Let us consider the provisions of these treaties in order, as
they affected the United States, France, and Spain.
[Sidenote: The United States of America]
By the treaty of Paris (3 September, 1783), the former thirteen
colonies were recognized as the sovereign and independent United States
of America,--bounded on the north by Canada and the Great Lakes, on the
east by the Atlantic, on the west by the Mississippi, and on the south
by Florida. Important fishing rights on the Newfoundland Banks and the
privilege of navigation on the Mississippi were extended to the new
nation. When the treaty of Paris was signed, the United States were
still held loosely together by the articles of Confederation, but after
several years of political confusion, a new and stronger federal
constitution was drawn up in 1787, and in 1789 George Washington became
first president of the republic. The republic thus created was the
first important embodiment of the political theories of Montesquieu and
other French philosophers, who, while condemning titled nobility and
absolute monarchy, distrusted the ignorant classes of the people, and
believed in placing political control chiefly in the hands of
intelligent men of property and position.
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