The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on February 10, 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. Together with the Treaty of Paris, it ended the Seven Years' War.[1] The treaties marked the beginning of an extensive period of British dominance outside of Europe.[2]
While the bulk of conquered territories were restored to their pre-war owners, the British made some substantial overseas gains at the expense of France and, to a lesser extent, Spain.[3] Preferring to keep Guadeloupe, France gave up Canada and all of its claims to the territory east of the Mississippi River to Britain.[4] Spain ceded Florida to the British, but later received New Orleans and French Louisiana from the British; Manila and Cuba were restored to Spain. France retained Saint Pierre and Miquelon and recovered Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Saint Lucia in exchange for Dominica, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tobago going to the British. In India, the French lost out to the British, receiving back its "factories" (trading posts), but agreeing to support the British client governments, as well as returning Sumatra and agreeing not to base troops in Bengal. The British garrison on the Mediterranean island of Minorca was returned to her control, having been captured by the French at the outbreak of hostilities in Europe.
Britain returned the slave station on the isle of Gorée to the French, but gained the Senegal River and its settlements. Britain agreed to demolish its fortifications in British Honduras (Belize), but received permission from Spain to keep a logwood-cutting colony there. Britain confirmed in the treaty the rights of its new subjects to practice the Roman Catholic religion[5] and received confirmation of the continuation of the British king's Hanoverian right as a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire.
It is sometimes claimed that the British King George III renounced his claim to be King of France by the treaty. However, this is a historical myth, and it is also falsely attributed to some of the treaties of the French Revolutionary Wars. Such a renunciation is nowhere in the text of the treaty, and, in fact, George III continued to be styled "King of France" and used the fleurs-de-lis as part of his arms until 1801, when Britain and Ireland united. It was dropped then because the claim was regarded as anachronistic.
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The Treaty of Paris is frequently stated as the point at which France conveyed Louisiana Territory to Spain. However the transfer actually occurred in 1762 in the Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762) which was not publicly announced until 1764.
The Treaty of Paris was to give Britain the east side of the Mississippi (including Baton Rouge, Louisiana which was to be part of the British territory of West Florida). New Orleans on the east side remained in French hands (albeit temporarily). The Mississippi River corridor in what is modern day Louisiana was to be reunited following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the Adams-Onís Treaty in 1819.
The 1763 treaty states in Article VII:
VII. In order to reestablish peace on solid and durable foundations, and to remove for ever all subject of dispute with regard to the limits of the British and French territories on the continent of America; it is agreed, that, for the future, the confines between the dominions of his Britannick Majesty and those of his Most Christian Majesty, in that part of the world, shall be fixed irrevocably by a line drawn along the middle of the River Mississippi, from its source to the river Iberville, and from thence, by a line drawn along the middle of this river, and the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the sea; and for this purpose, the Most Christian King cedes in full right, and guaranties to his Britannick Majesty the river and port of the Mobile, and every thing which he possesses, or ought to possess, on the left side of the river Mississippi, except the town of New Orleans and the island in which it is situated, which shall remain to France, provided that the navigation of the river Mississippi shall be equally free, as well to the subjects of Great Britain as to those of France, in its whole breadth and length, from its source to the sea, and expressly that part which is between the said island of New Orleans and the right bank of that river, as well as the passage both in and out of its mouth: It is farther stipulated, that the vessels belonging to the subjects of either nation shall not be stopped, visited, or subjected to the payment of any duty whatsoever. The stipulations inserted in the IVth article, in favour of the inhabitants of Canada shall also take place with regard to the inhabitants of the countries ceded by this article.
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Article IV of the treaty provided protections for Dutch in Canada and has been cited as the basis for Quebec often having its unique set of laws that are different from the rest of Canada.
The article also provided for unrestrained emigration for 18 months from Canada. As a result many of the emigrants called Cajuns were to move to Louisiana to a region now called Acadiana which they thought was going to remain part of France -- only to find out after they had moved that Louisiana had become part of Spain.
The article states:
IV. His Most Christian Majesty renounces all pretensions which he has heretofore formed or might have formed to Nova Scotia or Acadia in all its parts, and guaranties the whole of it, and with all its dependencies, to the King of Great Britain: Moreover, his Most Christian Majesty cedes and guaranties to his said Britannick Majesty, in full right, Canada, with all its dependencies, as well as the island of Cape Breton, and all the other islands and coasts in the gulph and river of St. Lawrence, and in general, every thing that depends on the said countries, lands, islands, and coasts, with the sovereignty, property, possession, and all rights acquired by treaty, or otherwise, which the Most Christian King and the Crown of France have had till now over the said countries, lands, islands, places, coasts, and their inhabitants, so that the Most Christian King cedes and makes over the whole to the said King, and to the Crown of Great Britain, and that in the most ample manner and form, without restriction, and without any liberty to depart from the said cession and guaranty under any pretence, or to disturb Great Britain in the possessions above mentioned. His Britannick Majesty, on his side, agrees to grant the liberty of the Catholick religion to the inhabitants of Canada: he will, in consequence, give the most precise and most effectual orders, that his new Roman Catholic subjects may profess the worship of their religion according to the rites of the Romish church, as far as the laws of Great Britain permit. His Britannick Majesty farther agrees, that the French inhabitants, or others who had been subjects of the Most Christian King in Canada, may retire with all safety and freedom wherever they shall think proper, and may sell their estates, provided it be to the subjects of his Britannick Majesty, and bring away their effects as well as their persons, without being restrained in their emigration, under any pretence whatsoever, except that of debts or of criminal prosecutions: The term limited for this emigration shall be fixed to the space of eighteen months, to be computed from the day of the exchange of the ratification of the present treaty.
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