Triumph of the American Revolution:

Thomas Jefferson’s Proclamation of Peace 

The Proclamation of Peace, written by Thomas Jefferson and unanimously approved on January 14, 1784 by the United States Congress in Annapolis, Md., heralded the triumph of the American Revolution to the nation and the world.

The document announced Congressional approval (ratification) of the Treaty of Paris, the peace accord between the United States and Great Britain in which Great Britain accepted American independence, agreed to its international boundaries and promised a complete withdrawal from American territory.

The treaty called for the exchange of ratification documents in Paris on March 3, 1784.  Severe winter weather kept congressmen from Annapolis, delaying the ratification vote by more than a month after the Congress convened December 13.  Although all the congressmen favored the treaty, only seven of the 13 states were represented in the assembly. Jefferson, manager of the Congressional ratification effort, successfully opposed an attempt, illegal under the Articles of Confederation, that would have approved the treaty with less than the required two-thirds (or 9 states) vote.

Jefferson compromised a few days later. He called for Benjamin Franklin, the American ambassador to allied France, to ask the British to extend the deadline.  If the Britain refused, he was then to present a ”good faith” seven-vote ratification, acknowledge it lacked two votes, but give assurances that a nine-vote ratification would be sent as soon as weather permitted.  A vote was set for January 14.  On January 13, Connecticut representatives arrived.  The next morning South Carolina’s delegate presented his credentials. The quorum achieved, Congress unanimously ratified the treaty with the required nine-state vote.

Jefferson used language from ratification legislation as the basis for the Proclamation. The Proclamation reprints the peace accord and includes Congress’ promise to observe all its articles “as far as should be in our powers.”  It then reminds Americans that each treaty stipulation was approved “under the authority of the federal bond by which their existence as an independent people is bound up together.”  And calls on “all civic and military officials, of whatever rank, degree or powers and all other good citizens of these United States” to carry into effect “every clause and sentence” of the treaty “sincerely, strictly and completely.”  The appeal, in part, demonstrated a good faith effort on the part of the Congress to note state and local government obligations in several unpopular treaty articles. This effort was reiterated in stronger terms in a resolution directed to state legislatures, adopted after the proclamation, that “earnestly recommended” appropriate compliance with treaty commitments regarding reinstatement of loyalist rights, the end of prosecutions and restitution of confiscated estates as well as payment of debts.

Congress order the Proclamation printed. Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress, affixed the newly invented Great Seal of the United States to proclamations to be sent to state governors and Paris.  Thomas Mifflin, President of the Congress, and Thomson signed those Proclamations.  Congress dispatched additional copies of the Proclamation, signed by Thomson, to major cities throughout the country.

Two military couriers—Col. Josiah Harmar and Lt. Col. David S. Franks-- carried separate ratification packets to New York City via horse, stage, and even sleigh where they booked passage on European-bound ships. The ships, however, were ice-bound until February 21.

Harmar, first to Europe, made landfall, after a difficult 33-day voyage, in Lorient, the French naval base in Brittany. He left immediately for Paris, riding night and day. On the evening of March 26, Harmar delivered the ratification documents to Franklin at the ambassador’s residence in Passy, outside Paris. Franklin had secured an extension for the exchange of ratifications. George III, informed that the American ratification had arrived, signed the British ratification on April 9, 1784.  Both nations exchanged ratification documents in Paris on May 12, 1784.

As Benjamin Franklin wrote Congress, “the great and hazardous enterprise we have engaged in, is, God Be praised, happily completed.”

Treaty of Paris, Article 1

His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United States …to be free, sovereign and independent states and he treats them as such, and for himself, his heirs and successors, relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety, and territorial rights of the same and every part thereof.