The Treaty of Paris ends the American Revolutionary War
- Date
- 3 September 1783
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- North America / Europe
- Era
- Early Modern
- Significance
Signed in Paris on 3 September 1783, the Treaty of Paris formally ended the American Revolutionary War and secured Great Britain's recognition of the United States as a sovereign, independent nation.
The British defeat at Yorktown in October 1781 had collapsed political support for the war in Britain and opened negotiations in 1782 led on the American side by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and John Jay. Under the treaty, Britain recognised American independence and ceded most of its territory east of the Mississippi River, roughly doubling the new nation's size and opening vast lands for westward expansion. Ratified by the Confederation Congress in January 1784, the settlement confirmed the first successful colonial war of independence against a major European power. It demonstrated that Enlightenment ideals of self-government could be translated into a functioning state, an example that helped inspire revolutionary movements across the Atlantic world over the following decades.
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Empires active in 3 September 1783
- British Empire1583 CE – 1997 CE
- Qing Dynasty1636 CE – 1912 CE
- Russian Empire1721 CE – 1917 CE
- Spanish Empire1492 CE – 1976 CE
- Portuguese Empire1415 CE – 1999 CE
- Mughal Empire1526 CE – 1857 CE
Related military & conflict events
- Fall of Seringapatam, death of Tipu Sultan and the end of the Anglo-Mysore Wars4 May 1799
- Fall of Beijing and the Ming–Qing transition1644
- Third Battle of Panipat checks Maratha expansion14 January 1761
- Battle of Plassey and the rise of British power in Bengal23 June 1757
- Qing conquest of the Dzungars and the creation of Xinjiang1755–1759
- Nadir Shah sacks Delhi and shatters Mughal powerMarch 1739
Further reading
The wider story
Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire
Fast-paced narrative of Portugal's seaborne empire.
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