TREATY OF PARIS FORMALLY ENDS THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

Treaty of Paris formally ends the Revolutionary War

Two years after Yorktown, diplomats concluded the conflict on paper in a treaty signed in Paris. In that document Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and agreed to boundaries that ran from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River. For the Continental Army and state forces, this meant a transition from wartime mobilization to peacetime demobilization, with all the strain that placed on officers and soldiers awaiting back pay and land grants. The treaty also forced British garrisons to evacuate posts within the new borders, handing over forts and supply points that had been flashpoints during the war. At the same time, the new nation now had to secure long frontiers with limited regular forces and a patchwork of militia systems. This formal peace closed one chapter of armed struggle while opening another centered on defending an expanded republic.