The U.S. officially turns 250 this year.
There are a lot of things to like about America, but one we might take for granted is that we choose to celebrate the nation’s founding in the beginning of summer.
Result: parades, barbecues, fireworks, beach trips. No offense to February, for example, it wouldn’t be the same.
That isn’t to say we couldn’t have settled on another date. One might have considered March 4, 1789, when the U.S. Constitution went into effect, or October 19, 1781, when the British surrendered at Yorktown.
For your consideration, as they say during awards season, may I suggest another contender date—or perhaps we might call it an honorable mention.
January 14, 1784
That would be January 14, 1784—in which case we’d be celebrating America’s 242nd birthday this week.
The rationale is worth knowing even if you’re as partial to 4th of July cookouts as I am. It’s that while July 4 celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence, January 14 was a big milestone on the way toward the rest of the world agreeing with that declaration.
The story goes like this:
The Revolutionary War effectively ended when General Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, but a surrender doesn’t necessarily change the political reality. You need a peace treaty for that.
Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay spent months in Paris negotiating with British representatives to work out the terms. On September 3, 1783, they signed the Treaty of Paris:
The Americans got almost everything they wanted.
British recognition of independence.
Withdrawal of all British troops.
Territory extending from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River, from the Great Lakes to the northern border of Florida. Worth noting—that’s 890,000 square miles total, compared to the 360,000 square miles the original thirteen colonies occupied.
It was, by any measure, an extraordinary diplomatic achievement.
6 months or sooner
But then, the British added Article 10, which said that to become valid, the treaty had to be ratified and exchanged “in the Space of Six Months or sooner.”
So, calculate six months from September 3, 1783 and you get March 3, 1784. The treaty needed to get from Paris to wherever Congress was meeting—which turned out to be Annapolis, Maryland—and the Congress had to ratify it.
Then the ratified document had to get back across the Atlantic to Paris for the formal exchange.
In 1783, a ship crossing the Atlantic from Europe to America took about six to eight weeks in good weather. Longer in winter. And that was just the ocean crossing—you still needed time to get from a European port to Paris.
The British set that deadline deliberately, as a sort of challenge to see if this new “United States” could actually function as a nation. Could it get its act together enough to meet an international deadline with consequences?
Fair question.
Make it official
Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress needed representatives from nine of the thirteen states present to ratify a treaty. But as of early January 1784, Congress was having trouble getting enough delegates to show up. By January 12, only seven states had sent delegates to Annapolis.
Connecticut’s delegates arrived on January 13. That made eight.
But it still wasn’t enough.
Enter Richard Beresford of South Carolina who was sick in Philadelphia, about 90 miles away.
We wouldn’t normally have much good to say about Beresford. He was a wealthy planter who depended on enslaved people for his fortune. His participation in Congress was largely in defense of slavery and the interests of the planter class.
But on January 14, 1784, he left his sickbed, made the winter journey to Annapolis, and walked into the Maryland State House.
Nine states. Barely a quorum, but that same day, Congress voted unanimously to ratify the Treaty of Paris.
It made it official: The United States of America was no longer a collection of rebellious colonies fighting for recognition. We were a sovereign nation, recognized by the greatest empire on earth.
How about April? Or May?
The Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation was weak. It couldn’t tax. It couldn’t enforce laws. It couldn’t regulate commerce. Within a few years, the failures became so obvious that the nation scrapped the Articles entirely and wrote a new Constitution.
On this one day, though, the Continental Congress justified its existence.
The ratified treaty was carried back across the Atlantic. Two couriers left by ship later in January with copies for Franklin and King George III. Winter weather delayed their arrival, but the British accepted the explanation.
King George III ratified the treaty in April 1784. The formal exchange of ratified copies happened in Paris on May 12, 1784.
The Revolutionary War was officially, finally, legally over.
We celebrate July 4th, and we should. That’s when we declared independence. January 14, 1784 is the last thing Americans had to do to make it real.
It’s more fun to celebrate in the summer. But maybe grill a hot dog and raise a toast on Wednesday as well.
Happy 242nd, America.
7 optimistic moments from history this week
Sunday, January 11: “The rationale was simple enough: These revolutionary semiconductors are made in a valley, from silicon. … How was I to know that the term would quickly be adopted industry-wide?” — Don Hoefler, who coined the term “Silicon Valley” in an Electronic News article this day in 1971. The region had previously been known as the “Valley of Heart’s Delight” due to its orchards.
Monday, January 12: "We're gonna win the game. I guarantee it." — Joe Namath, this day in 1969 before leading the Jets to their stunning Super Bowl III victory.
Tuesday, January 13: "It will soon be possible to distribute grand opera music to almost any dwelling in Greater New York." — Lee de Forest, this day in 1910 broadcasting the first public radio performance from the Metropolitan Opera.
Wednesday, January 14: "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." — Michelangelo, who on this day in 1501 beginning work on the David.
Thursday, January 15: "All the pieces had to come together. This group of strangers had to rise to the occasion." — Captain Chesley Sullenberger, reflecting on the successful water landing of U.S. Airways flight 1549 in the Hudson River, this day in 2009 .
Friday, January 16: “Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything.” — Steve Jobs, this day in 2007 introducing the iPhone.
Saturday, January 17: "May God bring lasting peace to us all over the world." — Paul Antonio, mechanic who built the first UN ballot box, this day in 1946 at the first Security Council meeting.
Thank you for writing about America’s birthday. I recently watched Ken Burns series “The American Revolution “ and learned so much that I didn’t know and I thought I was well informed as far as history was concerned. I recommend it to everyone who has an interest in history and the birth of this nation, you may learn a lot !
Thanks for the more thorough and more interesting history lesson, Bill.
Also, as I sit here reading and writing this on my iPhone, I’d say Jobs statement was quite the understatement.