The United States in 1783

Our "Territorial Formation" Series takes us to the United States of America after the Paris Treaty of 1783.

While the 13 original colonies declared independence on July 4, 1776, it would take another seven years for the Kingdom of Great Britain to formally recognize this after the military victory of the continental forces led by George Washington.

While one major point of contention between American settlers and the British authorities had been the ban on any extension of the coastal colonies past the Appalachian Mountains, the Territory of the new United States post 1783 officially extended to the Mississippi, with the British keeping lands North of the St Lawrence River and the Spanish taking charge of the Florida Coast and the Louisiana Territory on the West Bank of the Mississippi.

Territories South of the Ohio River were granted to the Southern States (Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia) although these would in time become new States (Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama). The territories North of the Ohio became a new Federal Territory that eventually led to the creation of five new States (Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin). Westward extensions, first through the Louisiana Purchase then the annexation of Texas and the War with Mexico, would later extend the territory of the new nation all the way to the Pacific Ocean.