Treaty of Paris (1783), first page

What it is

This is a scan of the first page of a handwritten copy of the Treaty of Paris, dated 30 November 1783. The page is marked Duplicate and has three punched holes along the left edge. It opens with the words In the Name of the most Holy and undivided Trinity. The treaty formally ended the Revolutionary War. The image is a scan of a copy, not a photograph of the original paper.

Why it matters

The treaty made Britain recognize the United States as a country. John Jay helped negotiate and sign it, working with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. Its opening page shows the formal language of an agreement between two powers, and its handwritten copies show how such an agreement was recorded and shared.

Look closer

• Why would there be several handwritten copies of one treaty, and what does the label Duplicate tell you?
• What does the formal opening language suggest about how the two governments saw themselves?
• What does a single page leave out about the negotiations that produced the agreement?