This Day in History: The struggle to negotiate a peace with Great Britain

On this day in 1784, the Treaty of Paris is approved by American officials. Great Britain would soon also ratify the treaty, officially bringing the American Revolution to an end.

It had been more than two years since George Washington’s 1781 victory at Yorktown.

Peace talks between Great Britain and the United States opened in April 1782, with British negotiator Richard Oswald on one side and Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams on the other.

The negotiations were all but impossible. Washington might have won a victory on the battlefield, but Americans were STILL dealing with a British government that refused to recognize the United States of America. Instead, it would recognize only individual colonies.

Indeed, Oswald had been given instructions to negotiate a peace with “the said Colonies or Plantations, or any of them, or any part or parts thereof.” In his instructions, “the United States of America” was not mentioned even once.

The decision was reminiscent of mistakes that had been made during the Revolution. As early as 1775, the British government had refused to work with the Continental Congress. At the time, Americans suspected that the approach was a ruse to divide the colonists and to turn them against each other.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, American emissaries were pretty unhappy with the situation. Months passed. On August 10, Adams wrote from the Hague, where he was then monitoring the situation. He wrote Jay: “[I think that we ought to] insist upon full powers to treat with us in character, before we have a word more to say upon the subject. They are only amusing us.”

Three days later, he wrote again.

“I think we ought not to treat at all, untill we see a Minister authorised to treat with ‘The United States of America’ or with their Ministers. . . . Firmness and Patience for a few Months, will carry us triumphantly to that Point, where it is the Interest of our Allies, of Neutral Nations, nay even of our Enemies, that we should arrive: I mean a Sovereignty, universally acknowledged by all the World.”

Fortunately, the crisis was averted. On September 1, Jay reported good news: Oswald had requested “further Instructions.” A few weeks later, more good news would arrive. Oswald received a second commission, which authorized him to negotiate with “any Commissioners or Persons vested with equal Powers, by and on the part of the Thirteen United States of America.”

Finally, a preliminary peace treaty was signed on November 30, 1782. But you don’t think matters ended there, do you? Because they didn’t. The preliminary treaty had to be transported to and from America and England. Moreover, by the terms of that document, Britain and France needed a similar peace agreement before the treaty between the United States and Great Britain could be finalized.

Finally, on September 3, 1783, the final Treaty of Paris was signed.

“I have the Satisfaction to inform you,” Adams soon wrote his wife Abigail, “that the definitive Treaties were all Signed yesterday.” It had been long, hard, and time-consuming. “Now I dont Know what to do with my self,” Adams concluded.

The treaty was transported to American shores and presented to the Confederation Congress, but that process took four more months. The treaty was finally approved on January 14, 1784.

Our history books may teach about the Battle of Yorktown, won by George Washington on October 19, 1781. But far too often, history books forget to mention that the American victory was followed by years of political maneuvering as peace negotiations were conducted.

Just more of the difficulties confronted (and overcome!) by our Founders that we might be free.

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Primary Sources:

• Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams (Sept. 4, 1783)

• Letter from John Adams to John Jay (Aug. 10, 1782)

• Letter from John Adams to John Jay (Aug. 13, 1782)

• Letter from John Jay to John Adams (Sept 1, 1782)

• Letter to Benjamin Franklin from Vergennes (Aug. 8, 1782)

• Milestone Documents: Treaty of Paris (1783) (National Archives)

• Milestones: 1776–1783: Treaty of Paris, 1783 (Dept. of State: Office of the Historian)

• Richard Oswald’s Commission to Negotiate a Peace Treaty (Sept. 21, 1782)

• The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States (U.S. Dept. of State; 1889) (Vol. 5)

• Treaty of Paris: Primary Documents in American History (Library of Congress)

• The Works of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, in Philosophy, Politics, and Morals (Wm. Temple Franklin ed. 1817) (Vol. VI)