And the Winner is...
This is a fictional writing based on benjamin franklin's efforts to secure a peace agreement between great Britain, France and the United States.
September 15, 1783
Dear Memoirs,
The Treaty of Paris is the peace agreement between the United States and Great Britain that ended the American Revolution. Early in 1782, John Adams, John Jay, and myself were sent to Paris to represent the United States in negotiating the terms to end the American Revolution. The King of England, George III, gave the task of negotiating peace to Earl Shelburne, a British who informed the King not to push the Americans into revolt. Franklin and Shelburne struggled with their task. Many things had to be decided including whether Canada was included in the states, how far west they extended, and should the property of the Loyalists that had been confiscated be returned to them. At the end of the struggle, it appears that I was successful in getting almost everything that America desired.
The new United States extends from Canada to Florida and west to the Mississippi River. Great Britain gave the southern state of Florida to Spain. While the British thought that Shelburne was giving away too much land, he said that he wanted to make peace in the most generous spirit and terms because he did not want Britain and America at war again in a few years time. The treaty also guaranteed the Americans access to the Newfoundland fisheries, and navigation of the Mississippi was to be open to both Great Britain and the United States.
Finally, on November 30, 1782 the treaty was signed. This treaty was the Provisional Articles, often called the Preliminary Treaty of Paris, which would lead to the final Treaty of Paris, to be signed after Great Britain and France agreed upon terms of Peace. Congress approved the treaty on April 15, 1783. With Great Britain and France having concluded the terms of the treaty between themselves, the final Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783. It actually consisted of three separate treaties - one between Britain and the United States signed in Paris, as well as ones between Britain and France and Britain and Spain, signed at Versailles. The British soldiers were finally withdrawn from New York City in November of 1783. A new nation was finally born!