Editing American Revolution (section)

==Paris peace treaty==
{{Main|Treaty of Paris (1783)}}{{further|Diplomacy in the American Revolutionary War|Peace of Paris (1783)}}
[[File:Treaty of Paris by Benjamin West 1783.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Treaty of Paris (painting)|Treaty of Paris]]'' by [[Benjamin West]] portrays the American delegation about to sign the 1783 [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] ([[John Jay]], [[John Adams]], [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Henry Laurens]], [[William Temple Franklin|W.T. Franklin]]). The British delegation refused to pose and the painting was never completed.]]
During negotiations in Paris, the American delegation discovered that France supported American independence but no territorial gains, hoping to confine the new nation to the area east of the Appalachian Mountains. The Americans opened direct secret negotiations with London, cutting out the French. British Prime Minister [[William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne|Lord Shelburne]] was in charge of the British negotiations, and he saw a chance to make the United States a valuable economic partner, facilitating trade and investment opportunities.<ref>Charles R. Ritcheson, "The Earl of Shelbourne and Peace with America, 1782–1783: Vision and Reality". ''International History Review'' 5#3 (1983): 322–345.</ref> The US obtained all the land east of the Mississippi River, including [[Northwest Territory|southern Canada]], but Spain took control of Florida from the British. It gained fishing rights off Canadian coasts, and agreed to allow British merchants and Loyalists to recover their property. Prime Minister Shelburne foresaw highly profitable two-way trade between Britain and the rapidly growing United States, which did come to pass. The blockade was lifted and American merchants were free to trade with any nation anywhere in the world.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jonathan R. Dull|title=A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W86WS9Z0ycYC&pg=PA144|year=1987|publisher=Yale up|pages=144–151|isbn=0300038860}}</ref>

The British largely abandoned their Indigenous allies, who were not a party to this treaty and did not recognize it until they were defeated militarily by the United States. However, the British did sell them munitions and maintain forts in American territory until the [[Jay Treaty]] of 1795.<ref>{{cite book|editor=William Deverell|title=A Companion to the American West|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B3q_0ZgquK4C&pg=PA17|year=2008|page=17|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1405138482}}</ref>

Losing the war and the Thirteen Colonies was a shock to Britain. The war revealed the limitations of Britain's [[fiscal-military state]] when they discovered that they suddenly faced powerful enemies with no allies, and they were dependent on extended and vulnerable transatlantic lines of communication. The defeat heightened dissension and escalated political antagonism to the King's ministers.  The King went so far as to draft letters of abdication, although they were never delivered.<ref>{{cite journal|date=August 9, 2022|title=The Abdication(s) of King George III|last=Ruppert|first=Bob|journal=Journal of the American Revolution|url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2022/08/the-abdications-of-king-george-iii/|access-date=August 9, 2022}}</ref> Inside Parliament, the primary concern changed from fears of an over-mighty monarch to the issues of representation, parliamentary reform, and government retrenchment. Reformers sought to destroy what they saw as widespread [[institutional corruption]], and the result was a crisis from 1776 to 1783. The crisis ended after 1784 confidence in the British constitution was restored during the administration of Prime Minister [[William Pitt the Younger|William Pitt]].<ref name="William Hague 2004">William Hague, ''William Pitt the Younger'' (2004)</ref><ref name="Jeremy Black 2006">Jeremy Black, ''George III: America's Last King''(2006)</ref>{{efn|Some historians suggest that loss of the American colonies enabled Britain to deal with the [[French Revolution]] with more unity and better organization than would otherwise have been the case.<ref name="William Hague 2004"/> Britain turned towards Asia, the Pacific, and later Africa with subsequent exploration leading to the rise of the [[Second British Empire]].<ref>Canny, p.&nbsp;92.</ref>}}