...peace treaty signed in Paris on 30 November 1782, Britain was obliged to withdraw its military forces "with all convenient Speed, and without causing any...Negroes or other Property of the American Inhabitants." The article was not altered in the final treaty. Despite the strong objections of George Washington...

...diplomats to secure a preliminary promise that "his Britannic Majesty shall, with all convenient Speed, & without causing any Destruction or carrying away any...withdraw all his Armies Garrisons and Fleets" from the new nation's territory. The manner in which the British implemented— or failed to implement—this...

...preliminary peace terms circulated in the spring of 1783 required Britain to withdraw from the United States "without causing any destruction or carrying away...Negroes or other Property of the American inhabitants," as South Carolina merchant-planter Henry Laurens had advised. By the time word of the agreement reached...

...be set at liberty: and his Britannic Majesty shall forthwith, and without causing any distinction, withdraw all his armies, garrisons, and fleets, from the said United States, and from every post, place, and harbour, within the same, leaving in all fortifications the American artillery that...

...Land shall from henceforth cease all prisoners on both sides shall be set at Liberty and His Britannic Majesty shall with all convenient Speed and without...Property of the American Inhabitants withdraw all its Armies, Garrisons, and Fleets, from the said United States. White people in New York exulted over...

...Provisional Articles of the previous November, the seventh of which had stipulated that "His Britannic Majesty shall with all convenient speed, and without...the American Inhabitants, withdraw all his Armies." In the interim between the date of the Provisional Articles and the conclusion of the British treaty...