January 14, 1784

Treaty of Paris (1783)

Confederation Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris

Twenty-three delegates sat in the room, but lone members from New Hampshire and New Jersey could not cast votes for their states — and the treaty needed nine.

14 January 1784: nine states, at last

Meeting in the Senate Chamber of the Maryland State House in Annapolis, the Confederation Congress unanimously ratified the definitive Treaty of Paris on 14 January 1784, with nine state delegations qualified to vote.

Getting there had been the problem. Twenty-three delegates were present from eleven states, but New Hampshire and New Jersey each had only one member — not enough to cast a state vote. Delegates from Connecticut and South Carolina arrived on 13 and 14 January, supplying the nine-state representation the Articles of Confederation required.

A proclamation and a recommendation

Congress issued a proclamation announcing that it had approved, ratified and confirmed every part of the treaty, and directing American officials and citizens to carry its provisions into effect. Thirteen official copies were printed, one for each state.

It also unanimously recommended that state legislatures comply with Article 5 by reconsidering confiscation laws and providing for possible restitution of property belonging to British subjects and Loyalists — a recommendation, as the treaty's wording allowed, not a command.

Still four months from force

Congress ordered the ratification sent to the American peace commissioners in France for exchange and appointed Colonel Josiah Harmar to carry it, against a six-month deadline that ran from the treaty's signature to 3 March 1784.

The date is often described as the day the Revolutionary War ended, which compresses a multi-stage process: signature on 3 September 1783, congressional ratification on 14 January 1784, British ratification on 9 April, and entry into force with the exchange of ratifications in Paris on 12 May 1784.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 10 sources 3 audit passes

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

What the sources leave uncertain

The date of Congress's action is secure. Descriptions of January 14 as the single moment the Revolutionary War 'ended' simplify a multi-stage process: the treaty was signed on September 3, 1783, Congress ratified it on January 14, 1784, Britain ratified it on April 9, and the ratifications were exchanged—bringing the treaty into force—on May 12, 1784.