signed on September 3, 1783, ended the U.S. War of Independence.
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Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States (with western boundaries to the Mississippi River) and ceded Florida to Spain. Other provisions called for payment of U.S. private debts to British citizens, American access to the Newfoundland fisheries, and fair treatment for American colonials loyal to Britain. Great Britain and the United States also agreed that they would share access to the Mississippi.
The text of the treaty agreed to by the new United States and the colonial power Great Britain begins with the two countries pledging to reset their relationship after years of grinding war. George III and the United States, the treaty states, together seek
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….
Did that express that genuine feeling? Or empty diplomatic platitudes? Or a mix of both? Benjamin West provided one answer with a painting known as American Commissioners of the Preliminary Peace Negotiations with Great Britain. He began it in 1783, but only Americans would sit for him. He left the rest of his painting blank, because the British negotiators he intended to include did not make themselves available to him. West’s painting became a telling symbol of the continuing rivalry between the two countries, which would erupt again in the War of 1812.
France received Tobago and Senegal from Britain as a result of the American Revolution. The Dutch gave up to the British the Indian port of Nagapattinam and allowed British access to the Moluccas.