TREATIES AND CONVENTIONS. 21 



and Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America at 

 the Court of Versailles; John Jay, Esq., late President of Congress 

 and Chief Justice of the State of New York, and Minister Plenipo- 

 tentiary from the said United States at the Court of Madrid ; to be 

 the Plenipotentiaries for the concluding and signing the present 

 Definitive Treaty : who, after having reciprocally communicated their 

 respective Full Powers, have agreed upon and confirmed the fol- 

 lowing Articles : 



Art. I. His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, 

 viz., New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Provi- 

 dence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylva- 

 nia, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 

 and Georgia, to be Free, Sovereign and Independent States; 

 13 that he treats with them as such ; and for himself, his Heirs 

 and Successors, relinquishes all claims to the government, pro- 

 priety and territorial rights of the same, and every part thereof. 



II. And that all disputes which might arise in future on the sub- 

 ject of the Boundaries of the said United States may be prevented, it 

 is hereby agreed and declared, that the following are and shall be 

 their Boundaries, viz., from the North-west Angle of Nova Scotia, 

 viz., that Angle which is formed by a line drawn due north, from 

 the source of St. Croix River to the Highlands, along the said High- 

 lands which divide those Rivers that empty themselves into the River 

 St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the 

 North-w T esternmost head of Connecticut River; thence down along 

 the middle of that River to the 45th degree of North latitude; from 

 thence by a line due West on said latitude until it strikes the River 

 Iroquois or Cataraquy; thence along the middle of the said River 

 into Lake Ontario; through the middle of said Lake until it strikes 

 the communication by water between that Lake and Lake Erie; 

 thence along the middle of said communication into Lake Erie; 

 through the middle of said Lake until it arrives at the water-com- 

 munication between that Lake and Lake Huron; thence along the 

 middle of said water-communication into the Lake Huron; thence 

 through the middle of said Lake to the water-communication between 

 that Lake and Lake Superior ; thence through Lake Superior, North- 

 ward of the Isles Royal and Phelipeaux, to the Long Lake; thence 

 through the middle of said Long Lake, and the water-communication 

 between it and the Lake of the Woods, to the said Lake of the 

 Woods; thence through the said Lake to the most North-western 

 point thereof, and from thence on a due West course to the River 

 Mississippi ; thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of the said 

 River Mississippi, until it shall intersect the Northernmost part of 

 the 31st degree of North latitude: South by a line to be drawn due 

 East from the determination of the line last mentioned, in the lati- 

 tude of 31 degrees North of the Equator, to the middle of the River 

 Apalachicola or Catahouche; thence along the middle thereof to its 

 junction with the Flint River; thence straight to the head of St. 

 Mary's River, and thence down along the middle of St. Mary's River 

 to the Atlantic Ocean : East by a line to be drawn along the middle 



"These Articles are practically Identical with the Provisional Articles of 

 30 November, 1782, ag'-eed upon by Richard Oswald, commissioner for Hig 

 Britannic Majesty, and John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Henry 

 Laurens, commissioners for United States. 



