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- ****** THE PARIS PEACE TREATY (PEACE TREATY of 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 "!Qis 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.,bQa 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 61+kQr plenipotentiary c"+)e.%
- 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 articlY.)x
-
- 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, èand 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 thYj%1of