Treaty of Paris: Main Idea
Treaty of Paris: Main Idea
Think of the Treaty of Paris as saying, in an exhausted-principal type way: "Hey, guys, fights over. Let's all just be buddies."
This doc was mostly about determining whether or not the United States was a legal country. And—not exactly a spoiler—the Treaty of Paris decided that it was. Time to break out the strawberry shortcake and sparklers!
The rest of the document goes through precisely what this means, and what should happen after the fallout of the Revolutionary War. It's a standard treaty...except for the part where a colony got freedom from a European power. That was (pun intended) revolutionary.
Questions
- The treaty is generally considered to be extremely generous to the United States. Why do you think this was? Where could Britain have pushed for different terms?
- How would the terms of the treaty have differed if the Revolution occurred a hundred years later? Two hundred?
- How would the terms have differed had the United States sent different Founding Fathers? Would Jefferson, Madison, or Washington have helped or hurt the cause?
- At the time, the Revolution was considered more of a new arena in the ongoing feuds of Europe. How did the treaty fit into that mode of thought? Britain was the loser here, but who came out ahead?
Chew On This
The Treaty of Paris weakened the British crown and was a product of George III's diminished capacity as a monarch.
Though in the short term the Treaty of Paris was a setback, in the long term, it created for the staunchest ally the British could have wanted.
Quotes
Quote #1
In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity. (Intro.1)
This invocation to God shouldn't be oversold. Basically, at the time, such an invocation would have been almost nothing more than formatting. Sort of like how letters are supposed to begin with "Dear So-and-so" or how a Youtube comment has to end with an unrelated insult.
Quote #2
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. (1.1)
That is the entirety of Article 1 of the treaty. As you've no doubt already figured out, that's independence. Right there. That had to feel pretty good, just to see it in print.
Quote #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. (3.1)
Fisheries were insanely important at the time. Remember, the United States was mostly coastal and had yet to get its hands on the endless farms of the Midwest and California. So a much bigger chunk of the nation's breadbasket was actually a fishbasket. Since Great Britain included parts of Canada, it was important to work this stuff out, or it could lead to another war. No one wanted that (even though it did happen fairly shortly in 1812).
Quote #4
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. (5.1)
Articles 5 and 6 protect the rights of Loyalists, which were the colonists who were on the side of the British crown. Though today we like to think of that as a small number, it was actually about a third of the population. That was matched against a third who were patriots and a third who'd rather this whole thing just kind of went away. So there were a ton of Loyalists and after the war, the crown wanted to make sure they didn't suffer unduly. That's...pretty nice of them actually.
Quote #5
The navigation of the river Mississippi, from its source to the ocean, shall forever remain free and open to the subjects of Great Britain and the citizens of the United States. (8.1)
Wait, were the British just super into riverboat gambling or something? No. The British retained some possessions in the Ohio River Valley, which meant that, to conveniently get to the Caribbean, where they had colonial possessions, they needed the Mississippi. It's a really big river and probably the best mode of transport at the time, so sharing it was a great solution for everyone.