September 3: The Treaty of Paris
In 1783, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay signed the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War between the United States and Britain. Peace talks had begun in Paris in April 1782 between the three American representatives listed above and British statesmen Richard Oswald and David Hartley. The treaty, among other things, recognized the United States as an independent nation, obligated the Americans to pay their prewar debts and mandated that the British abandon their forts and return confiscated slaves to their owners. Both sides failed to uphold parts of the Treaty, which led to future tensions between the two nations.