A Story Behind the Independence of the United States of America: Oliver Branch Declaration to George III in 1775, Declaration of Independence in 1776, Treaty of Paris in 1783

The day of July 4, 1776, has been known as the independence day of the United States of America. And it is a national holiday in the United States. In light of international law and international conventions, however, July 4, 1776, is not really the independence day of the United States. It is the day when the Continental Congress, representing the 13 British colonies of America, declared their independence, having voted to approve Virginia’s motion to break away from Britain on July 2, 1776. As of July 4, 1776, the fight, known as the American Revolutionary War, which started on April 19, 1775, in Lexington, Massachusetts, kept raging on, while the Continental Congress declared the independence of the 13 colonies as the United States of America, as drafted by Thomas Jefferson.

This war did not officially end until September 3, 1783, when the Treaty of Paris was signed by John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, from the United States, and David Hartley of Britain. On this peace treaty, Britain officially acknowledged the sovereignty of the United States with these words:

His Brittanic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz., New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be free sovereign and Independent States; that he treats with them as such, and for himself his Heirs & Successors, relinquishes all claims to the Government, Propriety, and Territorial Rights of the same and every Part thereof  (Article 1, the Treaty of Paris, September 3, 1783).

There shall be a firm and perpetual Peace between his Britanic Majesty and the said States, and between the Subjects of the one and the Citizens of the other, wherefore all Hostilities both by Sea and Land shall from henceforth cease:  All prisoners on both Sides shall be set at Liberty, and his Britanic Majesty shall with all convenient speed, and without causing any Destruction, or carrying away any Negroes or other Property of the American inhabitants, withdraw all his Armies, Garrisons & Fleets from the said United States, and from every Post, Place and Harbour within the same; leaving in all Fortifications, the American Artillery that may be therein: And shall also Order & cause all Archives, Records, Deeds & Papers belonging to any of the said States, or their Citizens, which in the Course of the War may have fallen into the hands of his Officers, to be forthwith restored and delivered to the proper States and Persons to whom they belong (Article 7, ibid.).

One interesting fact about the independence of the United States is that John Jay, who is recognized as one of the founding fathers of the United States, did not sign the Declaration of the Independence on July 4, 1776. He was not really in favor of fighting a war against Britain. Rather, he preferred to have a reconciliation with the British government. This is why he supported the Oliver Branch Petition, drafted by John Dickinson, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 5, 1775. This petition was sent to George III of Great Britain, to appeal to him to ease Britain’s oppressive rule of the colonies, for reconciliation. But, the British king did not accept it. This is why the Continental Congress voted to declare independence of the 13 colonies, with their explanation to rebel against George III’s tyranny. In a way, it is the 13 colonies’ formal “declaration of war” against the British oppressive rule over the 13 colonies.

Had George III ever accepted the Oliver Branch Petition in 1775, resulted in reconciliation between the 13 colonies and the British government had achieved, as John Jay had desired, it would have been less blood being shed. But it would mean that the colonies would have remained under the British colonial rule.

Britain could have kept these 13 American colonies if its king, George III, accepted the Oliver Branch Petition, and the war could have ended rather quickly. It would not have given a chance for the Continental Congress to declare the 13 colonies’ secession from Britain. But British refusal to honor the Oliver Branch Petition in 1775 resulted in more blood shed and loss of its American colonies.

Following the Treaty of Paris, on September 3, 1783, to formally end the American Revolutionary War, which began on April 19, 1775, the independence of the United States, was official, in light of international law and international conventions. And Continental Congress ratified this on January 14, 1784. Thus the United States of America was established.

In 1794, George Washington, the general of the Continental Army, who became the first President of the United States in 1789, sent John Jay, who became the first chief justice of the US Supreme Court in 1789, a man who prefer a peaceful settlement to settling through a war, to Britain in order to prevent a resurgence of war, as British grievances remained strong even after the Treaty of Paris.  The year 1794 was when the tension between the nascent United States and Britain was heightened because of these nation's stances to France, upon the French Revolution in 1789, edges these two nations toward a war. However, thanks to what is known as the Jay Treaty in 1794, the United States and Britain were able to remain peaceful upon the Treaty of Paris in 1783. However, in the United States, the Jay Treaty triggered to intensify the Federalists, who were pro-Jay-Treaty with Britain, and anti-Federalists, who were not in favor of a central federal government, debates. So, this was how the United States history began as a sovereign nation.