September 3, 1783

Treaty of Paris (1783)

Treaty of Paris and Treaties of Versailles signed

Peace was signed in two places that morning: the American treaty at a hotel in Paris, and Britain's separate French and Spanish treaties at Versailles.

10:30 a.m., 3 September 1783

On 3 September 1783, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and John Jay for the United States, and David Hartley for Great Britain, signed and sealed the definitive Treaty of Paris at Hartley's lodgings in the Hôtel d'York. The signing was complete by about 10:30 a.m., and four official copies were executed.

Henry Laurens, who had signed the 1782 preliminary articles, was not among the four signatories that morning.

Ten articles

Britain acknowledged the United States as free, sovereign and independent states and relinquished claims to their government, property and territorial rights. The treaty confirmed boundaries, American fishing rights, access for creditors, prisoner release, British evacuation and free navigation of the Mississippi for British subjects and U.S. citizens.

Article 5 is often misread: it did not compel states to restore Loyalist property, but required Congress to *recommend* restitution — language that left implementation with the states.

Signed, but not yet finished

On the same date Britain signed separate definitive treaties with France and Spain at Versailles, completing the broader 1783 settlement among those powers.

The signatures did not complete the peace in law or on the ground: the treaty specified ratification within six months, and British evacuation of every post was not instantaneous.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 3 audit passes

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