1Definitive Treaty of Peace between the United States and Great Britain, 3 September 1783 (Franklin Papers)
DS : Massachusetts Historical Society, National Archives (two), Public Record Office; copies: Library of Congress, Massachusetts Historical Society, National Archives (two.) Early on the morning of September 3, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and William Temple Franklin rode into Paris carrying four official copies of the treaty that would end the War for American Independence. Joined by Adams,...
2The American Peace Commissioners to David Hartley, 30 August 1783 (Franklin Papers)
Copies: National Archives, William L. Clements Library, Library of Congress, Massachusetts Historical Society; press copy of copy: National Archives The American Ministers Plenipotentiary for making Peace with great Britain, present their Compliments to Mr. Hartley. They regret that Mr. Hartley’s Instructions will not permit him to sign the Definitive Treaty of Peace with America at the Place...
3From John Jay to William Carmichael, 14 August 1783 (Jay Papers)
I have this moment rec d . a Letter from His Ex y . the Count de Montmorin, in w h . he mentions your having communicated to him my Letter to you of the Ult., and also favors me with his Sentiments on the Subject of it. As that Letter was written by me in a public Capacity, to you in a public Capacity, and on public Business, I endulged the Expectation of rec g an Answer to it from You. When...
4The American Peace Commissioners to David Hartley, 13 August 1783 (Franklin Papers)
LS : Public Record Office; copies: William L. Clements Library, Library of Congress, Massachusetts Historical Society We have received the Letter which you did us the honour to write on the 12th. Inst. and shall take the first Opportunity of conveying to Congress the agreable Information contained in it. The Sentiments & Sensations which the Re-establishment of Peace between our two Countries,...
5From John Jay to William Bingham, 29 July 1783 (Jay Papers)
I have been favored with your obliging Letter of the 10 th . Instant, and sincerely congratulate You & M rs . Bingham on your safe arrival. A Tour thro’ ^ parts of ^ Europe cannot fail of being agreable to M rs . Bingham ^ her ^ and as
6The American Peace Commissioners to Robert R. Livingston, 27 July 1783 (Franklin Papers)
LS : National Archives; copies: Library of Congress, Massachusetts Historical Society The Definitive Treaties between the late beligerent Powers are none of them yet compleated. Ours has gone on slowly, owing partly to the Necessity Mr. Hartley (Successor of Mr Oswald) thinks himself under of sending every Proposition, either his own or ours, to his Court for their Approbation; and their Delay...
7To John Adams from John Jay, 26 July 1783 (Adams Papers)
I hope I may by this Time congratulate You on your safe Arrival, and happy meeting with your Son at amsterdam. M r. Laurens is here, & in better Health than I have heretofore seen him since he left America— His Stay will probably be short, for his Permission to return creates Doubts in his Mind as to the Propriety of his continuing to act with us, unless by our particular Request; and M r...
8From John Jay to Catharine W. Livingston, 20 July 1783 (Jay Papers)
I have now your kind Letter of the 24 May last before me, and sincerely thank You for it. It is a little singular that so few Letters from [us h]ave reached You, especially as several of them have been written [since] the Cessation of Hostilities. M rs . Izard is on the way to Philadelphia— The Departure of the Vessel in which she expected to sail disappointed her exceedingly, & occasioned...
9From John Jay to Robert Morris, 20 July 1783 (Jay Papers)
By Cap t . Barney I was favored with Yours of the 31 st . May. By this Time I hope you will have rec d . several Letters for from me w h . were then on the way. Want of Health here has long made much writing painful to me, so that my Letters in general are short. My Jaunt to Normandy did me some Service, but less than I expected— The pure air of this Place has been very useful to me— The pain...
10From John Jay to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Robert R. Livingston), 20 July 1783 (Jay Papers)
The Delays which have unexpectedly postponed the Completion of the definitive Treaty, have hitherto prevented my trying the Effect of the Waters of Bath for a Pain in my Breast, which has continued in different Degrees for a Year past. Were I much longer to neglect that only probable Chance of restoring my Health, my little Family might have much Reason to complain. I fear that the fluctuating...
11John Jay: Account of Conversations with Franklin, 19 July 1783 (Franklin Papers)
AD : Columbia University Library On July 19, the day after the American peace commissioners finalized their letter to Livingston, John Adams left for Holland, and Franklin and Jay, to judge by the present document, indulged in some moments of relaxed conversation. The thirty-eight-year-old Jay had been living at the Hôtel Valentinois with his family for more than a month, and Franklin seemed...
12From John Jay to Robert R. Livingston, 19 July 1783 (Jay Papers)
our Dispatches by Barney must be ready the Day after Tomorrow. The many Letters I have written, and have still to write, together with Conferences, Company &c a . keep me fully employed. You will therefore excuse my not descending so much to particulars, as both of us indeed might wish— As little that passes in Congress is kept entirely secret, we think it prudent at least to postpone giving...
13From John Jay to William Livingston, 19 July 1783 (Jay Papers)
On the 1 st . Instant I had the Pleasure of seeing ^ rec g . ^ your Favor of the 21 May Ma last, but have neither seen nor heard any thing of Doctor Wearing whom you mention as the Bearer of it— Should he come this Way, I shall certainly pay him all the Attention w h . you or Presidt Boudinott could wish— I am happy to hear that the provisional Articles meet with general approbation— The...
14From John Jay to Charles Thomson, 19 July 1783 (Jay Papers)
My last to you was a short Letter by M r John Penn, who I suppose is near america by this Time— When I consider that no Person in the World is so perfectly acquainted with the Rise, Conduct, and Conclusion of the american Revolution, as yourself, I cannot but wish that you would devote one hour in the four and twenty, to giving Posterity a true account of it. I think it might be comprized in a...
15The American Peace Commissioners to Robert R. Livingston, 18 July 1783 (Franklin Papers)
LS : National Archives; press copy of LS : Massachusetts Historical Society; copies: Library of Congress, Massachusetts Historical Society, Yale University Library; transcript: National Archives We have had the honour of receiving by Capt. Barney your two Letters of the 25th. of March & 21st of April, with the Papers referred to in them. We are happy to find that the Provisional Articles have...
16John Jay’s Draft of the American Peace Commissioners to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Robert R. Livingston) … (Jay Papers)
We have had the honor of receiving by Capt. Barney your two letters of the 21 & 25 Ap. last, with the Papers referred to in them. We are happy to find that the provisional Articles have been approved and ratified by Congress, and we regret that the manner, in which that business was conducted, does not coincide with your Ideas of Propriety. Your Doubts on that Head appear to have arisen from...
17The American Peace Commissioners to David Hartley, 17 July 1783 (Franklin Papers)
LS : Public Record Office; AL (drafts): American Philosophical Society, Massachusetts Historical Society; copies: William L. Clements Library, Library of Congress, Massachusetts Historical Society, National Archives We have the honour to inform you that we have just received from Congress their Ratification in due Form of the Provisional Articles of the 30th. of November 1782, and we are ready...
18From John Jay to Gouverneur Morris, 17 July 1783 (Jay Papers)
I have rec d . your two Letters from you—one of the 29 Ap r . by Col. Ogden—the other of 30 May by Cap t . Barney— I am glad to see the Col. and shall readily do him any Service in my power, as well on acc t . of your Recommendation as his own Merit— By this Time I suppose there is much canvassing for foreign appointments— I thank you for thinking of me—but as I mean to return in the Spring,...
19Draft Letter from the American Peace Commissioners to Bariatinskii and Arkadii Markov, [before 15 July 1783] (Franklin Papers)
AL (draft): American Philosophical Society Around July 13, the American commissioners had been given to understand that mediation by the imperial courts was “a mere formality—a mere Compliment, consisting wholly in the Imperial Ministers putting their names & Seals to the parchment, & can have no ill effect.” On that basis, and believing that Vergennes was in favor of it, Adams drafted the...
20The American Peace Commissioners to Vergennes, 10 July 1783 (Franklin Papers)
AL : Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères Messieurs Adams, Franklin & Jay, Ministers of the United States for treating of Peace, present their Respects to Mr le Comte de Vergennes, & request he would be pleased to favour them with a Copy of the Offer made by the two Imperial Courts of their Mediation. Notations: juillet 10 / rep. le 31 Juillet 1783. Written by BF . At Versailles on...
21The American Peace Commissioners to Prince Bariatinskii, [2 July 1783] (Franklin Papers)
Retranslation: reprinted from Nina N. Bashkina et al. , eds., The United States and Russia: the Beginning of Relations, 1765–1815 ([Washington, D.C., 1980]), p. 199. On Tuesday, July 1, at the weekly gathering of ministers at Versailles, Vergennes informed the American peace commissioners that the Anglo-French treaty had been settled, pending British approval, and the time had come for them to...
22From John Jay to Catharine W. Livingston, 1 July 1783 (Jay Papers)
Your’s by Col. Cambray, dated the 28 Jan y last, was delivered to us by that Gentleman about a fortnight ago, & tho several Vessels have since arrived, the only american Letter I have yet rec d . by them is from M r . Benson. I am surprized that no Letter from me has reached you since the arrival of Maj r . Franks— I have written not only several but many: but I have been so used to...
23American Peace Commissioners’ Propositions for the Definitive Treaty, [c. 1 July 1783] (Jay Papers)
Propositions made to M r Hartley for the Definitive Treaty. 1 st . To omit in the Definitive Treaty, the Exception at the End ^ of the 2 d : ^ Article of the Provisional Treaty: viz: these Words, “Excepting such Islands as now are, or heretofore have been within the Limits of the said Province of Nova Scotia.”— 2 dly . The Prisoners made respectively by the Arms of his Britannic Majesty & the...
24Proposals for an Anglo-American Commercial Agreement, June 1783 (Adams Papers)
[ Paris ], June 1783. LbC-Tr ’s in Jean L’Air de Lamotte’s hand ( Adams Papers ); APM Reel 103. The two proposals calendared here, one by David Hartley and the other by John Jay, are dated June in the Letterbook, but any effort to arrive at an exact date is problematical. They were likely done sometime after 21 May but prior to Hartley’s letter to the commissioners of 14 June , above, and...
25The American Peace Commissioners to David Hartley: Answers to Propositions, [29 June 1783] (Franklin Papers)
Copies: William L. Clements Library, Library of Congress, Massachusetts Historical Society (two), National Archives (two), Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères; transcript: National Archives Answers to Mr Hartleys six Propositions for the definitive Treaty— To the 1st This matter has been already regulated in the 5th & 6th Articles of the Provisional Treaty to the utmost extent of our...
26The American Peace Commissioners to David Hartley: Proposals, [29 June 1783] (Franklin Papers)
Copies: William L. Clements Library, Massachusetts Historical Society, National Archives, Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères; press copy of copy and transcript: National Archives Propositions made to Mr Hartley for the definitive Treaty— 1st To omit in the Definitive Treaty the Exception at the End of the 2d Article of the Provisional Treaty: Viz: these Words “Excepting such Islands...
27From Benjamin Franklin and John Jay to Vergennes, 28 June 1783 (Franklin Papers)
LS : Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères; copies: Library of Congress, Massachusetts Historical Society, National Archives Mr Grand, Banker to the Congress, having laid before us the annexed State of their Affairs in his Hands, we conceive ourselves indispensably obliged to communicate the same to your Excellency, as some important Interests of both Countries are concerned. Before...
28From John Jay to Philip Van Brugh Livingston, 28 June 1783 (Jay Papers)
Your favor of the 7 Inst. was delivered to me three Days ago. I am happy to hear that your Tour has contributed to the Reestablishm t . of your Health, and I should have written to you frequently, If I had known where to direct my Letters—the one you mention to have written to me came safe to Hand— Some Months have elapsed since any of the Am. Ministers here have rec d . ^ either ^ official...
29Benjamin Franklin and John Jay to Vergennes, 28 June 1783 (Jay Papers)
M r Grand, Banker to the Congress, having laid before us the annexed State of their Affairs in his Hands, we conceive ourselves indispensably obliged to communicate the same to your Excellency, as some important Interests of both Countries are concerned. Before the Peace was known in America, and while M r . Morris had hopes of obtaining the Five per Cent Duty, and a larger Loan from his...
30From John Jay to Peter Van Schaack, 16 June 1783 (Jay Papers)
I have rec d . your favor of the 30 th Ult. Your affectionate answer to my Letter of the 17 th Sep r . last reached me about a month after its Date. The Prospect I then and long afterwards had of being able to visit England (where the Death of a Relation gave me some private Business to transact) induced me from Time to Time to postpone writing to you. It so happened however that my continuing...