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The Treaty of Paris

9:20 PM |

The Treaty of Paris officially ended the revolution, and recognized the United States of America as an independent nation.

When the British heard of the surrender at Yorktown, the House of Commons was in an uproar. They now were concerned of losing the war. The British prime minister North resigned and was replace by Lord Shelborne. Lord Shelborne wanted to negotiate an end to the war. He sent Richard Oswald to Paris to meet with the American representatives Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and John Jay.
The Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1782. The treaty was ratified on April 17, 1783, and it officially recognized American independence.

Under the terms of the treaty, Britain recognized the independent nation of the United States of America. Britain agreed to remove all of its troops from America. The treaty also set new borders for the United States including all land from the Great Lakes on the north to Florida on the south, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River.
The United States agreed to allow British troops still in America to leave. America agreed to pay all existing debts owed to Britain. They also agreed not to persecute loyalists still in America, and allow those that left America to return.

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Posted by The American Revolution

The War Ends September 3, 1783

9:05 PM |

On October 19, 1781, Lt. General Charles Earl Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington at Yorktown. The news of the surrender reached England in November. Soon, the House of Commons declared that peace was needed. On March 20, 1782, British Secretary of State Lord North resigned and the wartime government fell. On March 26, Major General Sir Guy Carleton replaced Lt. General Sir Henry Clinton as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in America.

On April 19, 1782, Holland recognized the United States of America. Lord Shelborne was Secretary of State in the new British government and he wanted peace. He sent David Hartley and Richard Oswald, who served as chief negotiator, to Paris as the British peace commissioners. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and John Jay served as the American peace commissioners. By November 30, 1782, a prelimenary treaty had been signed that recognized American independence. On December 14, 1782, Savannah, GA was the last outpost to be evacuated. On February 4, 1783, Britain announced an end to hostilities. On April 11, Congress announded an end to hostilities. On April 15, Congress ratified the preliminary treaty.

However, terms with France and Spain still had to be negotiated. Finally, on September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed by America, Britain, Spain, France and The Netherlands. Among the terms of the treaty other than recognition of independence was that America's borders were recognized to extent to the Great Lakes in the North, Florida in the South and the Mississippi River on the West. It was also agreed that Loyalists would not be persecuted. On November 25, 1783, the last British soldier evacuated from New York City. On January 14, 1784, the Treaty of Paris was ratified by Congress, finally officially ending the Revolutionary War.

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Benjamin Franklin

6:25 PM |


Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706 the 17th of January in Boston Massachusetts. He was into a devoted Puritan household; in 1683 his family had left England and moved to New England in search of religious freedom. His father was a mechanic and a candle maker and his mother raised thirteen children. When he was little he worked with his father making candles and soap at his father shop even though he didn’t like it. He left the shop to go work with his brother James who was a printer of a Boston Newspaper. By that job he loved to read and became vegetarian to save money to buy books. Benjamin wrote his own critical articles so James left him so he could continue by himself. In 1723 he left home and moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with only seventeen years. Then he stared to get into ideas of Enlightenment like Sir Isaac Newton.
In Philadelphia he started his own printing press, publishing a newspaper called the Pennsylvania Gazette, at the same time he operated a bookshop and develop partnerships with other printers. He also involved in community improvement in 1727 by organizing a club of tradesmen whose activities include sponsoring a library and it was named Junto, a fire company, a college, an insurance company, and a hospital. Benjamin got really deep into inventions, science and electricity when he invented a metal stove used for heating a room known as the Franklin stove and his invention of the lightning rod that is a metal rod that is set on top of a building to protect it from being damage if it is struck by lightning. He also made experiments like the one in which he used a kite to prove that lightning is a form of electricity. Many of his inventions and experiments made him a famous person.

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Posted by The American Revolution

Charles Cornwallis

6:15 PM |

Charles Cornwallis was born in London and studied at Eton and Cambridge. His first military experience came in the Seven Years’ War when he was commissioned as an ensign in the British army and served in Germany. In 1760, Cornwallis was elected to the House of Commons; two years later he inherited his father’s earldom and entered the House of Lords as Earl Cornwallis.

Cornwallis saw action in most of the major campaigns of the War for Independence. He served with William Howe on Long Island in the late summer of 1776, then assisted in the pursuit of George Washington across New Jersey. He also was present at the American victories at Trenton and Princeton, and in September 1777 the British triumph at Brandywine. Cornwallis was impatient with Howe’s lack of initiative and was later similarly critical of Sir Henry Clinton. In frustration, Cornwallis resigned his commission, but his resignation was not accepted.
In 1778, Cornwallis was named second in command under Clinton and in 1780 assisted in the opening of a renewed effort in the American South. He won an important victory at Camden over Horatio Gates in June 1780, but was forced to retreat after Guilford Court House in March 1781. His army marched north through North Carolina and into Virginia, where the forces of Washington and the French fleet compelled his surrender at Yorktown in October 1781.
The defeat at Yorktown did not destroy Cornwallis’s career, however. In 1786, he was appointed governor-general of India, where he brought important reforms to the civil service and the judiciary. He also instituted a major land reform and led military campaigns against native uprisings. In 1792, he was made a marquess for his service in India.
In 1798, Cornwallis became viceroy and commander-in-chief in Ireland. He won some measure of respect from both Roman Catholics and Protestants for his sincerity and dedication. Other contributions included quelling a rebellion in 1798 and thwarting a French invasion. He supported the Act of Union in 1801, which joined the British and Irish in Parliament, but resigned when the king failed to guarantee political rights for Catholics.
Cornwallis served as minister plenipotentiary during the negotiation of the Treaty of Amiens (1802), which brought a cessation in the Napoleonic Wars.
In 1805, Cornwallis returned as governor-general in India, but died shortly after his arrival.
Lord Cornwallis is commonly remembered in American history for his failure at Yorktown, but that single event shortchanges the contributions made by what many authorities regard as the most capable British commander in the war. His most important contributions to the British Empire came in the years after 1781.

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