Treaty of Paris (1783)

Agreement ending the American Revolutionary War

Not to be confused with Treaty of Paris (1763), the treaty that ended the Seven Years' War.

For other treaties of Paris, see Treaty of Paris (disambiguation).

Treaty of Paris (1783)The Definitive Treaty of Peace Between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United States of America

The first page of the Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783

Drafted| November 30, 1782
Signed| September 3, 1783
Location| Paris, Kingdom of France
Effective| May 12, 1784
Condition| Ratification by the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United States
Signatories|

* David Hartley

* * *

* John Adams
* Benjamin Franklin
* John Jay

Parties|

* Great Britain

* * *

* United States

Depositary| United States government[1]
Language| English
Full text
Treaty of Paris (1783) at Wikisource

The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States on September 3, 1783, officially ended the American Revolutionary War and recognized the Thirteen Colonies, which had been part of colonial British America, to be free, sovereign and independent States.

The treaty set the boundaries between British North America, later called Canada, and the United States, on lines the British labeled as "exceedingly generous",[2] although exact boundary definitions in the far-northwest and to the south continued to be subject to some controversy. Details included fishing rights and restoration of property and prisoners of war.

This treaty and the separate peace treaties between Great Britain and the nations that supported the American cause, including France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic, are known collectively as the Peace of Paris.[3][4] Only Article 1 of the treaty, which acknowledges the United States' existence as free, sovereign, and independent states, remains in force.[5]

## Agreement[edit]

Treaty of Paris, a 1783 portrait by Benjamin West depicting the American delegation at the Treaty of Paris, including (left to right): John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens, and William Temple Franklin. The British delegation refused to pose, and the portrait was never completed. The 1781 French proposal for the territorial division of North America, which was rejected by the Americans A commemorative plaque of the Treaty of Paris on the site where the treaty was signed, 56 Rue Jacob in Paris, on September 3, 1783

Peace negotiations began in Paris in April 1782, following the victory of George Washington and the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. The negotiations continued through the summer of 1782. Representing the United States were Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Henry Laurens, and John Adams. Representing the Kingdom of Great Britain and King George III were David Hartley and Richard Oswald.

The treaty was drafted on November 30, 1782,[a] and signed at the Hôtel d'York at present-day 56 Rue Jacob in Paris on September 3, 1783, by Adams, Franklin, Jay, and Hartley.[6]

In September 1782, French Foreign Minister Vergennes proposed a solution to deadlocked negotiations between the United States and the British, which was rejected by the United States. France was exhausted by the war, and all parties sought peace, except for the Kingdom of Spain, which insisted on continuing the Revolutionary War until it could capture Gibraltar from the British. Vergennes developed treaty terms under which Spain would forego holding Gibraltar and the United States would be granted independence, but it would be confined to the area east of the Appalachian Mountains. Britain would keep the area north of the Ohio River, which was part of the Province of Quebec. In the area south of that would be an independent Indian barrier state, under Spanish control.[7]

The American delegation perceived that they could obtain a better treaty in negotiating directly with the British in London. John Jay promptly told the British that he was willing to negotiate directly with them and to bypass France and Spain, and British Prime Minister Lord Shelburne agreed. In charge of the British negotiations, some of which took place in his study at Lansdowne House, now a bar in the Lansdowne Club, Shelburne now saw a chance to split the United States from France and to establish the new nation as a valuable economic partner.[8] The terms were that the United States would gain all of the area east of the Mississippi River, north of present-day Florida, and south of present-day Canada. The northern boundary would be almost the same as it is today.[9]

The United States would gain fishing rights off Nova Scotia's coasts and agreed to allow British merchants and Loyalists to try to recover their property. The treaty was highly favorable for the United States and deliberately so from the British point of view. Shelburne foresaw highly profitable two-way trade between Britain and the rapidly-growing United States, which came to pass.[10]

Great Britain also signed separate agreements with France and Spain, and provisionally with the Netherlands.[11] In the treaty with Spain, the territories of East and West Florida were ceded to Spain without a clear northern boundary, which resulted in a territorial dispute resolved by the Treaty of Madrid in 1795. Spain also received the island of Menorca, but the Bahama Islands, Grenada, and Montserrat, which had been captured by the French and Spanish, were returned to Britain. The treaty with France was mostly about exchanges of captured territory. France's only net gains were the island of Tobago, and Senegal in Africa, but it also reinforced earlier treaties, guaranteeing fishing rights off Newfoundland. Dutch possessions in the East Indies, captured in 1781, were returned by Britain to the Netherlands in exchange for trading privileges in the Dutch East Indies by a treaty, which was not finalized until 1784.[12]

The Congress of the Confederation, operating as the legislative body of the newly established United States, ratified the Treaty of Paris on January 14, 1784, in Annapolis, Maryland, in the Old Senate Chamber of the Maryland State House.[13] Copies were sent back to Europe for ratification by the other parties involved, the first reaching France in March 1784. British ratification occurred on April 9, 1784, and the ratified versions were exchanged in Paris on May 12, 1784.[14]

## Terms[edit]

The last page of the Treaty of Paris Map of the United States and its territories following the signing of the Treaty of Paris

The treaty and the separate peace treaties between Great Britain and the three colonial powers that supported the American cause, France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic, are known collectively as the Peace of Paris.[3][4] Only Article 1 of the treaty, which acknowledges the United States' existence as free sovereign and independent states, remains in force.[5] The U.S. borders changed in later years, which is a major reason specific articles of the treaty were superseded.

Preamble. Declares the treaty to be "in the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity" followed by a reference to the Divine providence[15] states the bona fides of the signatories, and declares the intention of both parties to "forget all past misunderstandings and differences" and "secure to both perpetual peace and harmony."

1. Britain acknowledges the United States, comprising what had been the Province of New Hampshire, Province of Massachusetts Bay, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut Colony, Province of New York, Province of New Jersey, Province of Pennsylvania, Delaware Colony, Province of Maryland, Colony of Virginia, Province of North Carolina, Province of South Carolina, and Province of Georgia,[16] to be free, sovereign, and independent states, and that the British Crown and all heirs and successors relinquish claims to the Government, property, and territorial rights of the same, and every part thereof,
2. Establishing the boundaries of the United States, including but not limited to those between the United States and British North America from the Mississippi River to the Southern colonies. Britain surrenders their previously owned land,
3. Granting fishing rights to United States fishermen in the Grand Banks, off the coast of Newfoundland and in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence;
4. Recognizing the lawful contracted debts to be paid to creditors on either side;
5. The Congress of the Confederation will "earnestly recommend" to state legislatures to recognize the rightful owners of all confiscated lands and "provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties, which have been confiscated belonging to British subjects" (Loyalists);
6. The United States will prevent future confiscations of the property of Loyalists;
7. Prisoners-of-war on both sides are to be released. All British property now in the United States is to remain with them and to be forfeited;
8. Both Great Britain and the United States are to be given perpetual access to the Mississippi River;
9. Territories captured by either side subsequent to the treaty will be returned without compensation;
10. Ratification of the treaty is to occur within six months from its signing.

Eschatocol. "Done at Paris, this third day of September in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three."

## Consequences[edit]

Historians have often commented that the treaty was very generous to the United States in terms of greatly enlarged boundaries. Historians such as Alvord, Harlow, and Ritcheson have emphasized that British generosity was based on a statesmanlike vision of close economic ties between Britain and the United States. The concession of the vast trans-Appalachian region was designed to facilitate the growth of the American population and to create lucrative markets for British merchants without any military or administrative costs to Britain.[8] The point was that the United States would become a major trading partner. As French Foreign Minister Vergennes later put it, "The English buy peace rather than make it."[2] Vermont was included within the boundaries because the state of New York insisted that Vermont was a part of New York although Vermont was then under a government that considered Vermont not to be a part of the United States.[17]

Privileges that the Americans had received from Britain automatically when they had colonial status, including protection from pirates in the Mediterranean Sea under which the First Barbary War and the Second Barbary War had been fought, were lost. Individual states ignored federal recommendations, under Article 5, to restore confiscated Loyalist property and Article 6, which provided for confiscating Loyalist property for "unpaid debts". The Colony of Virginia defied Article 4 and maintained laws against payment of debts to British creditors. Several Loyalists attempted to file for a return for their property in the U.S. legal system after the American Revolutionary War, but most were unsuccessful.[18]

The actual geography of North America turned out not to match the details used in the treaty. The treaty specified a southern boundary for the United States, but the separate Anglo-Spanish agreement did not specify a northern boundary for Florida. The Spanish government assumed that the boundary was the same as in the 1763 agreement by which it had first given its territory in Florida to Great Britain. While the West Florida Controversy continued, Spain used its new control of Florida to block American access to the Mississippi, in defiance of Article 8.[19] To the north, the treaty stated that the boundary of the United States extended from the "most northwesternmost point" of the Lake of the Woods in present-day Minnesota, Manitoba, and Ontario, directly westward until it reached the Mississippi River. However, the Mississippi does not extend that far northward, and the line going west from the Lake of the Woods never intersects the river. Additionally, the Treaty of Paris did not explain how the new border would function in terms of controlling the movement of people and trade between British North America and the United States. The American diplomats' expectation of negotiating a commercial treaty with Great Britain to resolve some of the unfinished business of the Treaty of Paris failed to materialize in 1784. Despite government agreements for British evacuation of northern forts, Britain continued to occupy the forts. Meanwhile, the British were dissatisfied with the American harassment of loyalists.[20][21] The United States would thus wait until 1794 to negotiate its first commercial agreement with the British Empire, the Jay Treaty.[22]

Great Britain violated the treaty stipulation that it would relinquish control of forts in United States territory "with all convenient speed." British troops remained stationed at six forts in the Great Lakes region and at two at the north end of Lake Champlain. The British also built an additional fort in present-day Ohio in 1794, during the Northwest Indian War. They justified their treaty violations during the unstable and extremely tense time that existed in the area following the Revolutionary War, and in the failure of the newly established Federal government of the United States to fulfill commitments made to compensate loyalists for British losses, forcing the British to liquidate various assets in the region.[23] All of the posts were relinquished peacefully through diplomatic means as a result of the Jay Treaty:

Name  | Present-day location

|

Fort au Fer | Lake Champlain - Champlain, New York
Fort Dutchman's Point  | Lake Champlain - North Hero, Vermont
Fort Lernoult (including Fort Detroit)  | Detroit River - Detroit, Michigan
Fort Mackinac | Straits of Mackinac - Mackinac Island, Michigan
Fort Miami | Maumee River - Maumee, Ohio
Fort Niagara | Niagara River - Youngstown, New York
Fort Ontario | Lake Ontario - Oswego, New York
Fort Oswegatchie | Saint Lawrence River - Ogdensburg, New York

## Notes[edit]

1. ^ The same day as the lopsided American loss at the Battle of Kedges Strait in Chesapeake Bay, one of the numerous ongoing engagements with the British and Loyalist forces throughout 1782 and 1783.

## See also[edit]

* Confederation Period, the era of United States history in the 1780s following the American Revolutionary War and prior to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution
* Diplomacy in the American Revolutionary War
* History of the United States (1776–1789)
* List of United States treaties
* Ratification Day (United States)
* Transcript of the Treaty of Paris

## References[edit]

1. ^ Miller, Hunter (ed.). "British-American Diplomacy: Treaty of Paris". The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
2. ^ a b Paterson, Thomas; Clifford, J. Garry; Maddock, Shane J. (January 1, 2014). American foreign relations: A history, to 1920. Vol. 1\. Cengage Learning. p. 20\. ISBN 978-1305172104.
3. ^ a b Morris, Richard B. (1965). The Peacemakers: the Great Powers and American Independence. Harper and Row.
4. ^ a b Black, Jeremy (April 14, 1994). British foreign policy in an age of revolutions, 1783–1793. Cambridge University Press. pp. 11–20. ISBN 978-0521466844.
5. ^ a b "Treaties in Force A List of Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States in Force on January 1, 2016" (PDF). United States Department of State. p. 477. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
6. ^ Miller, Hunter (ed.). "British-American Diplomacy: The Paris Peace Treaty of September 30, 1783". The Avalon Project at Yale Law School.
7. ^ Smith, Dwight L. "A North American Neutral Indian Zone: Persistence of a British Idea." Northwest Ohio Quarterly 61#2–4 (1989): 46–63.
8. ^ a b Ritcheson, Charles R. (August 1983). "The Earl of Shelbourne and Peace with America, 1782–1783: Vision and Reality". The International History Review. 5 (3): 322–345. doi:10.1080/07075332.1983.9640318. JSTOR 40105313.
9. ^ In the 1842 Webster–Ashburton Treaty, some adjustments were made in Maine and Minnesota.Lass, William E. (1980). Minnesota's Boundary with Canada: Its Evolution Since 1783. Minnesota Historical Society. pp. 63–70. ISBN 978-0873511537.
10. ^ Dull, Jonathan R. (1987). A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution. Yale Univ Press. pp. 144–151. ISBN 978-0300038866.
11. ^ Davenport, Frances G.; Paullin, Charles O. (1917). European Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and Its Dependencies. Vol. 1\. Carnegie Institution of Washington. p. vii. ISBN 9780598216410.
12. ^ Newman, Gerald; Brown, Leslie Ellen (1997). Britain in the Hanoverian age, 1714–1837. Taylor & Francis. p. 533\. ISBN 978-0815303961.
13. ^ "Stairwell Room: The Treaty of Paris at Annapolis Wall". The Maryland State House. Maryland State Archives. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
14. ^ Smith, Dwight L. (October 1963). "Josiah Harmar, Diplomatic Courier". Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 87 (4): 420–430.
15. ^ Federer, William. American Clarion (September 3, 2012). http://www.americanclarion.com/2012/09/03/holy-undivided-trinity-11934/
16. ^ Peters, Richard, ed. (November 1963). "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875". Buffalo, New York: Dennis & Co. Retrieved February 22, 2020 - via Library of Congress.
17. ^ Bemis, Samuel Flagg (1957). The Diplomacy of the American Revolution. Indiana University Press.
18. ^ Ely, James W. Jr. (2007). The Guardian of Every Other Right: A Constitutional History of Property Rights. Oxford University Press. p. 35\. ISBN 978-0199724529.
19. ^ Jones, Howard (2002). Crucible of Power: A History of American Foreign Relations to 1913. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 23\. ISBN 978-0-8420-2916-2.
20. ^ "Treaty of Paris – Definition, Date & Terms". History.com. June 21, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
21. ^ "Milestone: 1784–1800 – Office of the Historian". Office of the Historian. February 1, 2024. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
22. ^ Lawrence B. A. Hatter, Citizens of Convenience: The Imperial Origins of American Nationhood on the U.S.-Canadian Border (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017)
23. ^ Benn, Carl (1993). Historic Fort York, 1793–1993. Dundurn Press Ltd. p. 17\. ISBN 978-0-920474-79-2.

## Further reading[edit]

* Bemis, Samuel Flagg (1935). The Diplomacy of the American Revolution. Indiana University Press.
* Dull, Jonathan R. (1987). "Chapters 17-20". A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-03886-6.
* Graebner, Norman A.; Burns, Richard Dean; Siracusa, Joseph M. (2011). Foreign affairs and the founding fathers: from Confederation to constitution, 1776–1787. ABC-CLIO. p. 199\. ISBN 9780313398261.
* Harlow, Vincent T. (1952). The Founding of the Second British Empire 1763–1793. Volume 1: Discovery and Revolution. UK: Longmans, Green.
* Hoffman, Ronald (1981). Albert, Peter J. (ed.). Diplomacy and Revolution: The Franco-American Alliance of 1778. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-0864-9.
* Hoffman, Ronald (1986). Albert, Peter J. (ed.). Peace and the Peacemakers: The Treaty of 1783. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-1071-0. Specialized essays by scholars
* Kaplan, Lawrence S. (September 1983). "The Treaty of Paris, 1783: A Historiographical Challenge". International History Review. 5 (3): 431–442. doi:10.1080/07075332.1983.9640322.
* Morris, Richard B. (1983). "The Great Peace of 1783". Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings. 95: 29–51. JSTOR 25080922. "a summary of his long book"
* Morris, Richard G, The Peacemakers; The great powers and American independence (1965) online, a standard scholarly history
* Perkins, James Breck (1911). "Negotiations for Peace". France in the American Revolution. Houghton Mifflin.
* Ritcheson, Charles R. (1983). "The Earl of Shelbourne and Peace with America, 1782–1783: Vision and Reality". International History Review. 5 (3): 322–345. doi:10.1080/07075332.1983.9640318.
* Stockley, Andrew (2001). Britain and France at the Birth of America: The European Powers and the Peace Negotiations of 1782–1783. University of Exeter Press. Archived from the original on July 19, 2008.

## Primary sources[edit]

* Franklin, Benjamin. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin: January 21 Through May 15, 1783 (Vol. 39. Yale University Press, 2009)
* Franklin, Benjamin (1906). The Writings of Benjamin Franklin. The Macmillan company. p. 108.

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Treaty of Paris, 1783.

* Treaty of Paris, 1783; International Treaties and Related Records, 1778–1974; General Records of the United States Government, Record Group 11; National Archives.
* Approval of the American victory in England Unique arch inscription commemorates "Liberty in N America Triumphant MDCCLXXXIII"
* The Paris Peace Treaty of September 30, 1783 text provided by Yale Law School's Avalon Project
* Provisional Treaty signed November 30, 1782, text provided by Yale Law School's Avalon Project

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and Territorial|

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|

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* list
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Local|

| County|

* List of counties and county equivalents
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Cities|

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|

Social class|

* Affluence
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* Outline
* Index

* Category
* Portal

* v
* t
* e

Territorial expansion of the United States

* Thirteen Colonies (1776)
* Treaty of Paris (1783)
* Louisiana Purchase (1803)
* Red River Cession (1818)
* Adams–Onís Treaty (1819)
* Texas Annexation (1845)
* Oregon Treaty (1846)
* Mexican Cession (1848)
* Gadsden Purchase (1853)
* Guano Islands Act (1856)
* Alaska Purchase (1867)
* Annexation of Hawaii (1898)
* Treaty of Paris (1898)
* Tripartite Convention (1899)
* Treaty of Cession of Tutuila (1900)
* Treaty of Cession of Manuʻa (1904)
* Annexation of Oklahoma (1906)
* Treaty of the Danish West Indies (1917)
* Acquisition of the Northern Mariana Islands (1986)

* Concept: Manifest destiny

* v
* t
* e

Benjamin Franklin

* President of Pennsylvania (1785–1788)
* Ambassador to France (1779–1785)
* Second Continental Congress (1775–1776)

Founding of the
United States|

* Join, or Die. (1754 political cartoon)
* Albany Plan of Union
* Albany Congress
* Hutchinson letters affair
* Committee of Secret Correspondence
* Committee of Five
* "...to be self-evident"
* Declaration of Independence
* Model Treaty
* Franco-American alliance
* Treaty of Amity and Commerce
* Treaty of Alliance
* Staten Island Peace Conference
* 1776 Pennsylvania Constitution
* Libertas Americana
* Treaty of Paris, 1783
* Delegate, 1787 Constitutional Convention
* Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly
* Postmaster General
* Founding Fathers

Inventions,
other events|

* Franklin's electrostatic machine
* Bifocals
* Franklin stove
* Glass armonica
* Gulf Stream exploration, naming, and chart
* Lightning rod
* Kite experiment
* Pay it forward
* Associators
* 111th Infantry Regiment
* Junto club
* American Philosophical Society
* Library Company of Philadelphia
* Pennsylvania Hospital
* Academy and College of Philadelphia
* University of Pennsylvania
* Philadelphia Contributionship
* Union Fire Company
* Early American currency
* Continental Currency dollar coin
* Fugio cent
* United States Postal Service
* Street lighting
* President, Pennsylvania Abolition Society
* Master, Les Neuf Sœurs
* Gravesite

Writings|

* The Papers of Benjamin Franklin
* Founders Online
* Silence Dogood letters (1722)
* A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain (1725)
* The Busy-Body columns (1729)
* The Pennsylvania Gazette (1729–1790)
* Early American publishers and printers
* Poor Richard's Almanack (1732–1758)
* The Drinker's Dictionary (1737)
* "Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress" (1745)
* "The Speech of Polly Baker" (1747)
* Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc. (1751)
* Experiments and Observations on Electricity (1751)
* Birch letters (1755)
* The Way to Wealth (1758)
* Pennsylvania Chronicle (1767)
* Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One (1773)
* Proposed alliance with the Iroquois (1775)
* A Letter to a Royal Academy (1781)
* Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America (1784)
* "The Morals of Chess" (1786)
* An Address to the Public (1789)
* A Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks (1789)
* The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1771–1790, pub. 1791)
* Bagatelles and Satires (pub. 1845)
* Franklin as a journalist
* Franklin's phonetic alphabet

Legacy|

* Bibliography
* Franklin Court
* Benjamin Franklin House
* Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology
* Benjamin Franklin Parkway
* Benjamin Franklin National Memorial
* Franklin Institute
* awards
* medal
* Benjamin Franklin Medal
* Royal Society of Arts medal
* Depicted in The Apotheosis of Washington
* Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence
* Treaty of Paris (1783 painting)
* Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky (1816 painting)
* Revolutionary War Door
* Boston statue
* Columbus, Ohio, statue
* University of Pennsylvania statue
* Portland, Oregon, statue
* San Francisco statue
* Stanford University statue
* Washington D.C. statue
* Jefferson Memorial pediment
* In popular culture
* Ben and Me (1953 short)
* Ben Franklin in Paris (1964 musical play)
* 1776 (1969 musical
* 1972 film)
* Benjamin Franklin (miniseries)
* A More Perfect Union (1989 film)
* Liberty! (1997 documentary series)
* Liberty's Kids (2002 animated series)
* Benjamin Franklin (2002 documentary series)
* John Adams (2008 miniseries)
* Sons of Liberty (2015 miniseries)
* Benjamin Franklin (2022 documentary)
* Franklin (upcoming miniseries)
* Refunding Certificate
* Franklin half dollar
* One-hundred-dollar bill
* Franklin silver dollar
* Washington–Franklin stamps
* other stamps
* Cities, counties, schools named for Franklin
* Benjamin Franklin College
* Franklin Field
* Mount Franklin
* State of Franklin
* Sons of Ben (Philadelphia Union)
* Ships named USS Franklin
* Ben Franklin effect

Related|

* Age of Enlightenment
* American Enlightenment
* The New-England Courant
* The American Museum magazine
* American Revolution
* patriots
* Syng inkstand

Family|

* Deborah Read (wife)
* William Franklin (son)
* Francis Franklin (son)
* Sarah Franklin Bache (daughter)
* William Franklin (grandson)
* Benjamin F. Bache (grandson)
* Louis F. Bache (grandson)
* Richard Bache Jr. (grandson)
* Andrew Harwood (great-grandson)
* Alexander Bache (great-grandson)
* Josiah Franklin (father)
* James Franklin (brother)
* Jane Mecom (sister)
* Mary Morrell Folger (grandmother)
* Peter Folger (grandfather)
* Richard Bache (son-in-law)
* Ann Smith Franklin (sister-in-law)

* Category

* v
* t
* e

John Adams

* 2nd President of the United States (1797–1801)
* 1st Vice President of the United States (1789–1797)
* U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom (1785–1788)
* U.S. Minister to the Netherlands (1782–1788)
* Delegate to the Second Continental Congress (1775–1778)
* Delegate to the First Continental Congress (1774)

Founding of the
United States|

* Braintree Instructions (1765)
* Boston Massacre defense
* Continental Association
* Petition to the King
* United Colonies
* Thoughts on Government (1776)
* Lee Resolution (seconded)
* Declaration of Independence
* May 15 preamble
* Committee of Five
* Model Treaty
* Treaty of Amity and Commerce
* Treaty of Alliance
* Board of War
* Chairman of the Marine Committee, 1775-1779
* Continental Navy
* Staten Island Peace Conference
* Conference House
* Constitution of Massachusetts (1780)
* Treaty of Paris, 1783
* Diplomacy

Elections|

* United States presidential election 1788–1789
* 1792
* 1796
* 1800

Presidency|

* Inauguration
* Quasi War with France
* XYZ Affair
* United States Department of the Navy
* Commerce Protection Act
* United States Marine Corps
* Convention of 1800
* Mississippi Organic Act
* Alien and Sedition Acts
* Naturalization Act of 1798
* Sick and Disabled Seamen Relief Act
* Marine Hospital Service
* Bankruptcy Act of 1800
* Indiana Organic Act
* Slave Trade Act of 1800
* District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801
* Navy Department Library
* Treaty of Tellico
* Treaty of Tripoli
* Midnight Judges Act
* Marbury v. Madison
* State of the Union Address (1797
* 1798
* 1799
* 1800)
* Cabinet
* Federal judiciary appointments

Other writings|

* Massachusetts Historical Society holdings
* Adams Papers Editorial Project
* A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America
* Founders Online
* Gray v. Pitts

Life and
homes|

* Early life and education
* Adams National Historical Park
* John Adams Birthplace
* Family home and John Quincy Adams birthplace
* Peacefield
* Stone Library
* Massachusetts Hall, Harvard University
* Presidents House, Philadelphia
* Co-founder and second president, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
* United First Parish Church and gravesite

Legacy|

* Bibliography
* List of memorials
* Adams Memorial (proposed)
* John Adams Building
* John Adams Courthouse
* Jefferson Memorial pediment
* U.S. Postage stamps
* Treaty of Paris (1783 painting)
* USS Adams (1799)
* USS John Adams (1799)
* USS Adams (1874)
* USS President Adams (1941)
* USS John Adams (1963)
* Adams House at Harvard University
* Mount Adams (New Hampshire, Washington)
* Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence

Popular culture|

* Profiles in Courage (1964 series)
* American Primitive (1969 play)
* 1776 (1969 musical
* 1972 film)
* The Adams Chronicles (1976 miniseries)
* Liberty! (1997 documentary series)
* Liberty's Kids (2002 animated series)
* John Adams (2001 book
* 2008 miniseries)
* John and Abigail Adams (2006 documentary film)
* Sons of Liberty (2015 miniseries)
* Franklin (upcoming miniseries)

Related|

* "Adams and Liberty" campaign song
* Adams' personal library
* American Enlightenment
* Congress Hall
* Federalist Party
* Federalist Era
* First Party System
* republicanism
* American Philosophical Society
* Gazette of the United States
* The American Museum
* Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams
* American Revolution
* patriots
* Founding Fathers

Adams family|

* Abigail Adams
* wife
* Quincy family
* Abigail Adams Smith (daughter)
* John Quincy Adams
* son
* presidency
* Charles Adams (son)
* Thomas Boylston Adams (son)
* George W. Adams (grandson)
* Charles Adams Sr. (grandson)
* John Adams II (grandson)
* John Q. Adams (great-grandson)
* Henry Adams (great-grandson)
* Brooks Adams (great-grandson)
* John Adams Sr. (father)
* Susanna Boylston (mother)
* Elihu Adams (brother)
* Samuel Adams (second cousin)
* Louisa Adams
* daughter-in-law
* first lady

* ← George Washington
* Thomas Jefferson →

* Thomas Jefferson →

* Category

* v
* t
* e

John Jay

* 2nd Governor of New York, 1795-1801
* 1st Chief Justice of the United States, 1789-1795
* United States Secretary of State, 1789-90
* United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 1784-1789
* United States Minister to Spain, 1779-1782
* President of the Continental Congress, 1778-79

Founding of the
United States|

* Continental Association (1774, signed)
* Petition to the King (1774, signed)
* Olive Branch Petition (1775)
* Committee of Secret Correspondence (1775-76)
* New York Constitution (1777)
* Treaty of Paris (1783)
* The Federalist Papers
* papers, 1787-88
* Jay Court, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1789-1795, cases)

Other events|

* New York Manumission Society
* African Free School
* Jay–Gardoqui Treaty
* Jay Treaty (1794)

Other writings|

* Letters to the inhabitants of Canada (1775)
* New York Circular Letter (1788)
* The Selected Papers of John Jay

Homes|

* Jay Estate
* Jay Heritage Center
* John Jay Homestead
* Government House

Namesakes|

* Fort Jay
* John Jay College of Criminal Justice
* John Jay Park
* Jay, New York
* Jay, Vermont

Family|

* Sarah Livingston Jay (wife)
* Peter Jay (son)
* William Jay (son)
* John Clarkson Jay (grandson)
* John Jay (grandson)
* James Jay (brother)
* Jacobus Van Cortlandt (grandfather)

Related|

* Federalist Party
* Arbitration
* Treaty of Paris (1783 painting)
* Boston relief portrait
* Founders Online
* Founding Fathers of the United States

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* Israel
* United States

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