THE+END+OF+THE+WAR

[|Yorktown] was a great victory for Franco-American arms, but it was not conclusive. The British still occupied New York City, Wilmi ngton, Charleston, and Savannah, and there was no immediate prospect of the Americans taking these cities. However, the British were hard pressed by years of war, and the government in London saw that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to replace Cornwallis's army.



The British public was also reaching the limits of its willingness to pay taxes to support the American war. Realizing that the costs of the war were greater than the potential gain, the British government entered into peace negotiations, with [|Benjamin Franklin], [|John Adams], and [|John Jay] representing the United States. [|The Treaty of Paris], signed in September 1783, officially ended hostilities, recognized American independence, and made the Mississippi River the new nation's western border. It also allowed Britain to retain Canada and returned Florida to Spain. The failure of the British to withdraw from forts in the northwest with "all convenient speed" and difficulties with Spain over the navigation of the Mississippi River would require more negotiations, but American independence, virtually unthinkable in 1763, had been achieved. .....