19. The Americans negotiated a separate peace
As negotiations between America’s allies and Great Britain bogged down over Gibraltar and India, American negotiators secretly opened talks directly with representatives of Great Britain. The British economy was exhausted by the protracted war, as was the French, but France was still attempting to support the position of its Spanish ally, the throne of which was occupied by a fellow Bourbon King. British negotiators and the new Prime Minister, Lord Shelburne, recognized that a United States separated from an alliance with France and Spain would be a valuable partner in trade following the war, as well as blunting the influence of the Bourbon powers on the North American continent.
American ministers, led by John Jay, negotiated a separate peace with the British which established the western boundaries of the United States and recognized American independence. Britain attempted to create a buffer state for the American Indians under British protection; this demand was rejected by the Americans and the British dropped it, but it served as their excuse for maintaining outposts along the American frontier. When the Americans presented the treaty to their French ally it was met with official protests, which were for appearances sake, and the French and Spanish quickly completed treaties of their own, as well as a provisional treaty arrived at with the Dutch. The combined treaties were known as the Peace of Paris, ratified by Congress in 1784.