In the fall of 1782 a preliminary agreement to end the hostilities of the American Revolution was signed between Great Britain, France and the new independent American colonies.

The agreement, referred to as the Treaty of Paris, was officially signed in September, 1783, and it laid out the principles for peace.

It was said that although American negotiator, Benjamin Franklin, demanded the cessation of Canada to an independent America, he knew that the British Government of Prime Minister Lord Shelburne was opposed to the American independence, would be unprepared to accept that offer. The months of hard bargaining resulted in a preliminary agreement with ten articles of peace.