So it was resolved in the affirmative.

Resolved, That the form of the ratification be as follows.

The United States in Congress assembled-To all who shall see these presents, Greeting.

Whereas in and by our commission, dated at Phila delphia, the fifteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, the honourable John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Henry Laurens and Thomas Jefferson, or a majority of them, or such of them as might assemble, or in case of the death, absence, indisposition or other impediment of the others, any one of them, were constituted and appointed our ministers with full power and authority, general and special, to confer, treat, agree and conclude with the ambassadors, commissioners and pleni

potentiaries of the princes and states whom it might concern, vested with equal powers relating to the establishment of peace, and whatsoever should be agreed and concluded for us, and in our name to sign, and thereupon make a treaty or treaties, and to transact every thing that might be necessary for completing, securing and strengthening the great' work of pacification in as ample form and with the same effect as if we were personally present and acted therein, we promising at the same time in good faith that we would accept, ratify, fulfil and execute what should be agreed, concluded and signed by our said ministers plenipotentiary, or a majority of them, or of such of them as might assemble, or in case of the death, absence, indisposition, or other impediment of the others, by any one of them: And whereas John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and Henry Laurens, four of our said commissioners, in pursuance of the powers aforesaid, on the thirtieth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, with Richard Oswald, esquire, commissioner of his Britannick majesty for treating of peace with the commissioners of the United States of America, in virtue of powers to him granted by his said Britannick majesty, did conclude and sign, on the part of the United States of America and the crown of Great Britain, articles in the words following:

Articles agreed upon by and between Richard Oswald, esquire, the commissioner of his Britannick majesty for treating of peace with the commissioners of the United States of America, in behalf of his said

majesty on the one part, and John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and Henry Laurens, four of the commissioners of the said states for treating of peace. with the commissioner of his said majesty, on their behalf, on the other part-to be inserted in, and to constitute the treaty of peace, proposed to be concluded between the crown of Great Britain and the said United States; but which treaty is not to be concluded until terms of a peace shall be agreed upon between Great Britain and France, and his Britannick majesty shall be ready to conclude such treaty accordingly.

Whereas reciprocal advantages and mutual convenience are found by experience to form the only permanent foundation of peace and friendship between states, it is agreed to form the articles of the proposed treaty on such principles of liberal equity and reciprocity, as that partial advantages (those seeds of discord) being excluded, such a beneficial and satisfactory intercourse between the two countries may be established, as to promise and secure to both perpetual peace and harmony.

ARTICLE 1.

His Britannick majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz. New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be free, sovereign and independent

states; that he treats with them as such, and for himself, his heirs and successors, relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety and territorial rights of the same, and every part thereof; and that all disputes which might arise in future on the subject of the boundaries of the said United States may be prevented, it is hereby agreed and declared, that the following are and shall be their boundaries, viz.

ARTICLE II.

From the north-west angle of Nova Scotia, viz. that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of St. Croix river to the highlands, along the said highlands, which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantick ocean, to the north-westernmost head of Connecticut river; thence down along the middle of that river, to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude; from thence by a line due west on said latitude, until it strikes the river Iroquois, or Cataraquy; thence along the middle of said river into lake Ontario, through the middle of said lake until it strikes the communication by water between that lake and lake Erie; thence along the middle of said communication into lake Erie, through the middle of said lake until it arrives at the water communication between that lake and lake Huron; thence along the middle of said water communication into the lake Huron; thence through the middle of said lake to the water communication between that lake and lake Superiour; thence through lake Superiour northward of the isles

Royal and Philipeaux to the Long lake; thence through the middle of said Long lake, and the water communication between it and the lake of the Woods, to the said lake of the Woods; thence through the said lake to the most north-western point thereof, and from thence in a due west course to the river Mississippi; thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of said river Mississippi until it shall intersect the northernmost part of the thirty-first degree of north latitude. South, by a line to be drawn due east from the determination of the line last mentioned, in the latitude of thirty-one degrees north of the equator to the middle of the river Apalachicola or Catahouche; thence along the middle thereof to its junction with the Flint river; thence straight to the head of St. Mary's river; and thence down along the middle of St. Mary's river to the Atlantick ocean. East, by a line to be drawn along the middle of the river St. Croix, from its mouth in the bay of Fundy to its source, and from its source directly north to the aforesaid highlands which divide the rivers that fall into the Atlantick ocean from those which fall into the river St. Lawrence; comprehending all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part, and East Florida on the other, shall respectively touch the bay of Fundy and the Atlantick ocean, excepting such islands as now are, or heretofore have been within the limits of the said province of Nova Scotia.