The Treaty of Paris, also known as the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10
February 1763 by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal
in agreement, after Britain's victory over France and Spain during the Seven
Years' War. The signing of the treaty formally ended
the Seven Years' War, known as the French and Indian War in the North
American theatre, and marked the beginning of an era of British dominance
outside Europe. The two nations returned much of the territory that they had each
captured during the war, but Britain gained much of France's possessions in
North America. Additionally, Britain agreed to protect Roman Catholicism in
the New World. The treaty did not involve Prussia and Austria as they
signed a separate agreement, the Treaty of Hubertusburg, five days later.
Exchange of territories During the war, Britain had conquered
the French colonies of Canada, Guadeloupe, Saint Lucia, Dominica,
Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tobago, the French
"factories" in India, the slave-trading station at Gorée, the Sénégal River and
its settlements, and the Spanish colonies of Manila and Havana. France
had captured Minorca and British trading posts in Sumatra, while Spain had
captured the border fortress of Almeida in Portugal, and Colonia del Sacramento
in South America. In the treaty, most of these territories were restored to their
original owners. Britain however made considerable gains. France and Spain
restored all their conquests to Britain and Portugal. Britain restored Manila
and Havana to Spain, and Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Gorée, and the
Indian factories to France. In return, France ceded Canada, Dominica, Grenada,
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tobago to Britain. France also ceded the
eastern half of French Louisiana to Britain; that is, the area from the
Mississippi River to the Appalachian Mountains. Spain ceded Florida to
Britain. France had already secretly given Louisiana to Spain in the Treaty
of Fontainebleau. In addition, while France regained its factories in India,
France recognized British clients as the rulers of key Indian native states, and
pledged not to send troops to Bengal. Britain agreed to demolish its
fortifications in British Honduras, but retained a logwood-cutting colony there.
Britain confirmed the right of its new subjects to practice Catholicism.
France ceded all of its territory in mainland North America, but retained
fishing rights off Newfoundland and the two small islands of Saint Pierre and
Miquelon, where it could dry that fish. In turn France gained the return of its
sugar colony, Guadeloupe, which it considered more valuable than Canada.
Voltaire had notoriously dismissed Canada as "Quelques arpents de neige",
"Some acres of snow". Louisiana question
The Treaty of Paris is frequently noted as the point at which France gave
Louisiana to Spain. However the transfer actually occurred with the Treaty of
Fontainebleau but was not publicly announced until 1764. The Treaty of
Paris was to give Britain the east side of the Mississippi. New Orleans on the
east side remained in French hands. The Mississippi River corridor in what is
modern day Louisiana was to be reunited following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803
and the Adams–Onís Treaty in 1819. The 1763 treaty states in Article VII:
Canada question = British perspective=
While the war was fought all over the world, the British began the war over
French possessions in North America. After a long debate in Britain of the
relative merits of Guadeloupe, which produced £6 million a year in sugar,
versus Canada which was expensive to keep, Britain decided to keep Canada for
strategic reasons and return Guadeloupe to France. While the war had weakened
France, it was still a European Power. British Prime Minister Lord Bute wanted
a peace that would not aggravate France towards a second war. This explains why
Britain agreed to return so much while being in such a strong position.
Though the Protestant British feared Roman Catholics, Britain did not want to
antagonize France through expulsion or forced conversion. Also, Britain did not
want French settlers to leave Canada to strengthen other French settlements in
North America. This explains Britain's willingness to protect Roman Catholics
living in Canada. = French perspective=
Unlike Lord Bute, the French Foreign Minister the Duke of Choiseul expected a
return to war. However, France needed peace to rebuild. French diplomats
believed that without France to keep the Americans in check, the colonists might
attempt to revolt. In Canada, France wanted open emigration for those who
would not swear allegiance to the British Crown such as nobility. Lastly,
France required protection for Roman Catholics in North America considering
Britain's previous treatment of Roman Catholics under its jurisdiction.
= Canada in the Treaty of Paris= The article states:
Dunkirk question During the negotiations that led to the
treaty, a major issue of dispute between Britain and France had been over the
status of the fortifications of the French coastal settlement of Dunkirk.
The British had long feared that it would be used as a staging post to
launch a French invasion of Britain. Under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 they
had forced France to concede extreme limits on the fortifications there. The
1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle had allowed more generous terms, and France
had constructed greater defences for the town.
By the Treaty Britain forced France to accept the earlier 1713 conditions and
demolish the fortifications they had constructed since then. This would be a
continuing source of resentment to France, who would eventually have this
clause overturned in the 1783 Treaty of Paris which brought an end to the
American Revolutionary War. Reaction
When Lord Bute became Prime Minister in 1762, he pushed for a resolution to the
war with France and Spain, fearing that Great Britain could not govern all of
its newly acquired territories. In what Winston Churchill would later term a
policy of "appeasement," Bute returned some colonies to Spain and France in the
negotiations. Despite a desire for peace, many in the British parliament
opposed the return of any gains made during the war. Notable among the
opposition was former Prime Minister William Pitt, the Elder, who warned that
the terms of the treaty would only lead to further conflicts once France and
Spain had time to rebuild. "The peace was insecure," he would later say,
"because it restored the enemy to her former greatness. The peace was
inadequate, because the places gained were no equivalent for the places
surrendered." The treaty passed 319 votes to 65 opposed.
The Treaty of Paris took no consideration of Great Britain's
battered continental ally, Frederick II of Prussia. Frederick would have to
negotiate peace terms separately in the Treaty of Hubertusburg. For decades
following the Seven Years' War, Frederick II would consider the Treaty
of Paris as a British betrayal. The American colonists were disappointed
by the protection of Roman Catholicism in the Treaty of Paris because of their
own strong Protestant faith. Some have pointed to this as one reason for the
breakdown of American–British relations. Effects on French Canada
The article provided for unrestrained emigration for 18 months from Canada.
However, passage of British ships was expensive. A total of 1,600 people left
New France through the Treaty clause, but only 270 French Canadians. Some have
claimed that this was part of British policy to limit emigration.
Article IV of the treaty allowed Roman Catholicism to be practised in Canada.
George III agreed to allow Catholicism within the laws of Great Britain. In
this period, British laws included various Test Acts to prevent
governmental, judicial, and bureaucratic appointments from going to Roman
Catholics. Roman Catholics were believed to be agents of the Jacobite Pretenders
to the throne, who normally resided in France supported by the French regime.
This was relaxed in Quebec to some degree, but top positions like
governorships were still held by Anglicans.
Article IV has also been cited as the basis for Quebec often having its unique
set of laws that are different from the rest of Canada. There was a general
constitutional principle in the United Kingdom to allow colonies taken through
conquest to continue their own laws. This was limited by royal prerogative,
and the monarch could still choose to change the accepted laws in a conquered
colony. However, the treaty eliminated this power because by a different
constitutional principle, terms of a treaty were considered paramount. In
practice, Roman Catholics could become jurors in inferior courts in Quebec and
argue based on principles of French law. However, the judge was British and his
opinion on French law could be limited or hostile. If the case was appealed to
a superior court, neither French law nor Roman Catholic jurors were allowed.
Many French residents of what are now Canada's Maritime provinces, called
Acadians, were deported during the Great Expulsion. After the signing of the
peace treaty guaranteed some rights to Roman Catholics, some Acadians returned
to Canada. However, they were no longer welcome in English Nova Scotia. They
were forced into New Brunswick, which is a bilingual province today as a result
of that relocation. The French people of Quebec felt great
betrayal at the French concession. Commander-in-Chief of the British
Jeffrey Amherst noted that, "Many of the Canadians consider their Colony to be of
utmost consequence to France & cannot be convinced … that their Country has been
conceded to Great Britain". See also
France in the Seven Years' War Great Britain in the Seven Years' War
List of treaties References
Further reading Calloway, Colin Gordon. The scratch of a
pen: 1763 and the transformation of North America. New York: Oxford
University Press. Churchill, Sir Winston. The Great
Republic: A History of America. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50320-X.
Conklin, William E.. In Defence of Fundamental Rights. Springer.
Dull, Jonathan R.. The French Navy and the Seven Years' War. University of
Nebraska. Gough, Barry M.. British Mercantile
Interests in the Making of the Peace of Paris, 1763. Edwin Meller Press.
Monod, Paul Kleber. Imperial Island: A History of Britain and Its Empire,
1660–1837. Wiley-Blackwell. Price, Joseph Edward. The status of
French among youth in a bilingual American–Canadian border community: the
case of Madawaska, Maine. Indiana University.
External links Treaty of Paris Profile and Videos -
Chickasaw.TV The Treaty of Paris and its Consequences
Entry on the Treaty of Paris from The Canadian Encyclopedia
Treaty of Paris at the Avalon Project of the Yale Law School0