1783 The
In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity.
It having pleased the Divine Providence
to dispose the hearts of the most serene and most potent Prince George the
Third, by the grace of God, king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland,
defender of the faith, duke of Brunswick and Lunebourg, arch-treasurer and
prince elector of the Holy Roman Empire etc., and of the United States of
America, to forget all past misunderstandings and differences that have
unhappily interrupted the good correspondence and friendship which they
mutually wish to restore, and to establish such a beneficial and satisfactory
intercourse , between the two countries upon the ground of reciprocal
advantages and mutual convenience as may promote and secure to both perpetual
peace and harmony; and having for this desirable end already laid the
foundation of peace and reconciliation by the Provisional Articles signed at
Paris on the 30th of November 1782, by the commissioners empowered on each
part, which articles were agreed to be inserted in and constitute the Treaty of
Peace proposed to be concluded between the Crown of Great Britain and the said
United States, but which treaty was not to be concluded until terms of peace
should be agreed upon between Great Britain and France and his Britannic
Majesty should be ready to conclude such treaty accordingly; and the treaty
between Great Britain and France having since been concluded, his Britannic
Majesty and the United States of America, in order to carry into full effect
the Provisional Articles above mentioned, according to the tenor thereof, have
constituted and appointed, that is to say his Britannic Majesty on his part,
David Hartley, Esqr., member of the Parliament of Great Britain, and the said
United States on their part, John Adams, Esqr., late a commissioner of the
United States of America at the court of Versailles, late delegate in Congress
from the state of Massachusetts, and chief justice of the said state, and
minister plenipotentiary of the said United States to their high mightinesses
the States General of the United Netherlands; Benjamin Franklin, Esqr., late
delegate in Congress from the state of Pennsylvania, president of the
convention of the said state, and minister plenipotentiary from the United
States of America at the court of Versailles; John Jay, Esqr., late president
of Congress and chief justice of the state of New York, and minister
plenipotentiary from the said United States at the court of Madrid; to be
plenipotentiaries for the concluding and signing the present definitive treaty;
who after having reciprocally communicated their respective full powers have
agreed upon and confirmed the following articles.
Article 1:
His
Brittanic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz., New Hampshire,
Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina and Georgia, to be free sovereign and independent states, that he
treats with them as such, and for himself, his heirs, and successors,
relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety, and territorial rights of
the same and every part thereof.
Article 2:
And that
all disputes which might arise in future on the subject of the boundaries of
the said United States may be prevented, it is hereby agreed and declared, that
the following are and shall be their boundaries, viz.; from the northwest angle
of Nova Scotia, viz., that nagle which is formed by a line drawn due north from
the source of St. Croix River to the highlands; along the said highlands which divide
those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those
which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the northwesternmost head of Connecticut
River; thence down along the middle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of
north latitude; from thence by a line due west on said latitude until it
strikes the river Iroquois or Cataraquy; thence along the middle of said river
into Lake Ontario; through the middle of said lake until it strikes the
communication by water between that lake and Lake Erie; thence along the middle
of said communication into Lake Erie, through the middle of said lake until it
arrives at the water communication between that lake and Lake Huron; thence
along the middle of said water communication into Lake Huron, thence through
the middle of said lake to the water communication between that lake and Lake
Superior; thence through Lake Superior northward of the Isles Royal and
Phelipeaux to the Long Lake; thence through the middle of said Long Lake and
the water communication between it and the Lake of the Woods, to the said Lake
of the Woods; thence through the said lake to the most northwesternmost point
thereof, and from thence on a due west course to the river Mississippi; thence
by a line to be drawn along the middle of the said river Mississippi until it
shall intersect the northernmost part of the thirty-first degree of north
latitude, South, by a line to be drawn due east from the determination of the
line last mentioned in the latitude of thirty-one degrees of the equator, to
the middle of the river Apalachicola or Catahouche; thence along the middle
thereof to its junction with the Flint River, thence straight to the head of
Saint Mary's River; and thence down along the middle of Saint Mary's River to
the Atlantic Ocean; east, by a line to be drawn along the middle of the river
Saint Croix, from its mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its source, and from its
source directly north to the aforesaid highlands which divide the rivers that
fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the river Saint
Lawrence; comprehending all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the
shores of the United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from
the points where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part
and East Florida on the other shall, respectively, touch the Bay of Fundy and
the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such islands as now are or heretofore have been
within the limits of the said province of Nova Scotia.
Article 3:
It is
agreed that the people of the United States shall continue to enjoy unmolested
the right to take fish of every kind on the Grand Bank and on all the other
banks of Newfoundland, also in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and at all other
places in the sea, where the inhabitants of both countries used at any time
heretofore to fish. And also that the inhabitants of the United States shall
have liberty to take fish of every kind on such part of the coast of
Newfoundland as British fishermen shall use, (but not to dry or cure the same
on that island) and also on the coasts, bays and creeks of all other of his
Brittanic Majesty's dominions in America; and that the American fishermen shall
have liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, harbors, and
creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands, and Labrador, so long as the same
shall remain unsettled, but so soon as the same or either of them shall be
settled, it shall not be lawful for the said fishermen to dry or cure fish at
such settlement without a previous agreement for that purpose with the
inhabitants, proprietors, or possessors of the ground.
Article 4:
It is
agreed that creditors on either side shall meet with no lawful impediment to
the recovery of the full value in sterling money of all bona fide debts heretofore
contracted.
Article 5:
It is
agreed that Congress shall earnestly recommend it to the legislatures of the
respective states to provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and
properties, which have been confiscated belonging to real British subjects; and
also of the estates, rights, and properties of persons resident in districts in
the possession on his Majesty's arms and who have not borne arms against the
said United States. And that persons of
any other decription shall have free liberty to go to any part or parts of any
of the thirteen United States and therein to remain twelve months unmolested in
their endeavors to obtain the restitution of such of their estates, rights, and
properties as may have been confiscated; and that Congress shall also earnestly
recommend to the several states a reconsideration and revision of all acts or
laws regarding the premises, so as to render the said laws or acts perfectly
consistent not only with justice and equity but with that spirit of
conciliation which on the return of the blessings of peace should universally
prevail. And that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several states
that the estates, rights, and properties, of such last mentioned persons shall
be restored to them, they refunding to any persons who may be now in possession
the bona fide price (where any has been given) which such persons may have paid
on purchasing any of the said lands, rights, or properties since the
confiscation. And it is agreed that all persons who have any interest in
confiscated lands, either by debts, marriage settlements, or otherwise, shall
meet with no lawful impediment in the prosecution of their just rights.
Article 6:
That
there shall be no future confiscations made nor any prosecutions commenced
against any person or persons for, or by reason of, the part which he or they
may have taken in the present war, and that no person shall on that account
suffer any future loss or damage, either in his person, liberty, or property;
and that those who may be in confinement on such charges at the time of the
ratification of the treaty in America shall be immediately set at liberty, and
the prosecutions so commenced be discontinued.
Article 7:
There
shall be a firm and perpetual peace between his Brittanic Majesty and the said
states, and between the subjects of the one and the citizens of the other,
wherefore all hostilities both by sea and land shall from henceforth cease. All
prisoners on both sides shall be set at liberty, and his Brittanic Majesty shall
with all convenient speed, and without causing any destruction, or carrying away any Negroes or other property of the American
inhabitants, withdraw all his armies, garrisons, and fleets from the
said United States, and from every post, place, and harbor within the same;
leaving in all fortifications, the American artilery that may be therein; and
shall also order and cause all archives, records, deeds, and papers belonging
to any of the said states, or their citizens, which in the course of the war may
have fallen into the hands of his officers, to be forthwith restored and
delivered to the proper states and persons to whom they belong.
Article 8:
The
navigation of the river
Article 9:
In case
it should so happen that any place or territory belonging to
Article 10:
The
solemn ratifications of the present treaty expedited in good and due form shall
be exchanged between the contracting parties in the space of six months or
sooner, if possible, to be computed from the day of the signatures of the
present treaty. In witness whereof we the undersigned, their ministers
plenipotentiary, have in their name and in virtue of our full powers, signed
with our hands the present definitive treaty and caused the seals of our arms
to be affixed thereto.
Done at
D. HARTLEY (SEAL)
JOHN ADAMS (SEAL)
B.
JOHN JAY (SEAL)