today we're looking at the Treaty of Paris of 1783. [Music]
hello welcome to the Daily bell ringer please don't forget to subscribe and take a look at
the questions down in the description also don't forget to check out dailybellringer.com where
you'll find more resources that go with many of the bellringer videos the American Revolution
officially came to an end on September 3rd 1783 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris ending
the hostilities between the new American Nation and Britain the last major battle had been won by
the Americans at the siege of Yorktown in October of 1781. after that loss support for the war in
Britain among the general public and British Parliament began to fall the war was simply
becoming too costly for the British to continue in the spring of 1782 the British agreed to begin
peace negotiations with the Americans John Adams Benjamin Franklin and John Jay were chosen to be
the primary negotiators to travel to Paris France where the negotiations would take place early
negotiations between the two Nations stalled as Britain refused to recognize the United States
as an independent country the Americans insisted on this point and would not accept any agreement
that did not include full American independence as the negotiations wore on there were elections in
Britain and new members of parliament were elected that were more supportive of the idea of American
independence in fact the newly elected prime minister of Britain Lord Shelburne viewed the
peace negotiations as an opportunity to heal Old Wounds between the two Rivals and build a strong
trade Alliance that would be beneficial to Britain as a result when the negotiators returned to the
table in 1783 the British were very generous in their terms the final treaty included 10 articles
or terms of the agreement the first article which is the only part of the treaty still enforced
today clearly states that Britain recognized the United States as an independent country the
article reads as follows Britain acknowledges the United States to be free Sovereign and
independent states and that the British crown in all heirs and successors relinquish claims to
the government property and territorial rights of the same and every part thereof in Article
2 the British gave over an enormous amount of land making The American Nation extend from the
Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Mississippi River and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of
Mexico Spain retained control of land west of the Mississippi River and kept control of Florida
many Europeans at the time saw this part of the treaty and said it was establishing an American
Empire as the total land given over was larger than Britain France and Spain combined The Third
Article established fishing rights for Americans in the Atlantic off the east coast the following
few articles then established that debts taken on during the war would be paid and that land taken
or confiscated from loyalists during the war would be returned and no further property would be taken
interestingly however much of this part of the agreement was ignored as land and property were
not returned and many loyalists lost court cases arguing that this part of the treaty should be
honored the treaty then went on to state that all prisoners of War would be released and that the
British would give over all property in the United States but here again this was not fully followed
through on as British troops remained in control of several forts in the Northwest Territory in
the final few articles of the agreement both Britain and America agreed to have access to the
Mississippi River and then finally that the treaty must be ratified or approved by their respective
Nations within six months of it being signed the treaty was signed on September 3rd 1783 by Adams
Franklin and Jay at hotel de York in Paris the united states ratified the treaty on January 14th
of 1784 while the British Parliament approved the treaty on April 9th of 1784. in addition to
this treaty the British also negotiated treaties with other countries involved in the war such as
Spain Netherlands and France together these completed treaties became known as the peace
of Paris the American negotiators accomplished the primary goal officially ending the war and
gaining full recognition of the United States as an independent nation but as I mentioned before
there were certain articles of the Treaty of Paris that neither the United States nor Britain
actually followed through on in 1795 John Jay traveled back to Europe on behalf of the United
States and negotiated what became known as the Jay Treaty to resolve those problems before another
War possibly broke out so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
hey quick shout out here to Mr shoemaker's fifth and sixth grade social studies class at Breese
Elementary in Breese Illinois where it's a great day to be a bobcat thanks for watching