Public Law 98–75

Joint Resolution

To proclaim a day of national celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

Whereas September 3, 1983, commemorates a day of unique significance in the history of our Nation;

Whereas on September 3, 1783, the American Peace Commissioners—John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay—signed a Definitive Treaty of Peace with David Hartley, the representative of George the Third, the King of Great Britain, in the city of Paris;

Whereas on the same day another treaty between Great Britain and America’s ally France and cobelligerent Spain was signed at Versailles, and witnessed by the American Peace Commissioners;

Whereas the signing of the Definitive Treaty with Great Britain signified to the world that these former thirteen British colonies with the invaluable assistance of the Government and citizens of France had emerged from the great war of the American Revolution as an independent Nation, the United States of America, confirmed in its sovereignty over a vast extent of territory;

Whereas the ratification of the Definitive Treaty of Peace by the Congress of the Confederation on January 14, 1784, in Annapolis, Maryland, inaugurated an era of peace for the new Nation which made possible the experimentation in self-government which led to the adoption of the Constitution of the United States of America on September 17, 1787;

Whereas since that historic day two hundred years ago, the United States of America has survived as a free Nation, ever mindful of the blessings that liberty and peace have brought: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

Approved August 11, 1983.