Why is the Treaty of Paris important? Why do we know so little about it? Eliga Gould joins us to answer these and other questions. The 1783 Treaty of Paris ended the American War for Independence, defined the new nation's boundaries (see the John Mitchell Treaty Map ) and had tragic consequences for Native Americans as well as some of the African-Americans and Anglo-Americans who sided with the British. It also required complicated negotiations among the allies--France, Spain, and the United States, and among the American commissioners, who posed afterward for a portrait by Benjamin West. Professor Gould teaches at the University of New Hampshire, and among his many works is Among the Powers of the Earth, focusing on the United States' early quest to make treaties with other nations.