Benjamin Franklin

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Narrator

At the end of 1782, a preliminary agreement of peace was signed and sent to London and Philadelphia for approval. It did not require reparations to Americans who had remained loyal to England. And France which had given so much to the new nation had been excluded altogether. Franklin was assigned the task of smoothing things over with Vergennes. Franklin writes one of the greatest letters he ever wrote to Vergennes. Apologizing for this in a beautiful way and really disarming the, what could have been a huge international crisis. That we had not fulfilled our promise to work out the diplomatic aspects of the end of the war with France and not separately. But he also, in that same letter of apology to Vergennes, this masterpiece said, and by the way we need some more money too. And he got it. (calm music) -

Narrator

Finally, on September 3rd, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed. England officially recognized its former colonies as the United States of America. The revolutionary war was over. Members of the British delegation refused to pose for the portrait meant to commemorate the moment. In the unfinished painting, Franklin sits in the middle with his grandson, Temple. The delegation secretary sitting to his left. On Franklin's right, sits John Adams, already worried about how history would remember the revolution. -

Narrator 2

The history of our revolution will be one continued lie from one end to the other. And the essence of the whole will be that Dr. Franklin's electrical rod smelt the earth and out sprang Gen. Washington. That Franklin electrified him with his rod. And hence forward, these two conducted all the policy negotiations, legislation and war. (calm music) -

Joseph Ellis

The treaty of 1783 is one of the most lopsided treaties in American diplomatic history. It's a total victory for the United States. It's independence is recognized by France and the rest of Europe in England. And we get a third of a continent. Everything from the Mississippi to the Atlantic and from the Canadian border to Florida. We now become a nation larger than France, England, Spain put together. There's a consensus at the end among the negotiators including the Brits that we're witnessing the creation of an American empire. (calm music) By the end of the war, France's coffers were more or less depleted. France had the satisfaction in triumphing over their archenemy, Great Britain. But they hadn't counted on bankrupting their own country in the process. So Franklin extracted in a way, the life blood out of the royal coffers and he gave in return something that the monarchy was not counting on. He lit a fire, not only in France, but in all of Europe promoting the democratic ideals that the United States stood for. To put down tyranny was something that all the peasants could understand. -

Narrator

For Native Americans, the treaty was devastating. Many nations had decided that they would be better off by allying with the British, not the colonists. Who for nearly two centuries had been encroaching on their lands. Now the United States was claiming an even vaster territory. And as its white citizens pushed farther west, more and more native people would be dispossessed. Regardless of whose side they had taken during the war.